Storage Limits

[scaiferw]

Can you tell me what settings I need to check on my SQL Server to determine if it can handle large files, and what those limits in individual files might be? I have the potential on occasion to have .iso files over 1gb, though that's not going to be normal.

Is there anything in IIS that might be a bottleneck as well?

Also, I'm unclear on how the storage works. Are files stored within the database or are they loaded to a folder structure on the sql server and pointers and/or metadata stored in the database?

[lbauer]

Vault stores files as Blobs in the SQL Server database. The size limit is 2 GB, though the actual file can be larger if it can be compressed down to 2 GB.

There can be IIS limits on file size uploads, plus SQL Server can time out if it takes too long to upload a file.

The upload limit as set in the Vault Admin Web client Advanced Settings is 1048576 KB or 1 GB. It might be possible up upload a larger file, since files can be sent in chunks.

[scaiferw]

Thanks, that's helpful.

Does the 1Gb limit in the web admin client override the 2Gb limit in SQL Server, or can I increast the limit in the web admin client to 2Gb?

Also, should I have my users set the chunked encoding option on in their Tools>Options since we're likely to use fairly large files on a regular basis?

[lbauer]

You can't set the upload limit in the Vault Admin Web Client any higher than 1048576 KB.

However you can change the MaxRequest Length in the Vault Web.config file to something larger. I was able to upload a 1.8 GB file by using chunked encoding and increasing the maxRequestLength:

<httpRuntime executionTimeout="86400" maxRequestLength="2048576" useFullyQualifiedRedirectUrl="false" minFreeThreads="8" minLocalRequestFreeThreads="4" appRequestQueueLimit="100" />

There are a number of factors that affect the ablility to upload large files. The Vault settings make a difference, but also your client machine has to have enough memory to keep the file in memory while uploading. You need to make sure a lengthy upload doesn't time out, due to SQL Server timing out or due to something (like a firewall) closing on the network.

A discussion of large file uploads here:
http://support.sourcegear.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11468

Chunked encoding usually helps with large uploads, but not always. It depends on your network. Some proxies and other network devices do not support chunked encoding.