code: public static ByteArrayInputStream storeProperties(
          Map<String, String> propertiesMap)
          throws StorageException {
          // Pull out known computed values
          propertiesMap.remove(StorageProvider.PROPERTIES_SPACE_COUNT);
  
          // Serialize Map
          byte[] properties = null;
          try {
              String serializedProperties = serializeMap(propertiesMap);
              properties = serializedProperties.getBytes("UTF-8");
          } catch (Exception e) {
              String err = "Could not store properties" +
                           " due to error: " + e.getMessage();
              throw new StorageException(err);
          }
  
          ByteArrayInputStream is = new ByteArrayInputStream(properties);
          return is;
      }
docs: Converts properties stored in a Map into a stream for storage purposes.
  
  @param propertiesMap
  @return
  @throws StorageException