Retention for the IBM Spectrum Protect fixed content device

The IBM Spectrum Protect can operate in aligned and unaligned mode.

In both aligned and unaligned modes you can use an IBM Spectrum Protect management class to apply retention to content objects. This also prevents automatic deletion of the object by the IBM Spectrum Protect fixed content device. The IBM Spectrum Protect management class is defined on the associated fixed storage area.

Retention in aligned mode

Retention in IBM Spectrum Protect is defined at the management class level. Content Platform Engine applies retention to content objects stored in IBM Spectrum Protect by referencing the appropriate management class at write time. IBM Spectrum Protect does not provide capabilities for applications to modify retention at the content object level. Retention cannot be altered after content objects are written to the IBM Spectrum Protect server. Retention can be applied only when a document is checked in and the retention setting of the document must match the retention duration defined by the IBM Spectrum Protect management class. For example, if the Spectrum Protect management class defines a retention period of 365 days, then the default retention value of the document class in the content engine must be set to 365 days from the time that the document is checked in (there is a built-in 12 hour tolerance to account for time zone and clock differences). In aligned mode, the document retention setting cannot be extended, and cannot be set to permanent or indefinite. The Spectrum Protect management class settings must be set to the following values:

RETINIT=EVENT
RETVER=0
RETMIN=actual retention period

Spectrum Protect has built-in functionality to automatically delete content objects after the retention period of the management class they relate to has expired. Therefore, in order for Content Platform Engine and Content Cortex applications to retain control over the deletion of content objects they own, and to preserve the referential integrity of the system, Spectrum Protect automatic deletion must be inhibited. To that end, the content engine leverages the Spectrum Protect event-based retention activation mechanism only at delete time.

Retention in unaligned mode

Retention is enforced by the Content Platform Engine and is applied to content objects based on the Spectrum Protect management class. The retention setting for the document can be set to any valid value. The retention setting of the objects in Spectrum Protect is not updated when the retention setting for the document on the content engine is altered.

The Spectrum Protect management class settings can be set to the following values:

RETINIT=EVENT
RETVER=0
RETMIN=0

If the values for RETVER or RETMIN are not set to 0, the content engine ignores the setting when checking in documents. However, the content engine prevents document deletion until the Spectrum Protect retention period on the content objects has expired. In addition, the content of the document cannot be moved to another storage area until the retention period has expired.