OpenText Storage Services
for Microsoft® SharePoint®

All editions of Microsoft SharePoint require Microsoft SQL Server databases to store metadata and document content. This leaves IT departments with the challenge to operate and maintain an often fast growing SQL Server database environment. Up to 95 percent of the storage volume in these databases is binary large object (BLOB) content, which is not necessary for queries to the database.

Storing BLOB content assigned to SharePoint outside of the SQL Server databases (a process referred to as ‘externalization’) ensures the scalability and performance of SharePoint. Microsoft provides two APIs that redirect BLOB content to third-party storage environments: External BLOB Storage (EBS) and Remote BLOB Storage (RBS). OpenText Storage Services for Microsoft SharePoint can use both EBS and RBS to seamlessly store SharePoint content in the OpenText Archive Server infrastructure, which is already in wide use by numerous companies. For these companies, this existing infrastructure can be leveraged to store SharePoint BLOB content. Storing BLOB content outside of SharePoint databases reduces the costs accorded to having it reside on the very costly production environments that host SharePoint. Also, by redirecting the BLOBs, organizations can increase efficiencies, enabling the storage and management of a larger number of documents, simplifying backup and restore processes, and allowing customers to house SharePoint content on less expensive storage devices.

By supporting the EBS and RBS APIs from Microsoft, Storage Services for SharePoint also ensures support for the SharePoint end-user experience. The content metadata attached to documents is still stored and maintained within SQL Server. No stubbing or linking is used in this method of externalization, so end-users can create and edit content within the SharePoint environment seamlessly with no knowledge of the storage management going on behind the scenes.

In addition to lowering overall storage costs, Storage Services for SharePoint can help businesses to meet requirements for information retention. Storage Services for SharePoint ensures that business-critical content is secured in multiple physical locations, and enables the housing of information on a number of different storage devices to meet business and compliance requirements. Storage Services for SharePoint is compatible with devices from all major storage providers—including Hitachi Data Systems, StorageTek, Network Appliance, EMC, HP, IBM, KOM Networks' KOMliance and Sun Storage (Oracle).

Features

  • Supports EBS, RBS, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.
  • Leverages the most up-to-date storage optimization tools from Microsoft to ensure enhanced performance of externalized objects.
  • Provides configurable deletion delay intervals, enabling administrators to specify how long a BLOB should be unused before deletion (for both EBS and RBS).
  • Detects multiple file instances to ensure that only a single instance of every file is stored.
  • Provides optional content compression before storage, configurable for each individual logical archive.
  • Monitors Archive Server through events and notifications.
  • Uses secure encryption to ensure content is always protected.

Storage Services for SharePoint is a standalone solution, but is also part of OpenText Application Governance & Archiving for Microsoft SharePoint. An upgrade package from Storage Services for SharePoint to Application Governance & Archiving for SharePoint is also available.