Yiorgos Stamoulis wrote:

> I am developing a utility that keeps copies of all printjobs done
> through a unix (SCO ;-( ) server.
> Up to now I was using firebird to log some details for each printjob but
> I was keeping the actual printjob file in a directory the unix filesystem.
> As I am facing problems with the number of files (~ 25.000 in the last 2
> months) I have to make a decision either to store the files in a
> hierarchical directory structure or as blobs in the database. The size
> of the files varies but the are generally small, averaging ~10Kb.
> Assuming a cycle of one year, I have to be able to keep ~ 150.000 blobs,
> ~ 1.5Gb, possibly more.

You might consider compressing the files before sending them off to the
server. My guess is that print files will compress very well.

>
> My question is whether firebird can handle this volume of blobs with no
> problem.

Shouldn't be a problem.

> I will be using Delphi & IBObjects (which is a giant leap after native
> Delphi tools!).

Good choice!

> The utility is an administration/reporting tool for me
> and the accounting department of my company. Firebird (1.5.2) lives on
> a linux server (P4 3.0, 512Mb, Fedora 3, xfs filesystem on raid 1) that
> will also be a file server.

One server being both database and file server may not be optimal.
YMMV... If this is the only database activity on this server it probably
doesn't matter much.


--
Aage J.