A fixed storage area is an external (non-FileNet® P8) fixed content system that provides storage and data retention.
A fixed storage area consists of a file storage staging area on
the FileNet P8 system
and a separate content device. The content device can be a fixed
content device or a federated content system. Content devices have
distinct operating software that runs independently of the storage
that it manages.
Initially Content Platform Engine writes
the object content to the staging area. While in the staging area,
the object content element list can be freely modified. The object
content is later migrated from the staging area to the fixed device.
Annotation content is never migrated to the content device. When you
check in an object content device, the object content for the specific
version of the object becomes immutable. For information about checking
in objects and content mutability, see Document versioning overview.
The fixed content provider on the Content Platform Engine defines the connection
between the staging area and the device.
Fixed storage areas have attributes similar to file storage areas:
- Fixed storage areas and file storage areas are implemented as
directory structures on the file system.
- Fixed storage areas have a many-to-many relationship with Content Platform Engine servers.
- Fixed storage areas and file storage areas are implemented on
the same file systems.
Use the following guidelines to manage a fixed storage area:
- Back up the staging area. The staging area might have content
that is not yet migrated to the content device. In addition, the staging
area might have annotation content that stays in the staging area
and does not migrate to the content device
- Make the staging area accessible from every Content Platform Engine server in the FileNet P8 domain. Administration Console for Content Platform Engine displays information
only for connected servers.
The major FileNet P8 components
tied to fixed storage areas are:
- Global Configuration Database
- Each fixed content device has a set of configuration data that
is stored in the global configuration database. The configuration
data contains the essential information needed to connect to the device.
The
fixed content provider establishes the connection based on the configuration
parameters that are associated with the content device object. Each Content Platform Engine server has one connection
definition to the device and a number of connections that can be open
concurrently. The connections may be limited by the FCP Pool property
or a property specific to the device.
- Inbound
- The inbound area is a subdirectory in the staging area that is
used 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
- When an object is saved, the Content Platform Engine moves the content from
the inbound area to a directory under the content area. The content
area for a fixed storage area behaves in the same manner as the content
area for a file storage area. For more information about the content
directories, see file storage areas. Full-text indexing can
optionally be used on a content file in the content area. Fixed and
federated content is always copied to a file outside the content area
for indexing and occurs before file migration. If reindexing occurs
at a later time, a migrated file is temporarily restored to a file
outside of the content area.
- Referrals
- All documents whose content elements have migrated to a content
device have an associated referral. A referral is based on the identifier
(GUID) of the Content Platform Engine object
and contains entries for all content elements of the object. One referral
exists for each object and is stored at the object level. An object
with multiple content elements has a single referral. To access content
from a content device, Content Platform Engine retrieves
the referral from the object store and uses the referral to access
the content.
- Migration queue
- The migration queue contains migration requests and deletion requests.
Each request is for a specific content element. Content Platform Engine creates migration requests
for the content elements of an object after you check in the object.
When completing a migration request the Content Platform Engine completes the following
tasks:
- Copies the content from the staging area to the content device.
- Creates a referral for the copied content.
Content Platform Engine creates
deletion requests for the content elements of a document when a deleting
the document. A deletion request causes Content Platform Engine to delete the content
that might still be in the staging area or on the device. If the
delete cannot be performed which is the case when the content is locked
for reading, then the delete operation is retried until the request
is successful.