Content Distribution

Content Distribution is the process of getting content out of the Content Manager and on the Presentation Server. Content Distribution involves a number of processes, each of which performs a specific task.

The following clickable diagram shows the various parts of Content Distribution:

Content Distribution on the Content Manager system

On the Content Manager system, Content Distribution comprises the following subprocesses:

Publish
A user Publishes content to a Target Type, a user-friendly name for one or more Publication Targets that define the information required to publish content using different protocols. The Publisher Engine then generates Publish Transactions for the published items and puts them in the Publisher Queue where the transactions await being picked up by the Publisher Service.
Publisher service
The Publisher retrieves information about the location, protocol used, and other publishing settings from the Publication Target and offers the published item(s) and publishing information to the Transport Service.
Transport Service
The Transport Service's Sender assembles the item(s), together with any other items on which it depends, into a Transport Package which it transports to the Content Deployer on the Content Delivery system. A Sender sends the package to one or more destinations using a specific protocol. Each destination represents a Presentation Server (usually a remote machine).
You configure Sender elements in the cd_transport_conf.xml configuration file for each protocol you use.

Content Distribution on the Content Delivery system

On the Content Delivery system, Content Distribution comprises the following subprocesses:

Content Deployer
On the Content Delivery system, a Content Deployer receives the Transport Package. The Content Deployer uses one of its Processors to process the contents of the Transport Package. Each Processor contains a number of Modules which specify the steps in the deployment or undeployment process. The package is processed by the Content Deployer and the items in the package are sent on to the Storage Layer.
You can add your own custom processing (Processor and Module elements) to the Content Deployer.
Storage Layer
The Storage Layer handles the storing and retrieving of data to and from the Content Data Store. The Storage Layer is configurable so that you can store individual types of Content Manager items published from the Content Manager system to different databases.
You configure where to store content in the cd_storage_conf.xml configuration file.
Caching
You can implement object caching to store the most commonly used objects in the cache in order to speed up your Web site.
Content Delivery APIs
The Content Delivery APIs allow you to access published content (Pages, Component Presentations, and published metadata) from your Web pages using the ASP.NET APIs or the JSP APIs depending on the Web technology you use.
Presentation Server
The Presentation Server is the machine on which the Web Application Server is installed (which can be the same machine as the Content Delivery system).