How to shutdown Siebel server in < 5 seconds?

Getting late for lunch date with girlfriend and damn Siebel server won't stop. Ever been in such situation??

Well I have been. This is my actual story, don't worry I am not going tell stories about my partner, it's about our favorite Siebel server which sometimes won't come down for good 10 or more minutes, don't expect anything for starting up.

Before I tell you the trick how I made it to my date on time, let me warn you about the repercussions. It's highly dangerous way of shutting down the siebel server, don't try this in important environments, use it only if you have no regards for your employer. And be aware that this could corrupt your installation or cause data corruption.  But hey! do partners care? if you kept them waiting, you will have to face the music for entire year or more.

For the siebel people in love, this is what you have to do to get to your date on time:

1. Open command prompt on Siebel server host(I have tried this windows host only).Get the process id (PID) of Siebel server by running this query:
   
   

   sc queryex siebelservicename

2. And then run following queries in exact sequence by replacing PID found in output of above statement :
   

   taskkill /f /pid 10116
   taskkill /im siebmtshmw.exe /f
   taskkill /im siebmtsh.exe /f
   taskkill /im siebsess.exe /f
   taskkill /im siebprocmw.exe /f
   taskkill /im siebproc.exe /f

Voila ! Siebel server is down . If you are successful you will see memory getting free faster than ever, srf will  be available for update and you can start the Siebel server the way you like.

Siebel Server memory consumption

And will see output like:

Shutdown Siebel server by command line

If you like this post and would like to see more like this, then please plus one this blog.

How to use Siebel Product Configurator API in Workflow?

What is Product Configurator API? 
Siebel product configurator API is bunch of Siebel business services and methods which allows to add order item under a root customizable product which complies with rules and validations defined in product model.

It is much more cryptic and complex if one starts with the bookshelf.

@renjith shared this beautiful document on slack community.This example explains how we can invoke Siebel Configurator API in correct sequence to add line items in an order.

Product Configurator API in Workflow

In this example, workflow first creates new order and a order line item for root customizable product using Siebel Operation Step. And then it invokes Remote Complex Object Instance service(API) methods to add line item under the root customisable product.

Product Model used for demo :

Siebel Product Model

 Business Service executed in sequence are:

1. ISS Copy Service :: Load EAI
2. Remote Complex Object Instance :: LoadInstance
3. Remote Complex Object Instance :: CreateSession
4. Remote Complex Object Instance :: SyncInstance
5. Remote Complex Object Instance :: UnloadInstance

Level of simplicity and details shown in the document is just awesome. Hats off to @renjith!!

Download the document from here. If document has been helpful, then please plus one this post to let @renjith know.

If you have similar articles and would like to share with all viewers then please let me now in comments below. I will be more than happy to share.

Scenario based Interview Questions - Part 2

This is the second post in series of Scenario based Interview Questions . I recommend you to read first post of this series where we discussed Siebel Configuration Interview Questions before going through this post.

If you like the questions and would like to see more like this, then please +1 this post on google.

Scenario based Interview Questions - Part 1

Long ago an avid reader of the blog requested me to post some scenario based interview questions, and sent some good samples as well. I asked the same on siebel-developers slack community and got some really good answers. This is a three post series so stay tuned for next two posts.

If you like the questions and would like to see more like this, then please +1 this post on google, and don't forget to share your answer in comments below.

Is siebelhub.com down?

Is siebelhub.com down ? Probably not. I am sure team is working hard to keep it up , by the time you will read it, site will be back up.

Today for siebelhub.com CDN and host keep erroring out every now and then :( You might see following error if that happens.

Server Error:

Siebel-Hub is down?

or Cloud flare :

I know the feeling, when you are in middle of doing something and best siebel resource "Siebelhub" goes down, bummer!

Today I am going to share tricks that I use to view offline sites. It's not specific to siebelhub.com and can be very useful.

Solution 1: Use wayback machine. 
This will be simplest  and the best solution to view any website in past point in time. Way Back Machine has cached copies of nearly all websites in world and copies are available to search quite easily. I found a good cached copy of siebelhub.com on : http://web.archive.org/web/20150130060038/http://www.siebelhub.com/main/blog

Solution 2 : Use chrome's offline mode
Use this solution if you are offline. Like other browsers offline feature is also available from chrome, however it is hidden in chrome://flags . Good part of this is that you can view cached websites from your mobile device as well.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

To enable cache views open chrome://flags on any device and enable show saved copy button. After this whenever you are offline you will be presented with an option to view the cached copy from your device. However it is not guaranteed that all the webpages you opened will be available in device cache.

BTW, Do you know chrome has on offline game and it starts when you click on the dinosaur?

Solution 3: Use https://www.httrack.com - Desperate Measure
Don't try this at home. This is an open source tool which copies the whole website to your local pc. and the data is cached on your device for as long as you want.

Hope it helps.

PS: Posted just for the love of information present on siebelhub.com. hats off to guys who built it.