Month: April 2023

360Agileweb

Configuring Sitecore Content Hub data retention period

Sitecore Content Hub architecture

Image credit: https://doc.sitecore.com/ch/en/users/40/content-hub/security–scale-units.html

Why data retention policies?

Proper data retention policies are a crucial component of any effective cybersecurity strategy. As per the above architecture, the data tier has the following capabilities.

  • Redis Labs Enterprise provides data storage capabilities in Content Hub. This persistent storage is for the metadata of each Content Hub instance, including asset, product, and content details.
  • Azure Blob Storage is used for Media assets and other important files used by the Content Hub application are stored securely for access when and where needed.
  • Elastic Cloud Enterprise is a responsive service for users to find the desired content when they need it.

Which are the data backup rules?

ResourceDescription
Redis DBRedis DB backups are scheduled to execute every night. They are retained daily for one month and weekly for 52 weeks.
ElasticSearchElasticSearch index backups are retained for three weeks since they hold append-only data.

What are soft delete rules?

Below is the period the soft deletions are delayed:

  • Production blobs are hard deleted after 30 days.
  • QA blobs are hard deleted after 7 days.
  • DEV blobs are immediately deleted.

How to configure maintenance settings?

You can configure maintenance settings related to the archival and deletion of assets, including the following:

  • ArchivedAssetsCleaner – Number of days after which all non-essential renditions of archived assets will be deleted. Renditions used for previewing assets (thumbnail, preview) will be kept.
  • TrashCleaner – Number of days after which items in the trash will be deleted forever.

To configure these settings:

  1. On the menu bar, click Manage -> Settings
  2. On the Settings page, search and click Maintenace.
  3. Then, select ArchivedAssetsCleaner or TrashCleaner.
  4. Set Retention period (days) to a numerical value between 1 and 999.
  5. Click Save.

Content Hub Audit logs retention policy

Sitecore Audit logs provide a comprehensive record of all activities that occur within your Content Hub system. These includes:

  • System events
  • User actions
  • Changes to data

Sitecore retains these audit logs for a “retention period” to meet regulatory compliance and accountability purposes.

Types of audit logs data retention

Below are the types of data retention policies used in Content Hub:

  • Online retention: data is available through Content Hub search, reporting, or API.
  • Offline retention: data is not available through Content Hub search, reporting, or API, but can be made available for download through a service request.
  • Expired data: once the retention period ends, the data may be permanently deleted. To keep the data beyond this period, you must request and store it securely before it is deleted.

Retention policy – Production environments

Audit log categoryOnline retention timeOffline retention time
User or security events2 years7 years
Audit events2 years7 years
Operational logs3 monthsN/A

Retention policy – Non-production environments

Audit log categoryOnline retention timeOffline retention time
User or security events3 months2 years
Audit events3 monthsN/A
Operational logs1 monthN/A

Next steps

On this blog post, we have looked at how to configure your Content Hub data retention policies. Proper data retention policies are a crucial component of any effective cybersecurity strategy.

Stay tuned for future posts as well look and feel free to look around at my existing posts on Sitecore platform.

360Agileweb

How to customize asset collections list on Sitecore Content Hub home page

I recently got asked the following question via email:

Just wondering if you can help, I’m wanting to change which Collections appear on the homepage and I’m not sure how to do it, do you know, how?

In the spirit of Scott Hanselman’s advise below, I have put together this blog post to answer this question.

“Don’t reply to random emails with long emails. Each question is a gift. Write a blog post and send them the link. If you get repeats, you’ve got links to send. Do this for 20 years and you’ll be a mid-level tech blogger like me, with a blog full of random answers to gifts.”

@shanselman

Asset collections on your home page?

To personalise the asset collections on your home page, you need to locate this component, enable custom settings and adjust them accordingly.

This is how to go about it.

If you have asset collections defined in your Content Hub instance, your home page will appear like the hero image at the beginning of this blog. A collection is a group of assets, which can be shared with other users, allowing collaboration on that collection.

By default, you will see the latest (up to four (4) collections) on your home page. You can of course customize this list to meet your use cases.

Step-by-step guide on customizing asset collections list

  1. Navigate to Pages using  Manage -> Pages
  2. Select the Home page item. You will see page similar to below:
  3. Now scroll to the middle part of the home page. You will see the Row section with “Collections” component.
  4. Using the toggle button “Enable custom settings”. This will allow you to click on “Collections” component.
  5. This will the open the Entity list component.

Customizing Entity list component

Content Hub Entity list component is used to display an entity collection of a specific entity definition.

In our case, we are using this to display the asset collections (M.Collection)

Entity list component configuration settings are grouped into six tabs:

  • Select
  • Output
  • Template
  • Components
  • Labels
  • Advanced

On the Select tab, adjust the entity definition query to match your use cases. You can create the query on the Entity definitions column, such as the following.

  • Take: this has the count of collections shown, e.g., 4
  • Enable sorting: allows you to define sort criteria for your collection list
  • Sorting property: This has the sorting property, e.g., date created (Descending or Ascending)

You can apply filters to this query. In this case, only items that match the query and the filters are displayed.

Note: Your changes should be applied on the fly as shown on the Results column on the right-hand side

Once you are happy with your changes, click on Save and Close button. Now navigate to your home page, you should see your changes applied.

Next steps

On this blog post, we have looked at how to personalise the asset collections list on your Content hub home page. I am keen to hear your feedback or comments. Please do use the comments section for that.

Stay tuned for future posts as well look and feel free to look around at my existing posts on Sitecore platform.