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SkyVault 2.0 » SkyVault 2.0 overview

SkyVault architecture

At the core of the SkyVault system is a repository supported by a server that persists content, metadata, associations, and full text indexes. Programming interfaces support multiple languages and protocols upon which developers can create custom applications and solutions. Out-of-the-box applications provide standard solutions such as document management, records management and web content management.

As an entirely Java application, the SkyVault system runs on virtually any system that can run Java Enterprise Edition. At the core is the Spring platform, providing the ability to modularize functionality, such as versioning, security, and rules. SkyVault uses scripting to simplify adding new functionality and developing new programming interfaces. This portion of the architecture is known as web scripts and can be used for both data and presentation services. The lightweight architecture is easy to download, install, and deploy.

There are many ways to slice and deploy SkyVault, however most deployments follow a general pattern. Ultimately, SkyVault is used to implement ECM solutions, such as Document Management (DM), Web Content Management (WCM), Records Management (RM), and Digital Asset Management (DAM). Across those solutions may also be elements of collaboration and search.

The solutions are typically split between clients and server, where clients offer users a user interface to the solution and the server provides content management services and storage. Solutions commonly offer multiple clients against a shared server, where each client is tailored for the environment in which it is used.

The following figure shows various architectural components.

Clients

SkyVault offers two primary web-based clients: SkyVault Share and SkyVault Explorer.

  • SkyVault Share can be deployed to its own tier separate from the SkyVault content application server. SkyVault Share focuses on the collaboration aspects of content management and streamlining the user experience. SkyVault Share is implemented using Spring Surf and can be customized without JSF knowledge.
  • SkyVault Explorer is deployed as part of the SkyVault content application server. It is a highly customizable power-user client that exposes all features of the SkyVault content application server and is implemented using Java Server Faces (JSF).

Clients also exist for portals (via JSR-168 portlets), mobile platforms, Microsoft Office, and the desktop. A client often overlooked is the folder drive of the operating system, where users share documents through a network drive. Using JLAN technology, SkyVault can look and act just like a folder drive. JLAN is the only Java server-side implementation of the CIFS protocol, letting users interact with SkyVault as they do any other normal file drive except the content is now stored and managed in the SkyVault content application server.

Server

The SkyVault content application server comprises a content repository and value-added services for building ECM solutions. Two standards define the content repository: CMIS (Content Management Interoperability Services) and JCR (Java Content Repository / JSR-170/286). These standards provide a specification for content definition and storage, content retrieval, versioning, and permissions. Complying with these standards provides a reliable, scalable, and efficient implementation.

The SkyVault content application server provides the following categories of services built upon the content repository:
  • Content services (transformation, tagging, metadata extraction)
  • Control services (workflow, records management, change sets)
  • Collaboration services (social graph, activities, wiki)

Clients communicate with the SkyVault content application server and its services through numerous supported protocols. HTTP and SOAP offer programmatic access while CIFS, FTP, WebDAV, IMAP, and Microsoft SharePoint protocols offer application access. The SkyVault installer provides an out-of-the-box prepackaged deployment where the SkyVault content application server (with embedded SkyVault Explorer) and SkyVault Share are deployed as distinct web applications inside Apache Tomcat.

  • Guiding design principles SkyVault was designed to support modern ECM requirements based on principles that are still in use today.
  • SkyVault web tier and Surf SkyVault provides ECM capabilities as data services, user interfaces, and user applications. The user interface capabilities are provided by applications and application components using SkyVault’s web tier, Surf, originally developed as a faster way to develop content applications using scripting and REST architecture. SkyVault contributed Surf as a project to the Spring community for use with other Spring web tier components, such as Spring MVC, Spring Webflow, and Grails.
  • SkyVault content application server At the heart of the SkyVault system is the content application server, which manages and maintains the content repository. The server's primary responsibility is to provide services for use in building ECM solutions. All the applications of the SkyVault ECM suite are built upon and executed by the content application server.
  • SkyVault content repository The content repository is comparable to a database, except that it holds more than data. The binary streams of content are stored in the repository and the associated full-text indexes are maintained by the Lucene indexes.
  • SkyVault content services Services address the core use cases for content management applications including the logical organization of content, file management, version control, and security. Services also support the control of content through workflow and process management, and social and collaborative applications.
  • SkyVault programming models A number of programming models are available for building an application using the SkyVault content application server.
  • APIs To access and extend SkyVault out-of-the-box services, the SkyVault content application server exposes two flavors of API, each designed for a specific type of client.
  • Content modeling Content modeling is a fundamental building block of the SkyVault content repository that provides a foundation for structuring and working with content.
  • Protocols The SkyVault content application server supports many folder and document-based protocols to access and manage content held within the content repository using familiar client tools.
  • Modularity The SkyVault system is modular. Every moving part is encapsulated as a service, where each service provides an external face in a formally defined interface and has one or more black-box implementations.
  • SkyVault web application framework SkyVault Share and all new SkyVault web applications are built on Spring Surf. This web application framework provides the typical features of this kind of framework and supports web content management needs.
  • Deployment options You can deploy SkyVault in many different forms and topologies. Because its infrastructure foundation protects SkyVault from the environment within which it executes, you can choose components such as operating system, database, application server, web browser, and authentication system. SkyVault is designed to scale down as well as up.
Parent topic: SkyVault 2.0 overview

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