A fixed storage area is an area that consists of two storage repositories: a staging area and a fixed content device. The fixed content device has its own distinct operating software that runs independently of the network file system to which the device is connected. The device typically has one of more of the following attributes:
You can use the following products for fixed content devices:
The staging area of a fixed storage area behaves as if it were a file storage area in many respects. In particular, staging areas and file storage areas share the following attributes:
For information about these attributes, see Storage areas.
The content element files that constitute the content set for a document are written to the staging area first. Document content sets that later become immutable are migrated from the staging area to the fixed content device. Annotation content sets never become immutable and are consequently never migrated to the device. Document content sets become immutable when you check in the document. For information about document checkins and content mutability, see About versioning.
The staging area follows the same content element model as the file storage area. For information about this model, see File storage areas.
This graphic shows the relationship between components in a fixed storage area and other Content Engine components:
Global Configuration Data (GCD)
Each fixed storage area has a set of configuration data which is stored in the GCD. You enter this data when you run the Create a Fixed Content Device wizard. (The wizard creates the Content Engine object that represents the fixed content device.) The configuration data contains essential information including the complete shared path to the root directory of the staging area. This data allows references to content in the object store database to contain only the specifics about the content. For example, the path to each document file is not stored. Content Engine computes the path from the configuration information and information about the document.
A Content Engine object called the fixed content provider (FCP) provides the connection between the staging area and the device. The FCP establishes the connection based on the configuration parameters associated with the fixed content device object. Each Content Engine server has one connection to the device and a limited number of channels that can be open concurrently.
Inbound
The inbound area is a subdirectory in the staging area that Content Engine uses 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
The content area is the directories that contain the content sets of documents that have been saved. When a document is saved, Content Engine moves the content from the inbound area to the content area. Except as otherwise noted, the content area for a fixed storage area behaves the same as the content area for a file storage area. For more information about the content directories, see File storage areas.
Full-text indexing is optionally performed on a content file in the content area. The indexing occurs before file migration. If reindexing occurs later on, a migrated file is temporarily restored to a file outside of the content area. (Indexing is discussed in more detail in the Index area section of this topic.)
Referrals
All content of a fixed storage area that has been migrated to a fixed content device has an associated referral. A referral is based on the GUID of the Content Engine document object and contains entries for all content elements of the document. One referral exists for each document. To access content from a fixed content device, Content Engine retrieves the referral from the object store and uses the referral to access the content.
Migration queue
The migration queue contains two types of requests: migration requests and deletion requests. Each request is for a specific content element. Content Engine creates migration and deletion requests for the content elements of a document upon completion of the check-in of the document. Content Engine performs the following actions to process a migration request:
- Copies the content from the staging area to the fixed content device.
- Creates a referral for the copied content.
Content Engine deletes the staging area content to process the deletion request. If the content is locked for reading, the lock prevents the deletion request from being processed immediately.
For information about creating a fixed storage area, see Creating a fixed storage area.
You manage the staging area of a fixed storage area in the same way as a file storage area. The guidelines in this section mirror the guidelines for file storage area management. For information about file area management, see File storage areas.
The following guidelines concern staging area management: