Retention for the Centera fixed content device (deprecated)

The Centera fixed content device can operate in aligned or unaligned mode.

Retention in unaligned mode

Retention is enforced by Content Platform Engine and is not applied to the Centera device. Although the object retention setting on the Content Platform Engine can be set to any valid value, content objects are created on the Centera device without retention. In addition, changes to the retention setting of objects on the Content Platform Engine are not reflected on the fixed content device.

In order to support unaligned mode, the Centera device must be operating in a compliance mode that permits content creation without retention.

Retention in aligned mode

Retention is controlled by both Content Platform Engine and the Centera fixed content device.

The following table compares the Content Platform Engine object retention setting for an object with the corresponding Centera retention setting that is applied to the object content.
Content Platform Engine object retention setting Centera object content retention setting
Not set No retention period is applied to the object content.
Permanent An infinite retention period is applied to the object content.
Indefinite The C-Clip retention period is set to 0, and retention is enabled on the C-Clip with a 0 retention period.
Date value A retention period in seconds is applied to the object content. The retention setting is based on the retention value for the object on the Content Platform Engine and the previous state of the Centera object content.

For new Centera object, the C-Clip retention period is computed as the difference between the current time of the Content Platform Engine server and the retention value.

For an existing Centera object:
  • If the object was created previous releases, the retention period is the difference between the original object retention date value and the new object retention date value and the difference is added to the current retention period of the Centera content object.
  • If the object was created with the current release, the retention period is the difference between the time the original C-Clip was created (in terms of the Content Platform Engine system clock) and the object retention date value.
Extending the retention for an existing Centera content object results in the creation of a new C-Clip. Content Platform Engine keeps track of C-Clips it creates when extending retention and deletes all related C-Clips for a content object when the associated object is deleted.

In the case where you want to initiate retention for an existing Centera content object, the retention period is the difference between the current time of the Content Platform Engine server and the retention date value. A new C-Clip is not created when retention is initiated.

The following example demonstrates the importance of synchronizing the Centera cluster time with the Content Cortex system clock.

Consider a current time on the Content Platform Engine server of 2012.02.25 10:00:01 and a Content Cortex object retention value of 2012.02.27 10:00:01 (48 hours in the future). When Content Platform Engine applies retention, it calculates the retention period seconds as [retention-seconds = Content Cortex object retention value – Centera-cluster-time]. In this example, the retention seconds are computed as 2012.02.27 10:00:01 - 2012.02.25 10:00:01, resulting in a retention period of 172,800 seconds and the Centera object will not be eligible for deletion for 172,800 seconds. The content will be eligible for deletion when the Content Platform Engine clock reaches 2012.02.27 10:00:01. However, if the Centera cluster time is 1 hour earlier than the Content Platform Engine system clock, the Centera object will be eligible for deletion when the Centera cluster time reaches 2012.02.27 Content Platform Engine clock reaches 2012.02.27 09:00:01.