Customers new to Agile PLM may not understand how multiple file managers can work together in a distributed environment. This video will demonstrate how the Agile Distributed File Managers (DFM), also known as Internet File System (IFS), can work together to increase performance in a global organization.
To fully understand what is described, please view the video at the bottom of the blog.
Our Deployment Environment
- Single Weblogic Server running Agile 9.3.1.1 with a local file manager. This is referred to as our USA DFM with a local storage location of E:USAVault
- A separate 9.3.1.1 file manger on a second host (dev-dfm) referred to as the China DFM. The storage location for this vault is in E:ChinaVault
- Each file manager has a local instance of AutoVue server
To make it easier to understand, we are starting with a clean database and no attachments. In addition, the vault storage locations for both the USA and China DFMs are new and empty.
Attaching a File and Getting it to Replicate
To begin the test, we logged in as our USA based user who has a primary DFM of the USADFM. Then a part was created and a file attached. This file could be seen in the primary vault location at E:USAVault�00�60129agile6012984.gif but not the China vault location. To get the file to replicate to DFMs that they are not already stored in, one of two things needs to happen:
- A utility such as RoboCopy needs to transfer the files on a scheduled basis
- A request needs to be made to copy the files on demand (as needed)
Lets take a look at the second case by having our China based user request the attachment that the USA user stored. As you can see in the video, there were no files in the vault. Once the China user requested the file, Agile looked in the user's preferred vault and did not locate the file. It then searched the other file managers, finding it in the USADFM and copied the file to the remote vault. It could then serve the file to the user. The next time a user requests that file from the ChinaDFM, it will pull the local copy with a reduced load time since the transfer does not need to occur between the USA vault and the China vault
Exploring File Deletion
We start by removing the attachment from the part. If we examine the file system we can see that the files still remain. This is because the file is bound to a folder and the folder was bound to the part. You may be thinking that all that is required to remove the file is to delete the folder but that actually does not remove it either. The file still remains because the folder still exists in the recycle bin. If the recycle bin object is deleted then the file is removed from both vaults.
Most people think that by removing the attachment the file is removed, but now you know better.
Summary
The Internet File System leveraged by Agile is a sophisticated system that can make your overall Agile deployment more responsive by moving the files you depend on, local to you. Please take a look at the File Vault Utilities section of the Installation guide to learn how you can keep your file managers in good health. The Oracle knowledge base in the support portal also has a number notes relating to file manager maintenance that you may benefit from.