KBA-01001: How much SQL storage is required to store files in sfPMS?

Question

How much storage is required to store files in SQL for Spitfire?

Answer

Roughly the same amount of storage is required to store a file within sfPMS as within the NTFS file system.  So you can use your historical experience for the amount of storage required.

Additional Comments

Overhead

Of course, both NTFS and SQL have overhead associated with storage units (4K for NTFS and 8K for SQL) and directory and indexing.   SQL requires less than 1K of overhead for each file cataloged.  In sfPMS, each version of a file is stored – each with its 1K additional amount of overhead.

Compression

Both NTFS and SQL can store files in a compressed form to save storage space.  With SQL, sfPMS is responsible for compression.  Files are compressed when the file type is not excluded (via ICTool) and the compressed file saves storage.   ZIP, RAR, DOCX and XLSX files are excluded by default because these file formats are already pre-compressed.

Note that if you use iFilter-based full text indexing, you should disable compression for the corresponding type of file(s).  Exceptions are DOC and PDF files because sfATC extracts text from these file types so that the iFilter is not required.

Storage Cost

Regardless of whether SQL or an NTFS file system is used, you should use RAID storage to store your data.  Both vehicles require adequate archive and disaster recovery backup protection.

Archiving

Every version of every file in sfPMS is identified by a GUID (Global Unique ID).  As files are aged they can be archived into cheaper storage.  See KBA-01471.


KBA-01001;  Last updated: October 13, 2016 at 8:25 am;

Keywords:  SQL Storage requirements