The Art of SQL Server FILESTREAM - Red Gate Software

Chapter 10: Integrating FILESTREAM with other SQL Server FeaturesFILESTREAM and Data CompressionSQL Server 2008 introduced page-level and row-level compression of relational data, butit does not compress FILESTREAM data stored in the FILESTREAM filegroup(s) of thedatabase. On the other hand, SQL Server will allow you to store the FILESTREAM datacontainer on a compressed disk volume. However, as discussed in the Data and BackupCompression for FILESTREAM Databases section in Chapter 8, documentation from theMicrosoft support engineers indicates that this is not a recommended configuration.Another compression feature introduced in SQL Server 2008 is backup compression.This feature allows you to take a compressed backup by issuing the WITH COMPRESSIONcommand in your backup script. Fortunately, SQL Server does compress theFILESTREAM data when you take a compressed backup of the database, which canpossibly save a significant amount of backup storage space and shorten the backup time.FILESTREAM and Transparent Data EncryptionOne of the very interesting data security features added in SQL Server 2008 isTransparent Data Encryption (TDE), enabling encryption of an entire database. Theencryption is transparent to application code; SQL Server takes care of encryption anddecryption at the storage level and you do not need to do anything other than enablingthis feature on the database.However, note that TDE does not encrypt the FILESTREAM data stored in aFILESTREAM database.382