Scalable File Storage

[CohenYell]

Our company stores and serves large number of documents to numerous users simultaneously but there exists an imbalance in frequent access of a document. It gets worst with increased growth of data.

We need some solution with the help of which we could serve our documents more efficiently.

Please suggest.

[redrat]

It sounds to me like you are at the stage when investing in an in-house server solution/intranet might be useful. But that just assumes non-public usage. If both are heavily relevant how about using both synced up? That is a local intranet core system that feeds a remote public server solution.

 

I would start calling in a few reps for some detailed discussions (which costs nothing) before making any decisions and have your requirements accurately audited. Comparing all of the feedback will surely enable you to draw up exactly the right spec. Best wishes.

[walterleslie]

It would be hard to suggest a solution if the overall picture is not laid out.

 

First of all, what kind of document formats are requested and served? Plain text files are handled very differently than word or PDF files or Images (since there are too many imaging formats!). Please be clear on this.

 

The next point to consider is: how often does a particular document, on average, is requested? Are documents requested every day, every few hours, or are they stored initially then requested when a check or validation is done? If this happens, is it once or twice during the life cycle of a document?

 

Are these real time or archival-type documents?

 

Considering all these, you could expect a correct solution.

[redrat]

It is for exactly those reasons that I suggested getting some reps in to conduct audits establishing precise requirements and, ya never know, someone just might hit the jackpot with an attractive proposition. It does require an in depth audit though and some face-to-face discussion IMHO. And I would be very thorough indeed about the work involved.

 

It would certainly help in any subsequent project appraisal if some kind of detailed spec was drafted from the outset and used consistently by everyone involved. This can be revised as the project appraisal develops until a final, firm spec is arrived at. As walterleslie intimates, it is just too much of a movable feast to make any relevant suggestions otherwise and for all the reasons he suggests.

Edited October 16, 2008 by redrat