Summary

The GroupWise information store employs a mixture of strategies. Partitioning is used on user mailboxes so that message items are not unnecessarily replicated. A different sort of partitioning is used on document property and activity databases, to keep these files at manageable sizes even on large libraries. A third type of partitioning is used for document files and for long strings of field data; the binary large object files can be considered partitions of the message databases or the document databases, depending on their content.

Replication is used across post offices. Shared folders and address books are replicated to prevent unnecessary network utilization when users access these items. Messages sent between post offices are replicated once per post office, again, so users reading these messages do not need to open client/server connections to the sender's post office.

This replication across post offices is managed through database record numbers (DRNs) and GUIDs. Items replicated to other post offices are linked back to the original item record. When users are moved, or folders are shared, and another copy of an item ends up on a post office, the duplicate DRN or GUID tells the delivery process to create a pointer to the existing item, instead of writing the item again.