Transparent persistence, or human-readable persistence, is the practice of keeping a copy of repository contents as files on disk.
Rationale
Different users have different rationales for wanting to access repository content as files on disk, such as:
- Making it easier to use disk-based tools and workflows
- Reducing the technology stack and skills required to recover repository content
Scenarios
There are a few different scenarios for keeping a copy of repository content on disk and keeping it in sync with the repository:
- The copy on disk is the only copy of the data, used by the repository as the primary storage
- The copy on disk is an additional copy of the data, updated synchronously during request processing
- The copy on disk is an additional copy of the data, updated asynchronously, e.g., by receiving JMS events and retrieving repository content
- A disk-like API is provided using FUSE or a similar tool that allows disk-based tools to work with the repository directly
Role in preservation
Having a copy of repository content on disk may enable a preservation workflow, but it is not a preservation strategy by itself. So transparent persistence is "preservation-enabling", allowing a disk-based preservation workflow to easily access the repository content.
