Contracts
Each call to the Contract Manager is for a specific interface, a specific contract type, and a specific contract. The interface and contract type are identified by their name and version, and the contract by its partner and customer.
The Contract Manager verifies that the requested interface is part of the requested contract type, and that the requested contract type is part of the requested contract. It then looks up the instance that is associated with the contract and relays the call to that KCM instance.
The association between a contract and an instance is two-way: the contract refers to the instance, but each KCM instance also knows which contract it is associated with. The association between contracts and instances is managed automatically by the KCM instances:
- When a KCM instance starts, it associates its contract with its instance record.
- When a KCM instance stops, it removes this association.
When an instance starts, it checks if its contract already exists.
- If yes, it will use the existing contract.
- If no, it will create a new contract with default properties.
If the default contract is sufficient, then there is no need to manage contracts manually. Otherwise, you can create custom contracts and manage their properties (except for their association with instances) using the ManageCM tool.
The following operations are available for managing contracts with the ManageCM tool:
- Create a partner
- Remove a partner
- Show information about partners
- Create a contract
- Show a contract
- Change properties of a contract
- Remove a contract
- Add a custom contract type to a contract
- Remove a contract type from a contract
A default contract will support all predefined contract types, except CCMCompatibility. These predefined contract types and the corresponding versions are:
- CCMAdministration (V1)
- CCMContentApprovalWorkflow (V1)
- CCMDistribution (V1 and V2)
- CCMInteractive (V1, V2 and V3)
- KTACCMDistribution (V1, V2, V3 and V4)
- KTACCMInteractive (V1)
The following operations are available for managing contract types with the ManageCM tool :
- Create contract types (you can also use this command for updating the associated interfaces)
- Show contract types
- Remove contract types
The following operations are available for managing interfaces with the ManageCM tool :
For details, see the Manage Contract Manager data with ManageCM tool section later in this guide.