IBM FileNet P8 on Cloud(AWS, Azure etc)

IBM FileNet P8 on the AWS Cloud - Installation and Configuration

  • IBM FileNet P8 on AWS
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Summary: IBM FileNet Content Manager on AWS - Quick Start Guide

This Quick Start deployment guide offers step-by-step instructions to deploy IBM FileNet Content Manager v5.5.4 on the AWS Cloud in a highly available, environment using a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) across multiple Availability Zones.

Purpose and Target Users

  • Aimed at enterprises looking to manage digital content, build content-centric apps, and integrate content services.

  • Designed for deployment via AWS services like Amazon EC2, EFS, EKS, and CloudFormation in a Kubernetes-based container environment.

Key Features of FileNet on AWS

  • Supports content governance, collaboration, sharing, video streaming, and lifecycle management.

  • Manages digital content through object stores, which can be backed by databases, file systems, or Amazon S3-compatible storage.

  • Built on the Amazon EKS Architecture Quick Start, ensuring scalability and Kubernetes compliance.

AWS Services Used

  • Amazon EC2 – Compute hosting

  • Amazon EFS – Shared file storage

  • Amazon EKS – Kubernetes orchestration

  • CloudFormation – Infrastructure automation

  • Elastic Load Balancing – Traffic distribution

  • Security Groups – Access control

Licensing and Cost

  • AWS service usage costs apply; no extra charge for using the Quick Start templates.

  • Licenses for IBM FileNet Content Manager are required.

  • An IBM entitlement key is needed to download container images from IBM's Container Software Library.

  • The Quick Start includes provisioning of an Oracle database with a license-included model.

Cost Management Tip

  • It is recommended to enable the AWS Cost and Usage Report to monitor service usage and associated costs via your S3 bucket.

Architecture:

Deploying this Quick Start for a new virtual private cloud (VPC) with default parameters builds the following IBM FileNet Content Manager environment in the AWS Cloud.

The Quick Start sets up a resilient and secure AWS environment for IBM FileNet Content Manager by provisioning the following components:

  • High Availability Design: Deploys resources across multiple Availability Zones (AZs) for fault tolerance.

  • Virtual Private Cloud (VPC): Includes both public and private subnets, following AWS best practices.

Public Subnets Include:

  • NAT Gateways: Provide secure outbound internet access for private resources.

  • Linux Bastion Host: Enables SSH access to EC2 instances in private subnets.

  • Remote Desktop Gateway (RD Gateway): Allows secure RDP access to private instances.

Private Subnets Include:

  • Microsoft Active Directory (AD): Deployed in two AZs for redundancy and used for LDAP-based authentication.

  • Amazon RDS for Oracle: Serves as the backend database for FileNet.

  • IBM FileNet Containers: Deployed on Amazon EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service).

Shared Storage:

  • Amazon EFS (Elastic File System) is used for persistent shared storage of configuration and content.

This architecture provides a scalable, secure, and enterprise-grade deployment environment for IBM FileNet Content Manager on AWS.


as part of the Quick Start deployment, the following initial configuration steps are automated to fully set up IBM FileNet Content Manager:

  • Container Setup: Deploys all necessary FileNet-related containers.

  • LDAP Configuration: Automatically creates LDAP users and groups for authentication and access control.

  • Database Provisioning: Sets up Oracle databases for both the Content Platform Engine (CPE) and IBM Content Navigator (ICN).

  • Core Components Initialization:

    • FileNet P8 domain, object stores, and workflow system are created.

    • Advanced Storage Areas (ASA) are configured on Amazon EFS to store document content.

  • Search Configuration:

    • Sets up a text search server and creates an index area for full-text search, stored on EFS.

  • Content Navigator Setup: Creates a working ICN repository and desktop environment.

  • Optional Components:

    • CMIS (Content Management Interoperability Services): Enables cross-platform content access.

    • GraphQL APIs: Offers flexible, query-based access to content services for app development.

A test deployment might looks like:
Resource This deployment uses
VPCs : 1
Elastic IP addresses2 
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) security groups: 1
IAM roles: 18
Auto Scaling groups : 3
Application Load Balancers : 2 or 4 (if optional components are deployed)
EC2 instances : 7

Region: 
This test deployment includes Amazon Elastic File System (EFS), which isn’t currently supported in all AWS Regions. For a current list of supported Regions, see AWS Regions and Endpoints in the AWS documentation.
Microsoft Active Directory is also included in this deployment. For a list of supported Regions, see Region Availability for AWS Directory Service in the AWS documentation.
Make sure that at least one Amazon EC2 key pair exists in your AWS account in the Region where you are planning to deploy the Quick Start. Make note of the key pair name. You are prompted for this information during deployment. To create a key pair, follow the instructions in the AWS documentation.
If you deploy the Quick Start for testing or proof-of-concept purposes, we recommend that you create a new key pair instead of specifying a key pair that’s already being used by a production instance.

    Deployment Steps:


  • Step 1. Sign in to your AWS account
    1. Sign in to your AWS account at https://aws.amazon.com with an IAM user role that has the necessary permissions. For details, see Planning the deployment earlier in this guide.
    2. Ensure that your AWS account is configured correctly, as discussed in the Technical requirements section.
    3. Use the Region selector in the navigation bar to choose the AWS Region where you want to deploy FileNet Content Manager on AWS. The deployment is restricted to AWS Regions with at least three Availability Zones.
    4. Select the key pair that you created earlier. In the navigation pane of the Amazon EC2 console, choose Key Pairs, and then choose your key pair from the list.
    5. Choose an existing S3 bucket or create a new one to store the prerequisite database client and deployment log files.
    6. Use the IAM console to get your access key ID and access key secret. More information about obtaining the access key ID and secret is available at Managing Access Keys for IAM Users.
    7. Use the AWS Certificate Manager to create a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate.

  • Step 2. Obtain an IBM FileNet Content Manager license:
    This Quick Start requires licenses for IBM FileNet Content Manager.
    If you already own licenses for IBM FileNet Content Manager, you can use the Bring Your Own License model (BYOL).
    Otherwise, purchase IBM FileNet Content Manager licenses from Passport Advantage or an IBM representative. For assistance with Passport Advantage, see the Passport Advantage Online for customers or eCustomer care webpages.
    You must provide an entitlement key to download the FileNet Content Manager containers. Obtain a key from the Container Software Library.
    The Quick Start templates provision an Oracle database instance using the License Included service model. For more information about the costs associated with this service, see Oracle Licensing Considerations.
Step 3. Download the Oracle SQL client and JDBC driver

This Quick Start uses Amazon RDS for Oracle as the database for IBM FileNet Content Manager.
Download the following Oracle SQL client and Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) driver:
 Oracle Instant Client for Linux x86-64 version 19.3.0.0: instantclient-basiclite-linux.x64-19.3.0.0.0dbru.zip and instantclient-sqlplus-linux.x64-19.3.0.0.0dbru.zip.
 Oracle database 12.2.0.1 JDBC driver.
Upload these files to the S3 bucket from Step 1. Note the path to the client files because it is used in the parameters section.
For example, the following figure shows a path to the S3 bucket.
To obtain the file location, select a file, and then click Copy Path.
The copied path value in this example is s3://ibm-fncm-assets/oracle_client_files/instantclient-basiclite-linux.x64-19.3.0.0.0dbru.zip. The S3 file location in this example is ibm-fncm-assets/oracle_client_files.

Step 4. Launch the Quick Start
1. Sign in to your AWS account, and launch the AWS CloudFormation template.
2. Check the AWS Region that’s displayed in the upper-right corner of the navigation bar and change it if necessary. This is where the network infrastructure for IBM FileNet Content Manager is built. The template is launched in the US East (Ohio) Region by default.
3. On the Select Template page, keep the default setting for the template URL, and then choose Next.
4. On the Specify Details page, change the stack name if needed. Review the parameters for the template. Provide values for the parameters that require input. For all other parameters, review the default settings and customize them as necessary.
In the following table, parameters are listed by category and described for the deployment. When you finish reviewing and customizing the parameters, choose Next.
5. On the Options page, you can specify tags (key value pairs) for resources in your stack and set advanced options. When you’re done, choose Next.
6. On the Review page, review and confirm the template settings. Under Capabilities, select the two check boxes to acknowledge that the template creates IAM resources and that it might require the capability to auto-expand macros.
7. Choose Create to deploy the stack.
8. Monitor the status of the stack. When the status is CREATE_COMPLETE, the IBM FileNet Content Manager cluster is ready.
9. Check the stack’s Outputs tab to view the created resources.

Step 5. Test the deployment
Verify the completion of the deployment scripts on the AWS Systems Manager, on the Run Command page.

CREATE THE FILENET P8 COMPONENTS URLS:
1. Connect to the bastion host by using SSH and your private key. The bastion host IP address is listed on the Outputs tab. $ ssh -i /path/to/keypair.pem ec2-user@<BastionIP> 2. Use the following kubectl command to get the name of the Content Platform Engine load balancer: $ kubectl get ingress/cpe-ingress -o=jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].hostname}'
Use the return value to create the Content Platform Engine URL: https://<Content_Platform_Engine_load_balancer>/acce 3. Use the following kubectl command to get the name of the Content Navigator load balancer: $ kubectl get ingress/icn-ingress -o=jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].hostname}'
Use the return value to create the Content Navigator URL: https://<Content_Navigator_load_balancer>/navigator
4. Optional: Use the following kubectl command to get the name of the Content Services GraphQL load balancer: $ kubectl get ingress/crs-ingress -o=jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].hostname}'
Use the return value to create the Content GraphQL URL: https://<Content_GraphQL_load_balancer>/content-services-graphql 5. Optional: Use the following kubectl command to get the name of the CMIS load balancer: $ kubectl get ingress/cmis-ingress -o=jsonpath='{.status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].hostname}'
Use the return value to create the CMIS URL: https://<CMIS_load_balancer>/openfncmis_wlp

LOG IN TO THE FILENET P8 ENVIRONMENT:
To access the Content Platform Engine (Administration Console) and IBM Content Navigator, use the URLs from the beginning of this step, and then log in with the following credentials.  User name: P8Admin  Password: Use the DomainAdminPassword value from the Parameters section.

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