About NetApp SnapLock

A FileNet P8 fixed storage area can use NetApp SnapLock as the fixed content device for storing content element files. The content elements can belong to documents from different object stores, and these object stores can belong to different FileNet P8 domains. As with all other fixed storage areas, content files are initially placed in an associated staging area and later migrated to the fixed content device.

Content model

A Content Engine component is a client application of the SnapLock fixed content device (FCD). This client application is called the fixed content provider (FCP). A client application can create a file on the SnapLock device and write data to a file as if the device were a standard file system. When you check in a document, the FCP stores each content element of that document as a separate file on the SnapLock device. This model simplifies implementation and permits unique retention periods to be set on each content element.

Content element file name

The following file name is an example of a name of a content element file stored on the SnapLock device:

FN{C165C546-B24B-4fd0-BE7D-84522319C80D}{921D7DFF-1E2C-4096-9683-0BDCE9069CB3}-0

The name consists of the following parts (with the part from the example shown in parentheses)::

The device GUID and the sequence number guarantee that the file name for each content element is unique.

Content element storage organization

As part of the procedure for creating the fixed storage area, you select a structure for the directory tree on the SnapLock device. This directory tree stores content files in the same fashion as a FileNet P8 file storage area. Specifically, content element files are stored on the last level of the directory tree. Each level in the tree has (23)n directories, where n is the level number. Consequently, from level zero (the root directory) to level three, the number of directories increases in this manner: 1, 23, 529, and 12,167. You select one of the following directory structures when running the Enterprise Manager Fixed Content Device creation wizard:

The subdirectories in each directory are named S0 through S22.

For information about the procedure to create the fixed storage area, see Creating a fixed content device object (NetApp SnapLock).

File migration and WORM committal

When you check in a document, Content Engine migrates all content element files for that document from the staging area to the SnapLock device. All content elements of a document are stored in the same SnapLock directory. After migrating a file, Content Engine immediately sets the state on the file to write once, read many (WORM) to make the file permanently unchangeable. The file also becomes undeletable until the retention period for the file expires.

WORM committal is accomplished by setting the following permissions on the migrated file:

Retention periods

The content retention period is implemented as a date that the retention period expires such as 2036-10-19 12:56:01. The following objects and files have an associated content retention date:

The retention date for a file is set to be within a few minutes or seconds of the retention date for the owner document. The document retention date is always calculated and set by Content Engine. The file retention date is calculated and set by either Content Engine or the SnapLock device depending on the following circumstances:

The SnapLock default retention period can be set using Enterprise Manager. For information about viewing or changing the settings for the retention period (including the user-defined retention period), see Storage area properties (Fixed tab).

IMPORTANT Synchronize the SnapLock clock to be within 5 minutes of the Content Engine server clock. A time difference between the two clocks can cause the ContentRetentionDate property on the Content Engine object to be inaccurate.

SnapLock licensing models

The two SnapLock licensing models, SnapLock Compliance and SnapLock Enterprise, both support WORM storage and retention periods. The key difference between the models is when a volume can be deleted. An administrator can delete an Enterprise volume at any time, whereas you can delete a Compliance volume only after first deleting all volume files. Volume files can be deleted only after their associated retention periods have expired.

Data scrubbing

Data scrubbing is the activity of making the contents of a deleted file unreadable and unrecoverable by writing over the contents of the file. Data scrubbing is configured independently for the following files: