Behind the Scenes

From a technical perspective, Cumulus Vault is an Asset Storage module that interacts with the Cumulus application. Asset Storage modules manage the access to an asset’s location (where it’s stored on a file system) and provide Cumulus with information on the asset. In the case of Vault, this information is provided in the form of the version control fields (Check out Location, Check out Date, Check out User and Version History).

When you specify Vault as a Central Location, Cumulus works with the assets placed there only via the Vault Asset Storage module. This module enables check out, check in and version tracking by means of the special version control fields mentioned above.

When an asset is cataloged to Vault, an entire folder for the asset is created in the folder you specified as the Central Location for the catalog. This folder has the same name as the asset itself and contains two files for each asset version: one is the asset itself (

with the extension .data) and the other is an information file (

with the extension .info) containing the contents of the version control fields described above. Except for the file extension, each of these files has the same name: a serial number starting at one for the first cataloged version. Note that when assets are cataloged to Vault, no corresponding folder category will be automatically created under the Sources master category.

Every time a user checks an asset out of Vault, Cumulus copies the latest version – based on its serial number – to the location the user specifies. It then locks the associated record in the catalog so that no other users may check the asset out.

When the asset is checked back in, Cumulus moves the updated version back to that asset’s folder in Vault. It renames the latest version, raising the previous serial number by one. It then re-catalogs that version to update the associated record in the catalog. Finally, Cumulus unlocks the record so that other users may access the asset.