File storage areas

A file storage area is an area that contains document content in a directory tree on a local or shared network drive. The disk drive can be a Windows® NTFS volume or a UNIX file system.

RESTRICTION You cannot create a file storage area on an encrypted NTFS volume.

A many-to-many relationship exists between Content Engine servers and file storage areas: many servers can manage one file storage area, and a single server can manage multiple file storage areas.

Content element model

A document can have zero or more content elements. An element is either a content reference element or a content transfer element. A content transfer element has an associated content file in the file storage area. This file is uniquely identified by the combination of the document object identifier (GUID) and an integer sequence number. Within the context of a particular document, a content file is uniquely identified by the sequence number.

When you check in a document, the document content set becomes immutable. Although no content element for a checked-in document can be added or deleted, the entire document can still be deleted. When you delete a document, Content Engine deletes the content element files for the document.

File storage area structure

The following diagram shows the directory structure of a file storage area and the relationship between multiple file storage areas:

     The hierarchical relationship between the Base, Root, and Content directories.

File storage area creation

You create a file storage area by running the Create a Storage Area wizard in Enterprise Manager. For information about the creation procedure, see Create a storage area. Before running the wizard, you must create and name the base and root directories and assign proper security privileges to the directories. (The wizard creates and names the content directories.) For information about the privileges to assign, see Storage area security.

File storage area management

The following guidelines concern file storage area management: