MOSS as front end to other storage systems

This blog posting applies to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

I've been asked several times if MOSS can be used to front-end other storage systems, and wanted to post a few pointers here.  I was prompted to post this when I came across notice of the recent WSS 3.0 hotfix package, and was very surprised to find An external storage API is available for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. 

"An external storage API is available for Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. The external storage API lets you store documents or files on an external storage device other than Microsoft SQL Server. This API also lets you upgrade existing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 sites to point to an external storage device."

Serge van den Oever was kind enough to point me to Microsoft's documentation of this feature: https://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb897648.aspx.

Now, if Documentum or FileNet is the document management system you want to front-end with MOSS, then look to Vorsite, they've already done this work for you.  Frankly, it doesn't look like they're using an approach exactly like this API would provide, but their solutions will integrate in ways more familiar to Documentum or FileNet users.