View source for 4.2.4 Convention that generates persistent, unique identifiers for AIPs

== 4.2.4 - The repository shall have and use a convention that generates persistent, unique identifiers for all AIPs. ==

The CLOCKSS archive has a single class of AIP, called an Archival Unit (AU), documented in [[Definition of AIP]]. Part of that documentation [[Definition of AIP#CLOCKSS Preservation Description Information (PDI)|describes the Reference information]] that forms part of the Preservation Description Information (PDI) of an AIP (AU):
<blockquote>
* '''Context:''' the context information for an AU consists of:
** The ''plugin ID'', which is the encoded name of a Java class implementing the LOCKSS plugin interface.
** The ''parameters'', which are a set of {name, value} pairs providing the arguments needed to construct an instance of the class named by the plugin ID.
*: In effect, the context for the AU is a customized instance of a Java class, normally referred to as its ''plugin''. It is thus executable, capable of performing operations on the AU such as adding content and metadata from a SIP (see below), [[LOCKSS: Extracting Bibliographic Metadata|extracting metadata]], and taking part in integrity checks.
...
* '''Reference:''' Each AU has an immutable internal name, computed from its context information and stored with it. The software locates it in the POSIX filesystems using a map from this internal name to the path to the AU's root directory which is built during system startup and subsequently maintained as new AUs are created. Content within an AU can be located by querying the [[LOCKSS: Metadata Database|metadata database]] using specific bibliographic metadata fields to match against the [[LOCKSS: Extracting Bibliographic Metadata|bibliographic metadata supplied by the publisher]] or derived from the AU's context.</blockquote>
Thus each AU (AIP) has a persistent, unique identifier that is the same on every CLOCKSS box and can be used to locate it in the box's file system.

=== Relevant Documents ===

# [[Definition of AIP]]
# [[LOCKSS: Extracting Bibliographic Metadata]]
# [[LOCKSS: Metadata Database]]