Policy-Driven Repository Interoperability: Enabling Integration Patterns for iRODS and Fedora

Given the growing need for cross-repository integration to enable a trusted, scalable, open and distributed content infrastructure, this paper introduces the PolicyDriven Repository Interoperability (PoDRI) project investigating interoperability mechanisms between repositories at the policy level. Simply moving digital content from one repository to another may not capture the essential management policies needed to ensure its integrity and authenticity. Platform-independent, policyaware object models, including policy expressions, and a distributed architecture for policy-driven management are fundamental building blocks of a sustainable access and preservation infrastructure. This project integrates iRODS and Fedora to demonstrate such an infrastructure. Using iRODS and its rules engine, combined with Fedora’s rich semantic object model for digital objects, provides the basis for implementing a policy-driven test-bed. Using a policy-driven architecture is an essential part of realizing a fully model-driven repository infrastructure capable of decoupling the permanent digital content from the constantly evolving information technology used to support them.