IBM FileNet Content Manager Implementation Best Practices and Recommendations

IBM FileNet Content Manager Implementation Best Practices and Recommendations

Released June 2013
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: None

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Book description

IBM® FileNet® Content Manager Version 5.2 provides full content lifecycle and extensive document management capabilities for digital content. IBM FileNet Content Manager is tightly integrated with the family of IBM FileNet products based on the IBM FileNet P8 technical platform. IBM FileNet Content Manager serves as the core content management, security management, and storage management engine for the products.

This IBM Redbooks® publication covers the implementation best practices and recommendations for solutions that use IBM FileNet Content Manager. It introduces the functions and features of IBM FileNet Content Manager, common use cases of the product, and a design methodology that provides implementation guidance from requirements analysis through production use of the solution. We address administrative topics of an IBM FileNet Content Manager solution, including deployment, system administration and maintenance, and troubleshooting.

Implementation topics include system architecture design with various options for scaling an IBM FileNet Content Manager system, capacity planning, and design of repository design logical structure, security practices, and application design. An important implementation topic is business continuity. We define business continuity, high availability, and disaster recovery concepts and describe options for those when implementing IBM FileNet Content Manager solutions.

Many solutions are essentially a combination of information input (ingestion), storage, information processing, and presentation and delivery. We discuss some solution building blocks that designers can combine to build an IBM FileNet Content Manager solution.

This book is intended to be used in conjunction with product manuals and online help to provide guidance to architects and designers about implementing IBM FileNet Content Manager solutions.

Many of the features and practices described in the book also apply to previous versions of IBM FileNet Content Manager.

Table of contents

  1. Front cover
  2. Notices
    1. Trademarks
  3. Preface
    1. Authors
    2. Now you can become a published author, too!
    3. Comments welcome
    4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
  4. Summary of changes
    1. June 2013, Second Edition
  5. Chapter 1. Introduction to IBM FileNet Content Manager
    1. 1.1 Industry challenges and IBM solutions benefits
      1. 1.1.1 Industry challenges
      2. 1.1.2 Information lifecycle governance
      3. 1.1.3 Benefits of IBM ECM solutions
    2. 1.2 IBM FileNet P8 Platform
      1. 1.2.1 Platform components
      2. 1.2.2 Enterprise capabilities
    3. 1.3 IBM FileNet Content Manager
      1. 1.3.1 Basic capabilities
      2. 1.3.2 Enterprise foundation
    4. 1.4 IBM FileNet P8 and related products
      1. 1.4.1 Content products
      2. 1.4.2 Ingestion products
      3. 1.4.3 Process products
      4. 1.4.4 Compliance products
      5. 1.4.5 Collaboration products
    5. 1.5 Conclusion
  6. Chapter 2. Solution examples and design methodology
    1. 2.1 P8 Content Manager sample solutions
      1. 2.1.1 Policy document creation
      2. 2.1.2 Processing insurance claims
      3. 2.1.3 Archiving SAP invoices
      4. 2.1.4 Email capture for compliance
      5. 2.1.5 Knowledge management through collaboration
    2. 2.2 Design methodology
      1. 2.2.1 Defining ECM strategy
      2. 2.2.2 Requirements analysis
      3. 2.2.3 Functional design
      4. 2.2.4 System architecture design
      5. 2.2.5 Repository design
      6. 2.2.6 Security model design
      7. 2.2.7 Application design
      8. 2.2.8 Test planning
      9. 2.2.9 Deployment
      10. 2.2.10 Maintenance planning
    3. 2.3 Conclusion
  7. Chapter 3. System architecture
    1. 3.1 Basic components
      1. 3.1.1 Additional components
      2. 3.1.2 Data organization
      3. 3.1.3 Object stores
      4. 3.1.4 Storage considerations
      5. 3.1.5 Workflow systems
      6. 3.1.6 Management tools
      7. 3.1.7 Bulk Import Tool
      8. 3.1.8 Hardware layout
      9. 3.1.9 Setting up a sandbox or demo environment
      10. 3.1.10 Using Information Center and other product documentation
    2. 3.2 Scalability
      1. 3.2.1 Horizontal scalability
      2. 3.2.2 Vertical scalability
      3. 3.2.3 Clustering
      4. 3.2.4 P8 domain and object store scaling
      5. 3.2.5 Scaling Content Search Services
    3. 3.3 Virtualization
      1. 3.3.1 A virtualized IBM FileNet Content Manager system
    4. 3.4 Shared infrastructure
      1. 3.4.1 Communication between the engines
      2. 3.4.2 Data segregation
      3. 3.4.3 Levels of data segregation
      4. 3.4.4 Degree of sharing
      5. 3.4.5 Cloud deployments
    5. 3.5 Geographically distributed systems
      1. 3.5.1 Site, virtual server, and server configuration
      2. 3.5.2 Distributed content caching model
      3. 3.5.3 Request forwarding
      4. 3.5.4 Distributed workflow systems
      5. 3.5.5 Use cases for distributed systems
    6. 3.6 Conclusion
  8. Chapter 4. Repository design
    1. 4.1 Repository design goals
    2. 4.2 Object-oriented design
      1. 4.2.1 Design approaches
      2. 4.2.2 Design processes
    3. 4.3 Repository naming standards
      1. 4.3.1 Display name
      2. 4.3.2 Symbolic name
      3. 4.3.3 Uniqueness
      4. 4.3.4 Taxonomy
      5. 4.3.5 Consistency
      6. 4.3.6 Object stores
      7. 4.3.7 Storage areas
      8. 4.3.8 Document, custom object, and folder classes
      9. 4.3.9 Property templates
      10. 4.3.10 Choice lists
    4. 4.4 Populating a repository
      1. 4.4.1 Generic object system properties
      2. 4.4.2 Creating design elements
    5. 4.5 Repository organizational objects
    6. 4.6 Global configuration database (GCD)
    7. 4.7 Repository design objects
      1. 4.7.1 Object stores
      2. 4.7.2 Storage areas
      3. 4.7.3 Document classes
      4. 4.7.4 Folder classes
      5. 4.7.5 Custom object classes
      6. 4.7.6 Custom root classes
      7. 4.7.7 Property templates
      8. 4.7.8 Choice lists
      9. 4.7.9 Annotations
      10. 4.7.10 Document lifecycles
      11. 4.7.11 Events and subscriptions
      12. 4.7.12 Marking sets
    8. 4.8 Repository content objects
      1. 4.8.1 Folder objects
      2. 4.8.2 Other objects
    9. 4.9 Storage media
      1. 4.9.1 Catalog
      2. 4.9.2 Database stores
      3. 4.9.3 File stores
      4. 4.9.4 About storage policies
      5. 4.9.5 Using fixed storage devices
    10. 4.10 Considerations for multiple object stores
    11. 4.11 Retention management and automatic disposal
      1. 4.11.1 Retention management
      2. 4.11.2 Automatic disposition
      3. 4.11.3 Retention update
    12. 4.12 P8 Content Manager searches
      1. 4.12.1 User-invoked searches
      2. 4.12.2 Content-based search
      3. 4.12.3 Searches for repository maintenance
      4. 4.12.4 CBR query optimization
    13. 4.13 Conclusion
  9. Chapter 5. Security
    1. 5.1 Access control
    2. 5.2 Authentication
      1. 5.2.1 Use of JAAS
      2. 5.2.2 Directory service users and groups
      3. 5.2.3 Security context
    3. 5.3 Authorization
      1. 5.3.1 Access rights
      2. 5.3.2 Security descriptor
      3. 5.3.3 Default security descriptor
      4. 5.3.4 Security templates
      5. 5.3.5 Proxies
      6. 5.3.6 Markings
      7. 5.3.7 The access check
      8. 5.3.8 Auditing
    4. 5.4 Security best practices
      1. 5.4.1 Physical security measures
      2. 5.4.2 Directory service configuration
      3. 5.4.3 Defining the security approach
      4. 5.4.4 Planning for evolution
      5. 5.4.5 Role-based access control using inheritance
      6. 5.4.6 Using markings
      7. 5.4.7 Effective use of auditing
      8. 5.4.8 Cache management
  10. Chapter 6. Application design
    1. 6.1 IBM FileNet P8 applications
      1. 6.1.1 IBM Administration Console for Content Platform Engine
      2. 6.1.2 IBM Content Navigator
    2. 6.2 Application technologies
      1. 6.2.1 Traditional Java thick clients
      2. 6.2.2 Java applets
      3. 6.2.3 Java EE web applications and other components
      4. 6.2.4 .NET components
    3. 6.3 Principles for application design
      1. 6.3.1 Available P8 Content Manager APIs
      2. 6.3.2 Transports available with the APIs
      3. 6.3.3 Minimizing round-trips
      4. 6.3.4 Parallel processing
      5. 6.3.5 Client-side transactions
      6. 6.3.6 Creating a custom AddOn
      7. 6.3.7 Using the JDBC interface for reporting
      8. 6.3.8 Exploiting the active content event model
      9. 6.3.9 Logging
      10. 6.3.10 Creating a data model
  11. Chapter 7. Business continuity
    1. 7.1 Defining business continuity
    2. 7.2 Defining high availability (HA)
    3. 7.3 Implementing a high availability solution
      1. 7.3.1 Load-balanced server farms
      2. 7.3.2 Active-passive server clusters
      3. 7.3.3 Geographically dispersed server clusters and server farms
      4. 7.3.4 Server cluster products
      5. 7.3.5 Comparing and contrasting farms to clusters
      6. 7.3.6 Inconsistent industry terminology
      7. 7.3.7 Server virtualization and high availability
    4. 7.4 Defining disaster recovery (DR)
      1. 7.4.1 Disaster recovery concepts
    5. 7.5 Implementing a disaster recovery solution
      1. 7.5.1 Replication
      2. 7.5.2 Automated site failover
      3. 7.5.3 Disaster recovery approaches
    6. 7.6 Best practices
    7. 7.7 Reference documentation
  12. Chapter 8. Capacity planning with IBM Content Capacity Planner
    1. 8.1 IBM Content Capacity Planner
      1. 8.1.1 Example use cases for IBM Content Capacity Planner
      2. 8.1.2 Capacity planning for new systems
      3. 8.1.3 IBM Content Capacity Planner output
      4. 8.1.4 Predictions from a baseline
      5. 8.1.5 Best practices
    2. 8.2 IBM FileNet Disksizing Tool spreadsheet
    3. 8.3 Performance-related reference documentation
      1. 8.3.1 Standard product documentation
      2. 8.3.2 Benchmark papers
    4. 8.4 Conclusion
  13. Chapter 9. Deployment
    1. 9.1 Overview
    2. 9.2 Deployment environments
      1. 9.2.1 Single stage development environment
      2. 9.2.2 Multi-stage deployment environments
    3. 9.3 Deployment by using a formal methodology
      1. 9.3.1 Release management
      2. 9.3.2 Change management
      3. 9.3.3 Configuration management
      4. 9.3.4 Testing
    4. 9.4 Deployment approaches
      1. 9.4.1 Cloning
      2. 9.4.2 Custom-scripted export, transform, and import
      3. 9.4.3 Scripted generation
    5. 9.5 Deployment based on cloning
      1. 9.5.1 Cloning an object store
      2. 9.5.2 Topology
      3. 9.5.3 Access to the environment
      4. 9.5.4 Post-cloning activities
      5. 9.5.5 Backup changes
    6. 9.6 Deployment by export, transform, and import
      1. 9.6.1 Incremental deployment compared to full deployment
      2. 9.6.2 Reducing the complexity of inter-object relationships
      3. 9.6.3 Deployment automation
    7. 9.7 FileNet Content Manager deployment
      1. 9.7.1 FileNet Content Manager export
      2. 9.7.2 CE-objects transformation
      3. 9.7.3 Content Platform Engine import best practice
      4. 9.7.4 IBM FileNet Deployment Manager
      5. 9.7.5 Exporting and importing other components
    8. 9.8 Conclusion
  14. Chapter 10. System administration and maintenance
    1. 10.1 IBM FileNet Content Manager administrative roles
    2. 10.2 Online help and existing documentation
      1. 10.2.1 Tips for working with the information center
      2. 10.2.2 Other useful documentation
    3. 10.3 Monitoring the environment
    4. 10.4 Capacity monitoring and growth prediction
      1. 10.4.1 IBM System Dashboard for ECM
      2. 10.4.2 Dashboard
      3. 10.4.3 IBM ECM System Monitor
    5. 10.5 Tracing
    6. 10.6 Auditing
    7. 10.7 Managing the logs
      1. 10.7.1 Log location
      2. 10.7.2 Log file size
      3. 10.7.3 Trace logs
      4. 10.7.4 Audit logs
    8. 10.8 System administration tools
      1. 10.8.1 Configuration Manager
      2. 10.8.2 IBM Administration Console for Content Platform Engine
      3. 10.8.3 Consistency checker
      4. 10.8.4 Database tools
      5. 10.8.5 Application server administration tools
      6. 10.8.6 Workflow system tools
      7. 10.8.7 IBM Content Navigator tools
    9. 10.9 Reducing storage costs
      1. 10.9.1 Retention rules
      2. 10.9.2 Using the sweep framework
      3. 10.9.3 Monitoring storage and cache usage
    10. 10.10 Using virus scan software
    11. 10.11 Applying fixes
      1. 10.11.1 Tracking fixes
      2. 10.11.2 Checking compatibility and build numbers
      3. 10.11.3 Reporting issues and downloading fixes
    12. 10.12 Updating security
    13. 10.13 Backup and restore
      1. 10.13.1 System components requiring backup
      2. 10.13.2 Offline backup
      3. 10.13.3 Online backup
      4. 10.13.4 System restore
      5. 10.13.5 Application consistency check
    14. 10.14 Task schedule
    15. 10.15 Conclusion
  15. Chapter 11. Upgrade and migration
    1. 11.1 Terminology
      1. 11.1.1 Packages
      2. 11.1.2 Package naming conventions
      3. 11.1.3 Installation rules
      4. 11.1.4 Update types
    2. 11.2 Planning for updates
      1. 11.2.1 Getting started
      2. 11.2.2 Practicing the update
      3. 11.2.3 Documenting the process
    3. 11.3 Upgrading to a new software release
      1. 11.3.1 Staging the upgrade
      2. 11.3.2 Big-bang upgrade
    4. 11.4 Migration best practices
    5. 11.5 Special considerations for upgrade
      1. 11.5.1 Reference information
    6. 11.6 Conclusion
  16. Chapter 12. Troubleshooting
    1. 12.1 A typical P8 Content Manager system
    2. 12.2 Different types of troubleshooting
    3. 12.3 Creating customized best practice guides
    4. 12.4 General troubleshooting
    5. 12.5 Troubleshooting the installation or upgrade
    6. 12.6 Troubleshooting during application development
    7. 12.7 Troubleshooting functional issues
      1. 12.7.1 Review the logs
      2. 12.7.2 Review additional sources for information about issues
    8. 12.8 Troubleshooting production issues
    9. 12.9 Troubleshooting performance issues
      1. 12.9.1 Performance tuning guide
      2. 12.9.2 Gathering performance data
      3. 12.9.3 Slow logon
      4. 12.9.4 Slow searches
      5. 12.9.5 Storage performance issues
      6. 12.9.6 Tuning sweep jobs
    10. 12.10 Opening PMRs
      1. 12.10.1 The IBM software support portal
      2. 12.10.2 Open a PMR by calling IBM
      3. 12.10.3 Open a PMR via the web
      4. 12.10.4 Necessary items when contacting IBM software support
      5. 12.10.5 IBM Support Assistant (ISA) Workbench
      6. 12.10.6 Type of fixes that might be provided
      7. 12.10.7 Rolling up fixes
    11. 12.11 Conclusion
  17. Chapter 13. IBM FileNet Content Manager solutions
    1. 13.1 Solution building blocks
      1. 13.1.1 Foundation components
      2. 13.1.2 Content ingestion tools
      3. 13.1.3 Process management
      4. 13.1.4 Presentation features
    2. 13.2 Sample use cases using solution building blocks
      1. 13.2.1 Policy document creation use case
      2. 13.2.2 Insurance claim processing use case
      3. 13.2.3 SAP invoice archiving use case
      4. 13.2.4 Email capture for compliance use case
      5. 13.2.5 Knowledge management through collaboration use case
    3. 13.3 Conclusion
  18. Related publications
    1. IBM Redbooks
    2. Online resources
    3. Help from IBM
  19. Back cover

Product information

  • Title: IBM FileNet Content Manager Implementation Best Practices and Recommendations
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: June 2013
  • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
  • ISBN: None