The Art of SQL Server FILESTREAM - Red Gate Software

Chapter 2: Getting Started with FILESTREAMWhat is very interesting to know is that SQL Server only checks for the filename andnot the data or a signature inside the file. So, if you create a file named filestream.hdr and place it in one of the folders, SQL Server thinks that it is a FILESTREAM datacontainer and will not allow you to configure any of its subfolders as a FILESTREAM datacontainer. Filegroups are discussed in more detail later in this chapter, in the Tables andFILESTREAM filegroups section.Creating FILESTREAM-enabled DatabasesA FILESTREAM-enabled database is one that has one or more FILESTREAM filegroups.Such a database can be used to create relational tables that contain FILESTREAMcolumns. BLOB data that you insert into a FILESTREAM column is stored in theFILESTREAM data container within the specified FILESTREAM filegroup.You can enable FILESTREAM when you create a database, or you can enable it on anexisting database. However, before you do either, you must ensure that the FILESTREAMfeature is enabled and correctly configured at the SQL Server instance level. Detailedinformation about how to do this is provided in Appendix A: Configuring FILESTREAM ona SQL Server Instance.Note that the configuration demonstrated in this chapter, when creating a newFILESTREAM-enabled database, will get you started, but is rather basic and probably notsuitable for a production deployment. In Chapter 7, we discuss how to adapt filegrouparchitectures for very large FILESTREAM databases. In this chapter, we also don'tconsider any aspects of the configuration of the underlying file system; see Chapter 12 fora discussion of this topic.Creating a new FILESTREAM-enabled databaseOnce you have ensured that the SQL Server instance is FILESTREAM enabled, you cancreate a new FILESTREAM-enabled database. It is possible to do this using either SSMSor T-SQL.53