What is the SAP content server?
The Knowledge Provider (KPro) is actually a part of the SAP Web Application Server and is referred to as the central service. This is meant for managing and storing any documents.
The KPro typically comprises of the following components:
Document Management Framework (DMF)
Document Management Service (DMS)
DMS is essentially a service which is as near to an application and is provided by KPro. The main aim of the DMS is to provide an application with an interface (application programming interface (API)) which the application can utilize for managing documents more efficiently, without dealing with the problems of physical storage. Appropriate infrastructure is essential for DMS to exist. DMS is stringently based on the Content Management Service (CMS).
Content Management Service (CMS)
Generally, DMS allows an application-like view of the documents which are required to be managed, the CMS also handles related to storage and the technical management details. These comprise of managing the storage server, recovering documents, creating document versions, and so on and so forth.
The SAP content server is typically the server component of the SAP Knowledge Provider (KPro). The core basis of the SAP content server is the content server engine. The engine receives all URLs, validates their validity, and begins to process their requirements.
The SAP content server keeps the data in an SAP MaxDB. One thing to be noted is that the SAP content server engine does’nt directly address the database, it instead, utilizes an adapter known as the content storage layer (the storage layer is preserved in the specific access mechanisms of the storage medium which is behind a uniform, byte stream-oriented interface).
For accessing the database, the content storage layer utilizes the ODBC.
SAP MaxDB looks after the individual repository tables, which houses the data (documents) is stored.