I am forwarding the message to Chris Wilper for a sanity check.
Park, Michael wrote:
Hi Dan,
We're very close to going live with Fedora. Our central computing
department has offered us Centera storage. I have the following
questions/concerns about it:
- can Fedora work with Centera's content-addressable storage
out of the box?
I don't think so since the default Akubra assumes that it has a
hierarchical file system. We are not current with Centera so there may
be software utilities that can present a virtual hierarchical file
system. If so it may be possible. See the next note.
- I assume I'll need Akubra, does it work with Centera?
Akubra was specifically designed to permit support for CAS systems.
However, a concrete implementation must be written. We would very much
like to see one implemented and don't think it would be too hard. Is
that something you would like to do?
- will I be able to use separate storage for foxml/frequently
changing datastreams **and** deep archival storage?
Kind-of. There are currently four mount points supported. One is for
FOXML and a separate one for the datastreams (one for the Mulgara and
one for policies). However. If I understand that you intend to use
Centera for the deep archive, the simplest approach is to run two
instances of Fedora and use Apache or equivalent hardware, or an
application to decide where to put things while presenting a uniform
repository space to clients. It is also possible to use one Fedora
which has externally managed links to content managed other Fedora
instances. We have in the plans a method to multiplex storage which
would be ideal but it is not been built.
- what hurdles/actions will it take to use Centera if it's a
viable option?
Write or have someone write a concrete Akubra adapter for Centera.
Please don't hesitate to offer you opinion on Centera in relation to
your storage preferences as a whole for Fedora .
Using Fedora as a mediator for Centera is a very interesting idea. CAS
has its place but no storage is really fixed because sooner or later you
need to do a format migration in order to have software which can
display or process the digital asset. This will create a new asset
which is the same intellectual entity as the old asset but will be
stored as an independent item in the CAS. CAS is really good at helping
to maintain fixity and for some of the aspects of authenticity (and
de-duping). It is best for intermediate record keeping storage of
fixed content (after authoring and before long term archiving). For
example, finished enterprise legal documents, finished design
documents. Fedora can help you abstract the location of assets as they
move between storage subsystems but it will take some cleverness to
really take advantage of CAS. I don't have a problem with CAS in
general but it solves some problems and creates others.
Thanks,
Mike
--
Daniel W. Davis
Cornell University
Fedora Commons Affiliate
http://fedora-commons.org
[email protected]
(607) 255-6090 (Office)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Come build with us! The BlackBerry(R) Developer Conference in SF, CA
is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your
developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay
ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9 - 12, 2009. Register now!
http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconference
_______________________________________________
Fedora-commons-users mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/fedora-commons-users
