Minimizing the costs and risks involved in ECM migration

Transcription

1 Doxis4 Consolidation Service Minimizing the costs and risks involved in ECM migration This SER white paper describes how the Doxis4 Consolidation Service and its underlying migration model help minimize the costs and risks involved in the migration of enterprise content management (ECM) s. It takes real expertise to migrate s of this type, particularly because of the need to transfer not only data and documents but also contexts and relations from the source to the target without any losses. Moreover, migration has to be carried out in an audit-compliant way. The Doxis4 Consolidation Service fully responds to these needs by enabling efficient, step-by-step data migration with no disruption to operations. SER White Paper

2 SER White Paper Doxis4 Consolidation Service Contents 2 The starting point 3 Solution approach and architecture 4 Metadata transfer with the Doxis4 FIPS 6 The Doxis4 Service's storage adapter for third-party archives 7 Filing new documents in the Doxis4 Service 8 Migrating BLOBs in a live with the Doxis4 ILM Service 8 Benefits 9

3 Doxis4 Consolidation Service SER White Paper The starting point ECM s typically manage large to very large amounts of data. Particularly with very large document collections (involving several billion items of data), the migration process can easily turn into a complex and lengthy project in some cases lasting several years that involves very high project costs and levels of risk. In such cases, exporting and importing data is simply not an option. What's more, such migrations can only be cost-effective if the ECM/archiving being replaced is decommissioned as quickly as possible while the new is being introduced. In light of the high costs of maintaining legacy s, their often high operating costs, and the need to eliminate the risks associated with operating an obsolete technological platform, it is vital to complete projects quickly. Ultimately, if no change is made to the underlying storage technology, not even exporting and importing will be an option. Consider, for example, a scenario in which the data of a new archive is stored on an EMC Centera or IBM TSM platform that already houses the legacy data. In this case, you clearly want to preserve hardware resources and avoid copying onto the same. This aspect, too, represents yet another argument for using the Doxis4 Consolidation Service. 3

4 SER White Paper Doxis4 Consolidation Service SOLUTION Approach and architecture The Doxis4 Consolidation Service tackles the very issues described above and takes the following approach to provide a solution that will significantly reduce project lead times and therefore costs and risks. 1 2 Transferring metadata with Doxis4 FIPS (File Import Service/bulk import) Instead of exporting all the data from the source and importing it into Doxis4, only the metadata associated with the documents is transferred. The Doxis4 Service's storage adapter for third-party archives There is no need to immediately migrate the actual content of the documents and its data bulk. Instead, with the aid of a special storage adapter, Doxis4 has read access to the data in the source, which does not need to stay live. This means that the source can be decommissioned much sooner than in a conventional migration process. 3 Filing new documents in the Doxis4 Service Any new documents are written straight to a new storage. Doxis4 provides a variety of storage adapters for various s. The platform can therefore simultaneously connect to a high number of storage s and run them for the applications concerned in a transparent and storageagnostic way. 4 Migrating content data in a live using the Doxis4 ILM Service Finally, the Doxis4 ILM Service can be used without disrupting operations to transfer the source 's content data to a new storage in exactly the same way storage technology would be switched on the Doxis4 platform. 4

5 Doxis4 Consolidation Service SER White Paper The Doxis4 Consolidation Service is based on the tried and tested Doxis4 Content Service Bus (CSB) and its basic services such as the Doxis4 FIPS, the Doxis4 Service, and the Doxis4 ILM Service found in every installation of Doxis4. With the new storage adapter for third-party archives and the extensions in the Doxis4 FIPS to import bulk metadata, companies have a new and proven solution for rapidly migrating third-party archives. Integrated apps BPM Services Notification Service... Agent Service More ECM services Reporting Service ILM Service Security Service Audit Trail Service Event Service Orga Service FIPS (import) Search Service Core ECM services Base services DMS Service Copying the BLOBs to different storage s without disrupting operations Metadata platform: Doxis4 Content Service Bus Abstracted from the storage service adapters for read-only access to third-party archives which don't need to Third-party Doxis4 NAS/SAN archive safelock be operational! EMC HP Hitachi IBM NetApp Cloud The most important components of the Doxis4 Consolidation Service 5

6 SER White Paper Doxis4 Consolidation Service Transferring metadata with the Doxis4 FIPS In contrast to a traditional migration scenario in which all of the data is exported and imported, the Doxis4 Consolidation Service only exports the metadata from the source. Metadata includes all of the descriptive information associated with the documents but excludes the content data and the files themselves, which make up the real bulk of the data. In the process, the metadata is exported from the source in XML format into an XML schema, which can then be directly reimported by the Doxis4 FIPS. Also imported at this stage is the information that describes how the content data in the source can be retrieved. This information is termed the storage locator in Doxis4. Annotations can also be transferred, an option that is examined and planned at this stage. This process has already been successfully implemented countless times, as SER's legacy archive ITA, used by hundreds of customers, was migrated to Doxis4 in precisely the same way. As soon as the metadata migration process is complete, the legacy ECM can be decommissioned and Doxis4 CSB can go live. Doxis4 CSB now has all of the information needed on the migrated documents and only needs to access the source 's content data in its data structures. The storage adapter for third-party archives carries out this task, as described next. Doxis4 CSB Source Migration environment XML Metadata import using the Doxis4 FIPS Metadata Export (incl. storage locator) Metadata transformation Metadata transfer from legacy 6

7 Doxis4 Consolidation Service SER White Paper adapter for third-party archives Even after the migration process is complete, the legacy archive data and documents continue to be stored unchanged in the source. From now on, any individual document files in the storage are retrieved using the Doxis4 storage adapter for third-party archives. The previous source is no longer included in this process, nor does it require further maintenance. The storage adapter is based on a program library that allows users to retrieve documents from the files in the source. Using this library, document files can be read with the help of information that is transferred into the new during the metadata migration. If required, the library can be expanded through an on-the-fly conversion option for the legacy archive documents, such as COLD data and annotations. In addition, the source storage can be pre-scanned to identify any defective or missing files. The connector technology is available for the following s: Doxis4 CSB ECM s: transparency n Easy Enterprise i (available) n IBM Content Manager (in development) n IBM FileNet IS (available) n Opentext IXOS (available) Source Doxis4 Service Doxis4 Service Adapter for source (read access) Adapter for new storage n Saperion (in development) n Others on request... : n File container files Cache for the supported ECM s New/modified documents n EMC2 Centera Document data n NetApp n IBM TSM New storage In addition, a caching process can also be activated in the Doxis4 Service. If a document from the legacy data is identified, it can be immediately transferred on demand to a cache from which all further accesses will take place. This means that any legacy documents specifically required for a process can be more quickly accessed even if older storage technology is being used. 7

8 SER White Paper Doxis4 Consolidation Service Filing new documents in the Doxis4 Service While the Doxis4 storage adapter for third-party archives allows read-only access to the data structures in the source s, it cannot be used for making changes to those structures. Any versioning of an existing document or filing of new documents takes place instead in a new storage, which is also connected via a Doxis4 Service. This is standard function of Doxis4, as different storage s even if they are located at different locations are supported, while the physical storage of a document is separate from the logical filing used for it. This forms the basis on which it is possible to transparently switch storage technologies within an archive. Doxis4 Service supports the following storage s: n File servers (NAS/SAN) n HP icas n Cloud storage (incl. n Hitachi HCP Azure &S3) n IBM TSM (SSAM API) n Doxis4 safelock n NetApp SnapLock n EMC VNX FLR n UDO-Jukebox n EMC ISILON (via the SER ITA server) n EMC Centera Migrating BLOBs in a live using the Doxis4 ILM Service At the point when the storage technology being used by the previous archive is due to be exchanged (or sooner than that), the Doxis4 ILM Service copies the content data over to a new storage. This essentially moves data between different Doxis4 Services (while, in turn, the Doxis4 Service is abstracting data from the underlying storage ). The remains live during this process, which can be controlled using socalled time slices. Meaning, to prevent the read-only access to the legacy data from causing an undue load during the day, copying can be set to take place at times when the is under less pressure. As soon as the data is available on the new storage, read-only access takes place mainly on the new or, to be more precise, the administrator can specify, using access profiles and priorities, which should be used. The data in the legacy storage can still be accessed, something that would still be possible in the event of a failover, at least until the legacy has been completely deleted within Doxis4. 8

9 Doxis4 Consolidation Service SER White Paper Migration of data in a live with the aid of the Doxis4 ILM Service can take place parallel to caching in the Doxis4 Service. Similarly, documents that fulfill the specified criteria in terms of their metadata can first be migrated using a conditional ILM rule, if this is technically necessary. Doxis4 CSB ILM service Source Doxis4 Service Doxis4 Service Adapter for source (read access) Adapter for new storage Cache Transfer via ILM Service New storage Benefits The Doxis4 Consolidation Service provides the following benefits, particularly compared to traditional migration methods: n Shorter project lead times compared to conventional migration n Reduced project costs and risks n Delta migrations avoided thanks to shorter project duration n Direct access to existing source data and documents n Source data is not modified (compliance requirements fulfilled) n Considerable savings in operation and maintenance costs (decommissioning the legacy archive) n If the underlying storage technology is retained: Exporting and importing to the same storage is avoided (especially relevant for EMC Centera and IBM TSM) n Option to live-swap the underlying technology at a later date using the Doxis4 ILM Service 9

10 Doxis4 Consolidation Service SER White Paper Find out more about SER! n One of the world's top five software-only ECM vendors* ** n Included in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management n Europe's largest independent producer of ECM software*** SER Solutions International GmbH Kurfürstendamm 21 D Berlin Phone: Fax: [email protected] GERMANY - HEADQUARTERS SER Solutions Deutschland GmbH Joseph-Schumpeter-Allee 19 D Bonn Phone: [email protected] SER 10x in Germany: Berlin, Bonn, Dresden, Dusseldorf/ Neuss, Hamburg, Frankfurt/Main, Munich, Muenster, Neustadt/Wied, Stuttgart AUSTRIA SER Solutions Österreich GmbH Florido Tower Floridsdorfer Hauptstraße 1 A-1210 Vienna Phone: offi[email protected] SER 3x in Austria: Klagenfurt, Pasching/Linz, Vienna SWITZERLAND SER Solutions Schweiz AG Leutschenbachstr. 95 CH-8050 Zurich (Oerlikon) Phone: [email protected] SER 2x in Switzerland: Oberentfelden, Zurich FRANCE SER Solutions France SARL Paris Arc de Triomphe F Paris 54/56 avenue Hoche Phone: [email protected] GREAT BRITAIN SER Solutions United Kingdom Ltd. 20 Primrose Street London EC2A 2EW London The Broadgate Tower - 12th Floor Phone: [email protected] POLAND S.E.R. Solutions Polska Sp. z o.o. ul. Przyokopowa 31 PL Warsaw Phone: [email protected] SPAIN SER Solutions Iberia S.L. Paseo de la Castellana, 18 Planta 7 ES Madrid Tel: [email protected] BENELUX Muiderstraat 1 (Pinnacle Tower) NL-1011 Amsterdam [email protected] SHANGHAI Phone: [email protected] SER is represented by a network of experienced partners in many other countries. sergroup.com fb.com/sergroup linkedin.com/company/ser-solutions [email protected] twitter.com/sergroup xing.com/companies/sergroup SERgroup Holding International GmbH. Subject to technical changes, errors and printing mistakes. All trademarks are registered trademarks of their owners. Statements concerning statutory, fiscal, and legal regulations are not considered binding. Subject to change in design and scope of delivery a_en * Measured by revenue according to the Market Share Analysis: Enterprise Content Management, worldwide, 2014 (Gartner) ** GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. *** Based on most the recent official figures, SER is Europe's largest vendor of ECM software in terms of revenue, gross profit, operating profit and number of employees.