How to analyze error „expiration_date409 null” during ILM Store phase (Report RSARCH_STORE_FILE)

In this blog post I would like to provide hints and tips how to analyze error „expiration_date409 null” during ILM Store phase (Report RSARCH_STORE_FILE).

“Image/data in this blog is from SAP internal systems, sample data, or demo systems. Any resemblance to real data is purely coincidental.”

Check my steps below to get more info about the cause of the error.

1. During store phase (report RSARCH_STORE_FILE) into a previously configured ILM Store, error „expiration_date409 null” occurs in store job:Job log contains:

   „592: Error during changing of WebDAV property
   DA Service Message: PROPERTY_SET:Could not set the property for URI /…/…/ad/cdocs_cont/20301231
   in store ILM_STORE. Cause:expiration_date409 null”Here collection „/…/…/ad/cdocs_cont/20301231” can be seen, where system tried to store archive file 000469-002CDOCS_CONT, e.g. wanted to create resource „000469-002cdocs_cont.adk” in ILM Store with actual policy and rule settings of ILM object CDOCS_CONT.

2. Checking the attributes and used rule for archive file 000469-002CDOCS_CONT is important for the analysis.
   Go to transaction „SARA >> Management” (after entering archiving object name which relates to ILM object; in many cases the archiving object and ILM object have same name) and double click on the archive file name:Here mind the URI which contains the collection (/…/…/ad/cdocs_cont/20301231/000469) where resource should be placed in ILM Store, and also the resource
   (000469-002cdocs_cont.adk).Also do a right mouse click on the archive file name (000469-002CDOCS_CONT) and choose „Rules applied”:According to this retention rule setting the MinRetPer and MaxRetPer is set to 0 days (Unit = DAY).
3. In ILM Store Browers (transaction ILM_SB) check the attributes of collection „/…/…/ad/cdocs_cont/20301231”From here the collection attributes can be seen:
   
   start_of_retention: 2030-12-31. This is a reference date used to calculate expiration date and mandatory/compulsory destruction date using MinRetPer and MaxRetPer from applied rule.
   expiration_date: 2041-12-31 (start_of_retention + MinRetPer, so 11 years after reference date)(check this blog post regarding time definitions)

   According to this store hierarchy a correctly stored resource already exists under this collection, which is: 000445-001cdocs_cont.adk.
   This was the first successfull storage run under this collection, which also resulted to set the expiration_date to „2041-12-31” for collection „/…/…/ad/cdocs_cont/20301231”:From here the resource attributes can be seen:

   compulsory_destruction_date: 2041-12-31 (start_of_retention as a reference date + MaxRetPer)
   expiration_date: 2041-12-31 (start_of_retention as a reference date + MinRetPer)

4. Check attributes and the applied rule for the already stored resource (000445-001cdocs_cont.adk) in „SARA >> Management”.Applied rule for the correctly stored archive file 000445-001CDOCS_CONT:According to this retention rule setting the MinRetPer and MaxRetPer was set to 11 years (Unit = ANN), when archive file 000445-001CDOCS_CONT was stored in ILM Store in the past.
5. When comparing the setting of applied rule for the recent archive file (point 2) and the setting of applied rule for the correctly stored archive file (point 4), shortening of retention period can be seen:MinRetPer was shortened from 11 years to 0 day.
   MaxRetPer was shortened from 11 years to 0 day.Parent collection attributes were determined during the first successfull storage run, e.g. when resource „000445-001cdocs_cont.adk” was stored. At this time, the expiration date was set to 2041-12-31, based on the former rule settings with MinRetPer = 11 years.In general all child objects (like all child collections and resources) can not have shorter expiration date, than the parent collection’s expiration date.
   For the actual resource 000469-002cdocs_cont.adk the expiration date should have been set to 2030-12-31, as reference date is 2030-12-31 and current retention rule settings contain MinRetPer = 0 days.However due to above explanation, 2030-12-31 (as an expiration date of the current resource) is smaller than 2041-12-31 (expiration date of parent collection „/…/…/ad/cdocs_cont/20301231”), therefore error is raised.Shortening of the expiration date is not allowed as per BC-ILM 3.1 certification guide.
6. Solution:
   Execute store run for archive file 000469-002CDOCS_CONT with original rule settings (MinRetPer = 11 years, MaxRetPer = 11 years). If new rules should be applied, file conversion can be executed.
   Before file conversion, please note followings:
   Maintain the condition fields in the rules and policies so that the folder hierarchy and the collections are created newly with the new expiration date set on these new collections under a different folder hierarchy.
7. Summary:
   • Check attributes and applied rule of the actual archive file (resource at ILM Store side) attributes in “SARA >> Management”.
     Mind URI (collection+resource) and rule retention periods (MinRetPer, MaxRetPer)
   • Check parent collection attributes (start_of_retention and expiration_date) in Store Browser (tr. ILM_SB)
   • Check whether a correctly stored resource already exist in collection. If yes, check attributes and applied rule of this correctly stored archive file (resource at ILM Store side) attributes in “SARA >> Management”.
     Mind URI (collection+resource) and rule retention periods (MinRetPer, MaxRetPer)
   • Compare applied rule of actual archive file and correctly stored archive file