On my website I\'m trying to decide whether I want to store certain files
in the database (MySQL), or in the linux filesystem and just keep
certain informationabout them in the database. I\'m okay with serving
some things directly out of the db like photos. The reason I like it is
that it makes for just one thing to back up and it is easier and cleaner
to work with, IMO. However, I am also thinking of serving some real
audio (.ra) files and storing them in the db as well. Would this
significantly degrade network performance? If I am using a php script
and using a persistant database connection, what would be the
implications of serving a one-hour stream (small, heavily compressed,
however--maybe 2 meg) going from mysql->php->user as opposed to having
php and mysql set things up and then let Apache serve the stream from
the filesystem? Oh, and real audio server is out of the question,
too--this is just a very simple project--not a major .COM with tons of
traffic.
How does MySQL handle extended streams of data, either large as in file
size, or large as in takes a long time to serve? Does it buffer the
output so it isn\'t constantly involved? Does it lock the table as it is serving it so that one couldn\'t insert or delete things?
