Administration Functions for Information Lifecycle Management 

Purpose

Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) involves, among other aspects, the retention of data through data archiving. During archiving, business complete data, that is, data no longer needed in everyday business processes, is removed from the SAP system database and written to either a file system or a WebDAV-based storage system, in the form of XML resources. The data is then deleted from the database.

To be able to implement an archiving strategy for the data retention aspect of ILM, you need to set up storage systems and configure the XML Data Archiving Service. In this section we describe different administration functions to support you in your ILM strategy.  

Integration

The following figure shows the necessary elements for data archiving within an ILM strategy.

¹ The diagram only shows SLD connections that are relevant in an ILM archiving scenario.

ILM archiving is available for application systems that are based on Application Server Java (AS Java). In this scenario you have on the one hand the application system which needs to be relieved of its data volumes, and on the other hand a central XML Data Archiving Service, which is responsible for archiving the information and storing it in either a file or a Web-DAV-based storage system. It also provides the subsequent access to the archived data. Each application system contains an interface used by the applications for the development of archiving programs and for communication with the XML DAS.

To be able to use the XML DAS, you must perform several preparatory tasks, including setting up archive stores in the file or storage system. These tasks are performed in the XML DAS Administration which is part of the SAP NetWeaver Administrator (NWA). Additionally, the System Landscape Directory (SLD) is relevant for all scenarios. When you create new archive stores in the XML DAS Administration, they are registered in SLD.

The documentation currently provided under Administration Functions for Information Lifecycle Management, Administration of the XML Data Archiving Service and Java Archiving Cockpit, describes the archiving scenario for systems based on AS Java.

Features

In an archiving scenario based on AS Java, you have the following elements (represented on the right side of the figure):

●      AS Java application system whose data volumes are to be reduced

○       XML Archiving Job Beans: archiving programs of archiving sets developed by the application whose data is to be archived

○       Local archiving session management: contains the archiving sessions created by the XML archiving job beans and all related information

○       XML Archive API for Java: a technical unit used by the applications for the development of archiving sets and for the communication that takes place between the application system and the XML DAS during archiving

●      XML DAS, the central data archiving service, usually located in a separate AS Java system

●      NWA: SAP NetWeaver Administrator containing administration user interfaces (UI) and functions

○       XML DAS Administration: UI necessary to set up and configure the different server components needed for data archiving

○       Java Archiving Cockpit: UI that communicates with the local archiving session management of the applications. It is the central tool used for the administration and monitoring of archiving sessions in a Java environment.

○       ILM Store Browser: UI used to view and browse the archive hierarchy in the WebDAV-based storage system.

●      SLD system: system landscape directory where XML DAS and archive stores are registered, so that other SAP NetWeaver capabilities can make use of them

●      File System or WebDAV-based storage system: storage areas to which the XML DAS writes the archived resources. This is where the archive stores, which you define using the XML DAS Administration, are physically created.

The primary  tools and functions needed by an administrator are the Java Archiving Cockpit and the XML DAS Administration, which are contained in the NWA. In addition he or she must ensure that a file or WebDAV-based storage system has been set up and is available to the XML DAS as described under Administration of the XML Data Archiving Service. The ILM Store Browser allows you to view the archive hierarchy in the WebDAV-based storage system.

The different tasks involved are described in the following documentation:

Administration of the XML Data Archiving Service: functions and configuration tasks to be carried out before archiving

Java Archiving Cockpit: used to carry out archiving functions, such as writing and deleting, and to monitor archiving sessions.

ILM Store Browser: used to view the archive hierarchy in the WebDAV-based storage system.