Fixed storage areas
A fixed storage area is an external (non-FileNet® P8) fixed content system that provides storage and data retention.
A fixed storage area consists of a file storage staging area on the FileNet P8 system and a separate content device. The content device can be a fixed content device or a federated content system. Content devices have distinct operating software that runs independently of the storage that it manages.
Initially Content Platform Engine writes the object content to the staging area. While in the staging area, the object content element list can be freely modified. The object content is later migrated from the staging area to the fixed device. Annotation content is never migrated to the content device. When you check in an object content device, the object content for the specific version of the object becomes immutable. For information about checking in objects and content mutability, see Document versioning overview.
The fixed content provider on the Content Platform Engine defines the connection between the staging area and the device.
- Fixed storage areas and file storage areas are implemented as directory structures on the file system.
- Fixed storage areas have a many-to-many relationship with Content Platform Engine servers.
- Fixed storage areas and file storage areas are implemented on the same file systems.
- Back up the staging area. The staging area might have content that is not yet migrated to the content device. In addition, the staging area might have annotation content that stays in the staging area and does not migrate to the content device
- Make the staging area accessible from every Content Platform Engine server in the FileNet P8 domain. Administration Console for Content Platform Engine displays information only for connected servers.
The major FileNet P8 components tied to fixed storage areas are:
- Global Configuration Database
- Each fixed content device has a set of configuration data that
is stored in the global configuration database. The configuration
data contains the essential information needed to connect to the device.
The fixed content provider establishes the connection based on the configuration parameters that are associated with the content device object. Each Content Platform Engine server has one connection definition to the device and a number of connections that can be open concurrently. The connections may be limited by the FCP Pool property or a property specific to the device.
- Inbound
- The inbound area is a subdirectory in the staging area that is used as a work area for uploading new content. The inbound area for a staging area behaves the same as an inbound area of a file storage area.
- Content
- When an object is saved, the Content Platform Engine moves the content from the inbound area to a directory under the content area. The content area for a fixed storage area behaves in the same manner as the content area for a file storage area. For more information about the content directories, see file storage areas. Full-text indexing can optionally be used on a content file in the content area. Fixed and federated content is always copied to a file outside the content area for indexing and occurs before file migration. If reindexing occurs at a later time, a migrated file is temporarily restored to a file outside of the content area.
- Referrals
- All documents whose content elements have migrated to a content device have an associated referral. A referral is based on the identifier (GUID) of the Content Platform Engine object and contains entries for all content elements of the object. One referral exists for each object and is stored at the object level. An object with multiple content elements has a single referral. To access content from a content device, Content Platform Engine retrieves the referral from the object store and uses the referral to access the content.
- Migration queue
- The migration queue contains migration requests and deletion requests.
Each request is for a specific content element. Content Platform Engine creates migration requests
for the content elements of an object after you check in the object.
When completing a migration request the Content Platform Engine completes the following
tasks:
- Copies the content from the staging area to the content device.
- Creates a referral for the copied content.
Content Platform Engine creates deletion requests for the content elements of a document when a deleting the document. A deletion request causes Content Platform Engine to delete the content that might still be in the staging area or on the device. If the delete cannot be performed which is the case when the content is locked for reading, then the delete operation is retried until the request is successful.