Operating and Managing

Hitachi Content
Platform v8.x

Object Storage Overview

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Module Objectives

 When you complete this module, you should be able to:

• Define object-based storage concepts
• Explain the following:
 Fixed content /objects
 Object storage requirements including retention and protection
• Identify the customer challenges and needs to be addressed by the Hitachi
Content Platform v8.2 solution
• Discuss the protocols that are used to ingest files and back up objects

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Object-Based Storage (From Wikipedia)

 Object storage (aka object-based storage) is;

• Computer data storage architecture that manages data as objects
• As opposed to other storage architectures such as:
 File systems which manage data as a file hierarchy or
 Block storage which manage data as blocks within sectors and tracks

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Hitachi Content Platform (HCP)

 Stores objects that includes both data and metadata that describes the
data

 A distributed storage system designed to support large, growing

repositories of fixed-content data

 Presents objects as files in a standard directory structure

 Provides a cost-effective, scalable, and easy-to-use solution

Note: An HCP system consists of both hardware and software.

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HCP Objects to Be Stored

Fixed-content data
(Data)
• Once it’s in HCP, this
data cannot be modified
System metadata
• System-managed properties
describing the data
• Includes policy settings

Custom metadata
(Annotations)
• The metadata, a user
or application
provides to further
describe an object
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Multiple Custom Metadata Injection

ANNOTATIONS
SYSTEM/POSIX Medical (DICOM)
DATA Medical (DICOM)
METADATA <record>
<record>
<doctor>
filename: p12d67.jpg <doctor>
<name>John
size: 673124 <name>John
Smith</name>
ingested: 12/1/18 Smith</name>
</doctor>
hash: 12ABD78F0E </doctor>
<patient>
<patient>
<name>John
<name>John
Smith</name>
Smith</name>
<age>48</age>
<age>48</age>
Image (EXIF) Billing </patient>
Image (EXIF)
<taken>11/17/18</taken> Billing </patient>
</record>
<taken>11/17/18</taken> <cost>$1,500</cost> </record>
<aperture>5</aperture> <cost>$1,500</cost>
<aperture>5</aperture> <insurance>yes</insurance>
<ISO>400</ISO>
<ISO>400</ISO> <insurance>yes</insurance>

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How Users and Applications View Objects

 Each object and annotation within HCP has a URI path

 Each object’s system metadata has its own URI path

 HCP tenants and namespaces — REST API is used

• REST API is an HTTP(s) interface to HCP namespace
• Software architecture for client/server communications over the web

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 Active Learning Exercise: Group Discussion

Topic: Why would most organizations be moving from NAS and Block to Object?

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 Retention Timeframes by Industry: Customer
Challenges
Life Science/Pharmaceutical
Processing food
Manufacturing drugs
Manufacturing biologics
Healthcare HIPAA
All hospital records in original form
Medical records for minors
Full life patient care
Financial services 17a-4
Financial statements
Member reg. for broker/dealers
Trading account records
OSHA
Sarbanes - Oxley
1 2
Retention timeframes by industry
2 years after commercial release
3 years after distribution
5 years after manufacturing of product
5 year minimum for all records
From birth to 21 years
Length of patient’s life + 2 years
3 yearsEnd-of-life of enterprise
End of account + 6 years
30 years from end of audit
Original correspondence 4 years after financial audit
3 4 5 10 15 20 25 50
Source: ESG
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 About Object Retention

 Each object has a retention policy which:

• Determines how long an object must be kept
• Influences transactions and services on the object
• Has retention methods as:
 Offset: years, months, days
Retention
 Fixed date Object policy:
• Retention
• Retention class: Named retention setting setting
• Retention
 Retention hold class

Retention Hold
= true/false
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 Cloud Access for Object

REST/HTTP(S) NFS CIFS WebDAV SMTP Amazon S3 Hitachi Swift API

Swift API and S3 applications can

write to and read from HCP,
no changes needed

Private Cloud (on Premises) Public Cloud

Primary Economical Extended

Running Spindown S3 Compatible NFS Devices Amazon S3 Google Cloud SAP Cloud Microsoft Azure
internal disks or disks on arrays storage and compatible Platform
disks on arrays

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 Module Recap

 Object contains the actual data, system-generated metadata and

custom metadata/annotations

 Each annotation is a separate file, typically xml or json and has its own
URL path

 Object retention determines how long a file is kept

 HTTP(S) is the preferred protocol used to ingest and back up objects

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 Questions and
Discussion

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 Module Review

1. What is Object Storage?

2. An object consists of the computer file, metadata, and data channel. (True
or False)

3. Retention Time may be set as an offset, fixed date, or special value. (True
or False)

4. S3 is an Open Standard protocol. (True or False)

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