Restore Content Engine

IBM recommends that you restore all pieces of the IBM FileNet P8 platform. However, there may be situations where you want to restore only a portion of a backup set. This topic describes some options for restoring content-related databases and storage areas, and offers examples of the kind of problems you might encounter and, where possible, solutions for them.

File storage area recovery options

When restoring a file storage area, you can restore just the file storage area, both the file storage area and its associated object store database, or just a few select files. If the object store database and file storage area were backed up at the same time, you should restore them both. If only a few files are corrupted or missing from the file storage area, you may choose to restore only the damaged files rather than to perform a full restore.

Following are some of the issues that can arise when you restore only a subset of the enterprise backup.

ISSUE   If you restore a file storage area without restoring the associated object store database, the object store database and the file storage area may be out-of-sync. The object store database may link to non-existent document versions or the database may not have links to existing document versions, or you could edit an outdated version of a workflow definition.
SOLUTION   Use the content consistency checker to identify and resolve the inconsistencies.
     
ISSUE   If you restore a content-related backup (for example, a file store or an object store) without restoring the workflow database from the same backup set, errors can occur during workflow processing, for example, if a referenced attachment is no longer available.
SOLUTION   None. Workflows encountering inconsistencies are automatically routed to the Conductor queue for exception handling.

To restore a file storage area and object store

  1. Stop the Content Engine application on all Content Engine servers.
  2. Restore the file storage area. For a fixed storage area, you must also restore the fixed content device.

    TIP Because the location of the file storage area is stored in the GCD database, you must restore a file storage area to the same location from which it was backed up. If you want to restore a file storage area to a new location, use the Move File Storage Area wizard. See Move a file storage area for more information.

  3. If the file storage area is configured for content-based retrieval, restore the corresponding index storage areas. (Optionally, you can reindex the file storage area once the restore is complete.)
  4. Restore the object store database.
  5. Clear the content cache associated with the object store by manually deleting the contents of the content cache folder.
  6. Start the Content Engine application on all Content Engine servers.

To restore a file storage area only

  1. Use Enterprise Manager to disable the file storage area you plan to restore.
  2. Restore the file storage area using the same utility used to create the backup.
  3. If the file storage area is configured for content-based retrieval, restore the corresponding index storage areas. (Optionally, you can reindex the file storage area once the restore is complete.)
  4. Enable the file storage area after completing the restore.
  5. Run the content consistency checker to ensure the file storage area and the object store database are synchronized.
  6. Clear the content cache associated with the object store by manually deleting the contents of the content cache folder.

To restore individual files to a file storage area

In the event that a few files in a file storage area have become corrupted or are missing, you can restore only the affected files rather than the entire file storage area.

  1. Identify the corrupted and missing files.
  2. Overwrite the corrupted and missing files from the latest backup that contains the missing or damaged files.
  3. Run the content consistency checker to ensure the file storage area and the object store database are synchronized.

To restore an object store only

  1. Stop the Content Engine application on all Content Engine servers.
  2. Restore the object store database.
  3. Start the Content Engine application on all Content Engine servers.
  4. Run the content consistency checker to ensure the file storage area and the object store database are synchronized.
  5. Clear the content cache associated with the object store by manually deleting the contents of the content cache folder.