The Art of SQL Server FILESTREAM - Red Gate Software

When SQL Server 2008 introduced the FILESTREAM feature, it had my immediateattention. At last, we had a way to store the unstructured data in the file system andthus take advantage of the NTFS streaming capabilities but, at the same time, ensuretransactional consistency between the relational data and the file system data. Inaddition, a normal database backup would now also include the file system data.It's safe to say I was an early adopter, and my primary goal with this book is to ease thepaths of others who are interested in this technology, as some aspects of its adoptionproved far from plain sailing.This book attempts to guide you, step-by-step, through every phase of FILESTREAMimplementation, from enabling the feature, to creating FILESTREAM tables, to manipulatingFILESTREAM data through the streaming APIs, to handling FILESTREAM data insimple ASP.NET web pages, to complex N-tier .NET applications.It also covers, in detail, administration and troubleshooting of FILESTREAM databasesand tables. Alongside the advantages offered by the technology, it tries to coversome of its shortcomings, and to offer practical advice on workarounds, or possiblealternative solutions.Who is this book for?The primary audience for this book is the SQL Server developers who have to deal withmore than relational data. It will help them to get started with FILESTREAM-enableddatabases, and it provides a very detailed coverage on accessing FILESTREAM datathrough the .NET and Win32 APIs. We have provided a reasonable number of examples,sample code, and labs that demonstrate how to access FILESTREAM data from C#.NET,VB.NET and C++. In addition, there are several labs demonstrating FILESTREAM accessfrom common application platforms/tools such as ASP.NET, Silverlight, SSIS, SSRS (SQLServer Reporting Services), Entity Framework, LINQ to SQL and so on.20