Reference Architecture 7: Active Back-end Aggregation

Read more about the eight reference architectures.

So unlike little old RefArch 6, this guy is the real deal. In this architecture we aggregate the actual content from a multitude of SharePoint sites. The content is transparently taken from SharePoint's control then stored and managed in a truly aggregated single location. In theory, there are a number of different ways of doing this:

• You can replace the entire SQL Server layer with an ECM solution that emulates the entire SQL stack. This gives you control over the content, metadata, lists, calendar items, Blogs, etc... in fact everything that SharePoint creates.
• You can journal content directly from SharePoint in a synchronized model, a slave copy of the object will remain in the site but the master copy lives in a centralized ECM system.
• You can journal content directly from SQL Server leaving SharePoint unaware that this is happening.

Architecturally the net result is that all of your content from all of the key SharePoint sites ends up being stored in a single, centralized location. It is then managed as a single set of content, it can have hierarchical storage management applied depending on the value of the content, it can be managed with a single set of security & compliance policies, it can have duplicated content thrown away...if you want to see an example of this architecture in play then take a look at the more advanced email archiving solutions in the market.

So what's the best way to do this? So herein lies a bit of a Blogger's dilemma; rumor has it that quite a few people read my Blog - most importantly, you do and you are my favorite reader. I do actually have an answer to how this is best carried out but I'm sorry to say that I am not going to share it at this point. If it were entirely in my hands I'd consider it but the solution to this problem requires a fair amount of collaboration and technical assistance from Microsoft and from some of our key partners and I am not willing to divulge the details until we at EMC have made a bit more progress. Sorry.

Don't you just love it when this happens? You get to the end of a 2 month Blog saga and the penultimate page has been torn out. Hope you don't hate it too much because part 8 is going to have a similar ending. In my defense, the solution to this problem will blow your socks off and will be worth the wait.

If you are under an EMC NDA and are attending EMC World this year then maybe, just maybe we can chat about the details.

Comments

[Lori]

This is the solution that we need. We have a few Documentum applications in house. The company that acquired us has a lot of SP sites (1,200) - they have MOSS 2007 but haven't implemented it yet. We are migrating our current portal to MOSS. We are just starting the project - when will the details of this solutions be available?

[Andrew Chapman]

Lori,If you ask your Documentum account manager to contact me I will discuss the details with them and they can get back to you. Just to warn you though, the first step will be for us to ask you for a detailed set of use cases so we can understand which of the aggregation options will suit you best. RegardsAndrew

[Compliance - Never Talk When You Can Nod]

SharePoint Archiving #2 - An Overview of the Potential Solutions.

This is part two of a thrilling series of entries related to the aggregation of SharePoint content. It relates back to reference architecture #7 and part one in the series. In the previous entry I rambled on about the “why” behind data aggregation. In this entry I’ll give you a high-level overview of the "how"...

[Compliance - Never Talk When You Can Nod]

SharePoint Archiving - An Overview of the Potential Solutions.

This is part two of a thrilling series of entries related to the aggregation of SharePoint content. It relates back to reference architecture #7 and part one in the series. In the previous entry I rambled on about the “why” behind data aggregation. In this entry I’ll give you a high-level overview of the "how"...

[Compliance - Never Talk When You Can Nod]

SharePoint Archiving - An Overview of the Potential Solutions.

This is part two of a thrilling series of entries related to the aggregation of SharePoint content. It relates back to reference architecture #7 and part one in the series. In the previous entry I rambled on about the “why” behind data aggregation. In this entry I’ll give you a high-level overview of the "how"...

[Compliance - Never Talk When You Can Nod]

SharePoint Archiving - An Overview of the Potential Solutions.

This is part two of a thrilling series of entries related to the aggregation of SharePoint content. It relates back to reference architecture #7 and part one in the series. In the previous entry I rambled on about the

[Compliance - Never Talk When You Can Nod]

SharePoint Archiving #3 - EBS vs. RBS...the ultimate grudge match.

This is part three of a thrilling series of entries related to the aggregation of SharePoint content. It relates back to reference architecture #7, RBS vs. EBS vs. Content Transfer vs. Shortcuts and An Overview of the Potential Solutions...

[Compliance - Never Talk When You Can Nod]

SharePoint Archiving #3 - EBS vs. RBS...the ultimate grudge match.

This is part three of a thrilling series of entries related to the aggregation of SharePoint content. It relates back to reference architecture #7, RBS vs. EBS vs. Content Transfer vs. Shortcuts and An Overview of the Potential Solutions. In the previous entry I rambled on about the different options available to support the aggregation of data behind a SharePoint deployment however I left you hanging on for more about two recently added technologies. In this entry I

[Compliance - Never Talk When You Can Nod]

SharePoint Archiving #3 - EBS vs. RBS...the ultimate grudge match.

This is part three of a thrilling series of entries related to the aggregation of SharePoint content. It relates back to reference architecture #7, RBS vs. EBS vs. Content Transfer vs. Shortcuts and An Overview of the Potential Solutions...