The Art of SQL Server FILESTREAM - Red Gate Software

Chapter 11: FileTableThere has been a change to the PathName() function in SQL Server 2012 to supportAvailability Groups, a new feature in the latest release. Any discussion of AvailabilityGroups is beyond the scope of this book, but PathName() now has a second optionalargument that determines whether the returned name should be the virtual networkname (VNN) (default) or the computer name.Catalog and Dynamic Management ViewsThree new catalog management views and one new DMV have been added to SQL Server2012. One catalog view has been updated to support FileTable.sys.tablesThe sys.tables catalog view has been updated to include the is_FileTable column.A value of 1 in the is_FileTable column indicates that the table is a FileTable.sys.database_filestream_optionsWe have already used this catalog view in Listing 11-9 to check the readiness of a databasefor FileTable creation. The view includes four columns.• database_id – The ID of the database within the SQL Server instance. This is usefulfor filtering by a particular database.You can retrieve the ID of a database using the DB_ID() function.• directory_name – The database-level directory name for all FileTables within thedatabase. If this value is NULL, a database-level directory has not been set and thedatabase cannot contain FileTables.426