user uploaded files -- max # of files per directory?

[Derik]

I believe there's some upper limit to the number of files permitted in
a directory on many web servers (and a corresponding performance hit
as the numbers get large?)

I'm doing an application where users are allowed to upload files
(PDF's, images) and there is a nonzero possibility that the quantities
involved could get that large, so I'm reluctant to just consign
everything to a common /uploads/ directory

Is there a, um... strategy? A best practice for this? I see these
forking upload directories with folders that are long numbers a lot-
but I'm not clear on the mechanism involved. Do the numbers represent
some sort of system? When 'seeking' a file, how does the script know
which sub-directory (or sub-sub directory) it's buried under?

....help? I'm all dizzy and turned around! Could someone point me in
the right direction and give me a gentle push and a kind word of
advice?

-Derik

[Jerry Stuckle]

Re: user uploaded files -- max # of files per directory?

Derik wrote:

I believe there's some upper limit to the number of files permitted in
a directory on many web servers (and a corresponding performance hit
as the numbers get large?)
>
I'm doing an application where users are allowed to upload files
(PDF's, images) and there is a nonzero possibility that the quantities
involved could get that large, so I'm reluctant to just consign
everything to a common /uploads/ directory
>
Is there a, um... strategy? A best practice for this? I see these
forking upload directories with folders that are long numbers a lot-
but I'm not clear on the mechanism involved. Do the numbers represent
some sort of system? When 'seeking' a file, how does the script know
which sub-directory (or sub-sub directory) it's buried under?
>
...help? I'm all dizzy and turned around! Could someone point me in
the right direction and give me a gentle push and a kind word of
advice?
>
-Derik

There's generally no "hard" limit - but at some point it becomes a bit
impractical - i.e. 100K files in one directory will take a while for the
system to sort out.

You can put them in different directories. Some use the first two
characters to define the directory, i.e. "myfile.pdf " might be in
/m/y/myfile.pdf or /my/myfile.pdf.

You can also investigate database. I keep a lot of files in a database;
although some people will tell you it doesn't work, I've been doing it
for over 20 years and it works great. You just need to design the
database properly.

--
=============== ===
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attgl obal.net
=============== ===

[Norman Peelman]

Re: user uploaded files -- max # of files per directory?

Derik wrote:

I believe there's some upper limit to the number of files permitted in
a directory on many web servers (and a corresponding performance hit
as the numbers get large?)
>
I'm doing an application where users are allowed to upload files
(PDF's, images) and there is a nonzero possibility that the quantities
involved could get that large, so I'm reluctant to just consign
everything to a common /uploads/ directory
>
Is there a, um... strategy? A best practice for this? I see these
forking upload directories with folders that are long numbers a lot-
but I'm not clear on the mechanism involved. Do the numbers represent
some sort of system? When 'seeking' a file, how does the script know
which sub-directory (or sub-sub directory) it's buried under?
>
...help? I'm all dizzy and turned around! Could someone point me in
the right direction and give me a gentle push and a kind word of
advice?
>
-Derik

You can alphabetize the directories by the names of the files or
something similar... or you could store them as binary data in a
database and let the database do the heavy lifting.

--
Norman
Registered Linux user #461062
-Have you been to www.php.net yet?-