The Siebel Web Server Extension

The Siebel Web Server Extension (SWSE) enables any supported web server to communicate with the object managers on the various Siebel Servers. The SWSE serves as a plug-in and enables the web server to forward incoming request URLs from the end user's browser to the application object manager session on the Siebel Server.

Among the more interesting capabilities of the SWSE is the authentication of user sessions and load balancing. The SWSE reads a configuration file named eapps.cfg that links each virtual directory on the web server to a process on the Siebel Server. This process is implemented as a server component named Siebel Connection Broker.

The following diagram illustrates how the SWSE connects to the appropriate Application Object Manager on one of the Siebel Servers on the network:

1. The first part of the URL entered into the browser's address bar points to the web server that hosts the Siebel Web Server Extension.
2. The second part of the URL references a virtual directory on the web server. The naming convention (as suggested by Oracle but not written in stone) is "application_language". So, the above diagram shows an example of a connection to the Siebel Call Center application in American English (enu = English—United States). Each "application_language" string is stored as a section in the eapps.cfg file read by the Siebel Web Server Extension.
3. In the section in the eapps.cfg file, the SWSE can read the Siebel Server hostname and the port number of the Siebel Connection Broker component.
4. In addition, the SWSE reads the internal name of the Application Object Manager instance.
5. The SWSE can now connect to the Siebel Connection Broker component and request a session for the Application Object Manager.
6. The Siebel Connection Broker forwards the request to the appropriate process on the Siebel Server.
7. The connection between the SWSE and the Application Object Manager is now established.

The browser and the Siebel user interface

We cannot discuss web-based architectures without talking about web browsers. As we know, the Siebel Web Engine renders the result pages, which are then passed back to the user's browser window. Siebel applications come with a pre-built user interface that can be distributed in two modes, namely High-Interactivity (HI) Mode and Standard Interactivity (SI) Mode. HI mode provides for very high usability. For example, drag and drop operations, scrolling through lists of records, the right-click context menu, and the wizard-style Task User Interface are features that are only available in the HI mode. The penalty for this high level of user friendliness is the limited set of supported browsers. In fact—because HI mode uses Microsoft's ActiveX technology—Microsoft Internet Explorer is the only browser that is supported for Siebel applications in HI mode. The following screenshot shows the Siebel Sales application in High-Interactivity mode running in Microsoft Internet Explorer:

Other browsers like Firefox or Safari are supported only for Siebel applications in SI mode. The following screenshot shows the Siebel Partner Portal application in Standard-Interactivity Mode in Mozilla Firefox.

There are even more ways to generate a rich user experience. The Siebel Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) framework provides pre-built web services and capabilities to support any external application, from a simple browser to middleware-based UI generators, to access the Siebel data and business logic in order to generate their own UI.

Tip

A Siebel application can display data from and write data to multiple data sources. including non-relational sources.

Siebel CRM has a proprietary protocol named SISNAPI (Siebel Internet Session Network Application Programming Interface), which allows processes external to the application object manager to communicate with the latter.