Patent ID: 7627726

Claim:
A method for storing content with retention management properties on at least one of a plurality of storage systems, the method comprising: creating a content object for the content; defining an object type for the content object, the object type defining how the content will be stored, and on which of the plurality of storage systems the content will be stored; defining object properties for the content; transmitting the content object, including the content and the object properties, to a content management server, wherein: the content management server selects at least one storage system from the plurality of storage systems on which to store the content object based on the content object type; the content management server associates the object properties, including a retention period, with the content; the content management server determines a plugin configured to communicate with the selected storage system; the content management server transmits the content and object properties to the selected storage system through the determined plugin, wherein the determined plugin comprises specific application program interfaces to the selected storage system, configured to allow the object properties to be set including the retention period to be defined, such that they are stored on the selected storage system; and the content management server stores the object properties including the retention period in a relational database.