Friday, 26 May 2017

Object Store, Object Store Database, File Storage Area and Cache Area (FileNet Content Engine)

Object Store 

A repository for storing objects

 Object metadata is in a database.
 Content can be stored in the database. 
Or, it can be stored in one of the following:
 File storage area
 Fixed storage area


An object store consists of the following:

 One instance of a database (or tablespace) to manage objects
 One or more content stores to hold document content
 An entry in the FileNet P8 GCD

An object store can have one database store, and zero or more file storage areas, and fixed storage areas.
Metadata is information representing an object contained in an object store. The object name, the date it was added, the author, and so forth are all examples of metadata.
Document content is the file itself. Content is optional in an object store document.


For example, if a memorandum is added to an object store, the text in the memorandum is the document content, and the title, author, and date added information that is displayed in Workplace is the metadata. 

What is the object store database?


A container for the object store contents and properties

 Object store properties are metadata that identify the object store and define its behavior.
 Object store content includes metadata and (optional) object content.
Each object store uses one database.
Each database is exclusive to one object store.
Content can be stored directly within the database as BLOBs.

 Recommendation: Restrict size to 10 KB or smaller.

Many system and default metadata properties are available in object store, and user-defined properties can also be created. The unique identifier property for each entry in the object store is the GUID (Globally Unique Identifier), which is generated by the object store when an object is added. The GUID cannot be modified.

BLOB: Binary large object. This term refers to content that is stored in a compact binary format in a database field. Storing the content of large objects as a BLOB is not a very effective use of the database and can have serious impacts on the database performance. IBM recommends that the database store be used only for content that is no larger than 10 KB in size. Larger content sizes can be stored in a file storage area to avoid detrimental impact on the database performance.

A memorandum or report is a relatively small document, so both content and metadata are likely to be stored in the database. A large video file is likely to have the content stored in a file on a hard drive and not in the database for performance reasons. Metadata must include a reference to the video file location. 

What is a file storage area?

An area in the file system to store document content
 Located in a folder on a local or distributed file system.
 Associated metadata is stored in the database store.
Dependent on at least one object store
Use a file storage area in these circumstances:
 Document size is greater than 10 KB, to improve retrieval performance.
 Documents are grouped by different maintenance procedures.
 You must control file deletion technique.
Storage Policy
 To specify whichdocument classes usethe file storage area
 Covered laterContent

All object store content is stored in file storage areas, fixed storage areas, or database storage areas, all of which can be the objects of storage policies (covered later). Consider creating 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.

Database storage areas provide permanent storage for document content. A database storage area is managed by the Content Engine and converts document content into binary large objects (BLOBs) for storage in the database specified as the object store database.

A file storage area contains document content in a hierarchy of folders on a local or shared network drive accessible by the Content Engine server. The content is stored in a folder on a shared network drive.

A fixed storage area is a file storage area that has a connection to a third-party fixed-content system providing additional storage capacity and security. This connection is provided by a Content Engine object called a fixed-content device.

What is a content cache area?

A storage area in a file system used to temporarily hold files and database content for faster retrieval
 By providing local storage of frequently accessed documents without having to repeatedly request them over the network
Caches document content upon retrieval
 From databases 
 From file storage areas
Can be configured to cache content at the time it is added to the object store

A distributed FileNet P8 system has many clients reading content from either a remote file server (for example, over a WAN) or database (possibly on a remote server). To reduce network traffic, content can be cached in the file system on a local server.
Save files to cache when they are added. A cache can be configured to hold files at the time they are added to object stores. This feature is useful if the same documents are likely to be retrieved soon after adding. Do not enable this feature if a content cache area is intended for a site that is heavily used to create new documents if those documents are not subsequently retrieved.

Confidential documents. If you have sensitive or confidential documents, you need to consider whether caching is appropriate. Files are not automatically deleted from the content cache area when the document is deleted from the storage area.






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