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,
a UNIX file system, or an IBM® General Parallel File System
(GPFS™).
Restriction: You cannot create a file storage area on
an encrypted NTFS volume.
A many-to-many relationship exists between Content Platform 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, the content element files for the document are deleted.
File storage area structure
The
following diagram shows the directory structure of a file storage
area and the relationship between multiple file storage areas:

- Base directory
- The base directory is the user-named parent directory for one
or more file storage areas.
- Root directory
- The root directory is the user-named top-level directory for a
specific file storage area.
- Content directory tree
- The directories at the lowest level of the content directory tree
store the committed content element files. You can configure the number
of content directories by making the directory tree structure either
large or small. A small structure can be ideal for a development environment.
Prerequisites for creating a file storage area
- Plan file storage areas for logical and convenient grouping of documents.
- Create separate file storage areas to ensure efficient document
management. For example, you can create a file storage area to group
documents with the same deletion or backup requirements.
- Create and name the base and root directories and assign proper security privileges to the directories.
- For information about the privileges to assign, see Storage
area security.
- Make the file storage device accessible to every Content Platform Engine server that will use the device.
- Making devices accessible depends on the operating systems and locations of your file servers. For more information, see Preparing
storage areas for object stores.
Optionally, create distributed file system (DFS) links to shared directories to provide a single, logical representation of a file storage location. A link allows the file location to be referenced without the user knowing the location. (In particular, a DFS link might represent a shared directory on a remote server. During file storage area creation, you can select such a DFS link as a local directory.)
Restriction: You cannot use DFS to replicate a file storage
area.
- Install remote file systems with a backup power supply.
- Install any remotely connected file system with an uninterrupted
power supply (UPS) backup system. Failure to gracefully shut down
a server on which a remote file storage area resides can result in
data loss or corruption.