Finding the cause of a slow Siebel Repository File (SRF) compile with Siebel Tools

A full SRF compile usually completes in under an hour for the standard Horizontal and Industry repositories. Many times developers report that a full SRF compile is very slow and is taking a significantly longer time. The following suggestions can help narrow down what is causing the slow performance when compiling a new SRF file.

1. Set up Dedicated Web Client logging for Siebel Tools.

The Siebel_Log_Events environment variable will create a SIEBDEV.LOG file in the Siebel tools log directory. This log file documents the sql used when Tools is compiling a new SRF. The file includes the sql statements, their timings and timestamps. Review the siebdev.log file for slow sql timings and large timestamp gaps. Please review this metalink document for more information on Dedicated Web Client logging.

How Should Client Side Logging Be Set?

How to enable server side logging?

. Narrow down the scenario where the SRF compilation has slow performance.

Possible causes for the slow performance could be the network, the server database, or the specific repository. It is helpful to know under what conditions the SRF compile is slow and where it is fast.

Is the slow compile for all developers or just some?

Is the SRF compile slow when connected to the local or the server database?

Does the slow compile performance happen for all of the server databases or just dev, test or production?

This is to see if the slow compile is specific to one database. In this case, comparing the SIEBDEV.LOG files from a fast and slow compile can help confirm what is slow.  If the slow srf file is specific to a database, have the statistics been updated recently?  If the SRF compile is slow for the server or the local database, verify that the statistics have been collected recently.

Where is the server database and where are the local developers?
If the slow performance is for local developers on a specific machine, verify the network performance is good.

Is there antivirus software running when the SRF is being compiled?   Is the  SRF files or the Siebel Tools install directory excluded from the anti-virus checking?  Antivirus software running in the Siebel Tools installation directory is the most common cause of slow SRF compiles.  Try compiling the srf to a network drive that is known to be excluded from the antivirus processing. 

If compiling a specific repository is slow, verify if the repository was recently moved to that database or if there have been large changes to that repository recently.


3. Does the database have many repositories in the local or server database?

A large number of repositories in the Siebel tables can slow down local and server SRF compiles. Test compiling in a local or server database with a few repositories in the Siebel tables. For example, try compiling a new SRF from the production database, which should have one production repository in the Siebel tables.

4. The following documents discuss product defects that can cause slow SRF compile times.

There are some unexpected performance behaviors when compiling with Siebel Tools 8.0 with the ST eScript Engine enabled.

In general, when encountering a slow SRF compile time, first review the SIEBDEV.log file.  Then verify under what conditions the SRF compile is slow.  If the full compile takes longer than an hour, then narrow down the scenario where the full compile is slow. 

The following is an example of a 7.7 siebdev.log file (c:\sea\tools\log\siebdev.log file) where the slow compile was caused by anti virus software scanning the Siebel Tools directories.

Review the log file to find the time stamp gaps.  This is a log from a single applet object compile that took nine minutes.


Siebdev.log

...

ObjMgrBusCompLog Delete 4 0 2011-03-22 15:27:19 BusComp "Repository Application Toolbar" at 179a37b8 was deleted

ObjMgrBusCompLog Delete 4 0 2011-03-22 15:27:19 BusComp "Repository Page Tab" at 17caec30 was deleted

ObjMgrBusCompLog Delete 4 0 2011-03-22 15:27:19 BusComp "Repository Toolbar" at 17c0d868 was deleted

ObjMgrBusCompLog Delete 4 0 2011-03-22 15:27:19 BusComp "Repository Toolbar Item" at 17960868 was deleted

ObjMgrBusCompLog Delete 4 0 2011-03-22 15:27:19 BusComp "Repository System Activity Object" at 17c93930 was deleted

***ObjMgrBusCompLog Delete 4 0 2011-03-22 15:33:44 BusComp "Repository Index" at f1f2d18 was deleted

ObjMgrBusCompLog Delete 4 0 2011-03-22 15:33:44 BusComp "Repository Index Column" at f0c12c0 was deleted

ObjMgrBusCompLog Delete 4 0 2011-03-22 15:33:44 BusComp "Repository Column" at f13a190 was deleted

FDRLog FDRDetail 4 0 2011-03-22 15:33:44 Total # Buffer Wraps = 8

FDRLog FDRDetail 4 0 2011-03-22 15:33:44 Last Wrap Duration = 391 secs

FDRLog FDRDetail 4 0 2011-03-22 15:33:44 Next Absolute Record ID = 16128
...
0 2011-03-22 15:33:44 Business Service 'Siebel Tools Object Compiler' invoke method 'Start' Execute Time: 395.755 seconds.

ObjMgrBusServiceLog InvokeMethod 4 0 2011-03-22 15:33:44 End: Business Service 'Siebel Tools Object Compiler' invoke method: 'Start' at c1fd9b8

ObjMgrBusServiceLog Delete 4 0 2011-03-22 15:33:44 Business Service 'Siebel Tools Object Compiler' was deleted at c1fd9b8

***ObjMgrBusServiceLog Delete 4 0 2011-03-22 15:36:29 Business Service 'Siebel Tools Server Debugger UI' was deleted at 1fa37e8

ObjMgrLog Info 3 0 2011-03-22 15:36:29 (modpref.cpp (922)) SBL-DAT-50808: SharedFileWriter: C:\sea77\Tools\bin\JO_CMS&Siebel Tools.spf_IT10120013X_2176_3840: Unlink succesfull.