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Accessing Files on a remote server

 
Greenhorn
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Hi all,

I'm thinking of developing an application in which users can upload/download files (of any type) from a database on a remote server. Any ideas as to which database program I should look at?
 
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While databases can handle files, as binary items (blobs), its not generally a good practice. One of the problems with putting files in the database is that they often outweigh the structured data, making the database difficult to work with. In general, files aren't good places for databases because they are completely unstructured. The database can't normalize, index, or do much with binary data other than store it. There are some exceptions to the rule, but if the files are large enough, or you are allowing arbitrary sized files, its better to manage them in a file system.
 
T Dreezy
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Thanks,

Do you have any recommendations for a software that helps do this?
 
Scott Selikoff
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Software? Do you mean using JDBC or accessing a database directly? Also, you may have missed my point that putting lots of files in a database is often a bad practice.
 
T Dreezy
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Sorry I'm a total noob at this lol

I understood your earlier point that putting lots of files in a database is not recommended, and managing them in a file system is a better option.

My question is are there any tools out there that help in this file system management, or is this done manually through coding?
 
Scott Selikoff
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Oh, I misread too. Often, managing files is done manually through coding although there are document management systems like Documentum, SalesForce, etc, but these usually for enterprise-level solutions. If you're developer a Google AppEngine project, it has its own method of managing files.
 
T Dreezy
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OK Thanks!
 
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T Dreezy wrote:Hi all,
I'm thinking of developing an application in which users can upload/download files (of any type) from a database on a remote server. Any ideas as to which database program I should look at?



Depending on the type of files you are storing, would MongoDB help? Haven't used it myself, but I've seen various references to it being used by newspapers as a document management system.
 
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