Realms configuration

Realms allow a logical separation of data on the storage level1. For further background information, see the archive model description in the product description [T Product Description] and the chapter Archive configuration in the Integration Service system manual [SM IS].

Click the Archives > Realms tab to compose realms and associate them with the archives configured on the Archives tab.

Figure 82: Archives – realms

Operations with realms:

You can perform the following actions with realms:

  • add / delete a realm

  • modify an existing realm: edit its properties and add or remove archives associated with the realm

To add / delete realms

  • Click Add Realm. Enter the name of a new realm in the creation dialog and click OK. The realm appears on the bottom of the list.

  • If desired, click Delete Realm and confirm.

  • Click Save to finalize the setting.

To modify a realm

  • Select the realm to be changed in the list box (see figure Archives – realms ).

  • Change the realm properties; see table Archives – realm properties for details.

  • Compose the list of the associated archives.

  • To add an archive to the realm, do the following:

    • Select an existing archive in the list Available Archives and compose the list of Used Archives from the list of Available Archives using right / left arrows / .

    • To add or remove all the listed archives, click the corresponding buttons / .

  • To delete an archive from the realm, do the following:

    • Select a previously added archive in the Used Archives area.

    • Click Remove Archive from Realm and confirm.

  • You can set up a realm to handle temporary outages of archives belonging to it assuming that the realm contains at least 2 archives. The handling of temporary outages can be configured to work automatically. The following configuration must be set to enable automatic recovery in case of temporary outages:

    • Select Auto Recovery to activate writing auto recovery entries for those files that could not be written to archives in the realm due to temporary outages. By default writing auto recovery entries is disabled.

    • The field Min Copy specifies the minimal number of copies (at least 1) that have to be written successfully in order for an archiving operation such as archiving a document in the client to succeed.

    • By default the value is set to the number of archives in the realm (the maximum number), which effectively disables the auto recovery mechanism. Only if this value is lower than the maximum, automatic handling of temporary archive outages can take place (a.k.a. auto recovery). For further information on auto recovery, refer to the chapter ARM auto recover mode in the system manual [SM IS].

  • Click Save to finalize your changes. The newly created archive appears in the list.

Parameter

Description

Hash Algorithm

A hash value based on this algorithm is created for each document that is being stored in ImageMaster.

Single Instance

Select this feature only if you must enable data deduplication for the current realm.

Consider carefully if you need this feature, which can conflict with other features:

If you activate single instancing, you will not be able to drop partitions. There may be use cases, however, when you want to organize your data in partitions just for the purpose of being able to drop these systematically in the future, e.g. due to strict data privacy requirements.

Single instancing avoids redundancy for already archived objects. If it is attempted to store the same object repeatedly, the system will detect the existing object and only introduce an internal reference to this object instance.

This feature requires an index to be manually created in the database. For details see:

For related information see:

Standard

A standard realm is always required. This realm represents the storage location associated with a document that is being archived in ImageMaster.

If no system or temporary realms are specified (see next options), all of the system and temporary document types will also be stored in the standard realm. This should only be done if the standard realm allows deletion. There may be cases however, when the standard realm is fitted with special write protection or based on read-only media. In such a case you must provide additional realms “System” and “Temporary” (see next options) to avoid that your storage is cluttered up with document data that is of a temporary nature only.

System

The system realm is used for functionality that relies on internal system document types, e.g. export functionality supported by the ImageMaster clients.

A system realm is always required if the standard realm is fitted with special write protection or based on read-only media.

Temporary

The temporary realm is used to temporarily store documents. This is required in certain use cases like single instancing, or with the Signature Service.

A temporary realm is always required if the standard realm is fitted with special write protection or based on read-only media.

Auto Recovery

Auto recovery only makes sense if you plan to use redundant storage (e.g. writing to two archive storage systems in parallel):

If you enable auto recovery, ImageMaster will create internal recovery entries for each storage operation (read, write, update, delete). If one storage system suffers from a temporary outage, and returns to a functional state again, based on these recovery entries, ImageMaster resynchronizes the storage automatically.

To configure this feature, also see topic Auto recovery configuration.

Min Copy

This parameter specifies the minimal number of copies (at least 1) that have to be written successfully so that archiving is considered successful by the ImageMaster client. The minimum value is 1 and the default is set to the number of archives in the realm (which is the maximum). Also see the related chapter ARM auto recover mode in the system manual [SM IS].

Table 27: Archives – realm properties