Infosys - Using SQL Server FILESTREAM to store BLOBs - Tutorial

Tutorial: Using SQL Server FILESTREAM to store BLOBsBalasubramanian ShanmugamIntroductionIn the earlier versions of SQL Server, storing unstructured data posed many challenges in terms of maintaining transactional consistency between the structured and unstructured data, managing backup and restore, performance and scalability issues etc. To overcome these problems, SQL Server 2008 has introduced a feature called FILESTREAM. This document outlines using illustrations, the benefits of FILESTREAM and shows how to implement this feature in SQL Server 2008.This document is intended to help the below mentioned communities:• Architects – Useful to understand the feature and its capabilities• DBA - Helps in having a better maintenance plan for databases which has large data items being stored• Developers - Helps as a quick start in using this feature by performing operations on unstructured data in the middle tierFormor einformation,Contact askus@infosys.comOct2008Overview of FILESTREAM“FILESTREAM”isanewfeatur eintr oducedinSQLSer ver2008tostor eunstructur edbinar yfilesinthedatabase.It’ snotadatatypelikeV ARBINAR Y(MAX),butanattribute/pr opertyimposedupontheV ARBINAR Ycolumntotellthatthedatahastobestor eddir ectlyonthefilesystem.Theyr emainasintegralpartofthesystemandmaintainatransactionalconsistency .Followingar eafewpointsonFILESTREAM:1. Binar ydatastor ...