Docbase should be thought of as a huge centralized repository that stores content and metadata in the form of 'objects' and their properties.
Metadata for the content is nothing but the different attributes that describe the content; for example its owner, creation date, version number, etc.
Some attributes can be 'single-valued' having just one value, for example the name of the content, while others can be 'multi-valued' having multiple values, for example the keywords describing the content.
Documentum relies on the underlying RDBMS to store the metadata for various objects in various tables. On the other hand, the content files for the numerous objects are stored in any of these storage types:
- The host server's OS file system
- In an RDBMS as BLOBs (Binary Large Objects)
- A content storage device (for example: EMC Centera)
- An external system outside Documentum's boundaries
Additionally, Content Server has an embedded full-text search engine, Verity, and so the Docbase repository contains a number of full-text indexes, allowing users to perform a full content-based search on the Docbase.
Content attributes as well as the data within content files can be searched using this feature.
Tip
Documentum 5.3 Update
Note that in release 5.3, Documentum has replaced Verity with Fast Search & Transfer™ (FAST™) as its new search infrastructure.
If one installs Documentum Media Services apart from the Content Server, the Documentum system can then manage digital content such as video and audio files.
Note that each Documentum Content Server installation is not limited to a single Docbase. It can host multiple Docbases. However, each of these multiple Docbases must be identified by a unique identifier termed a Docbase ID.
Documentum ships numerous valid Docbase IDs along with its software for use within one's organization. A valid Docbase ID cannot start with a zero (0).
Figure 2.1 depicts the Docbase as a logical unit comprising of content files, RDBMS (database) tables and full-text indexes.