Available in version 8.7 and later

This page provides a guide to configuring an EMC Centera storage as a Storage Target in the Verba system.

Using magnetic hard disks (SATA drives) as a data storage medium, Centera provides fast, secure, on-line access to digital content such as scanned document and check images, electronic statements and other computer generated reports, e-mail message archives, medical images, Microsoft Office documents, and many other data types that require long-term storage with immediate access.

Based on a sophisticated set of software API functions that control the creation, storage, retrieval, and retention management of data objects, EMC Centera offers a secure storage platform that satisfies regulatory compliance requirements for laws such as SEC 17a-4, Sarbanes-Oxley, and HIPAA to name a few.

For a general description of Verba Storage targets, please refer to the Storage targets article.

Please refer to the official EMC Centera guide to deploy and configure the storage system.

Verba uses the EMC Centera SDK application programming interface (API) v3.4.

PEA configuration requirements

Verba needs the following capabilities:

read (r)
write (w)
delete (d)
exist (e)
query (q)

Verba must not have the following capability:

privileged delete (D), as this allows audited removal of information that is still under retention.

Port requirements

The following ports must be open within any customer firewalls or proxies to enable UDP and TCP traffic for all Verba Media Repository Server to Centera Server paths:

ports 3682 and 3218 for CentraStar version 2.4 and later,
port 3218 for CentraStar version 2.3 and below.

Creating an EMC Centera storage target

Follow the steps below to create a new Verba storage target for EMC Centera:

Step 1 - Open the Verba Web interface then select Data Management > Storage targets from the top menu.

Step 2 - Click on Add New Storage Target

Step 3 - Fill out the configuration form according to the requirements in the following table.

Configuration item	Description
Name	Name your storage target. This name will identify this target across the system.
Type	Select EMC Centera
PEA path	Specify the path where the PEA configuration file is located. This PEA file always needs to be present at this path on each of the Verba servers (Media Repositories and Recording Servers).
Primary Address(es)	Specify the IP addresses of the Primary Centera servers, separated with a comma (,)
Secondary Address(es)	Specify the IP addresses of the Secondary (Replica) Centera servers, separated with a comma (,)

Step 4 - Click Save to save the settings

After this point, the Storage target is available for use by other Verba components (e.g. Data retention policies).

Workflow

First, the Verba Recording Servers will try to upload the media files using the Primary Cluster Address(es). The Media Repositories will also try to read the data from these IP addresses. The system queries the IP address(es) of the Replica Clusters and saves them.

If the Primary Cluster does not respond, then the recording servers will try to write the data to the Replica Cluster. When the Primary Cluster comes online, the Recording Servers will switch back to those servers.

If the Primary Cluster does not respond, then the Media Repositories will read the data from the Secondary Cluster. When the Primary Cluster comes online, the Media Repositories will switch back to those servers.

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