Recommended max number of files in a dir

Is there a recommended maximum number of files in a directory within TeamSite? If so, what is that number and how is that usually enforced (at least within the templating UI)? We were told once that we should try to limit the number of data records in any directory to 500. If this is necessary, we are thinking that we would try to do this as part of "auto naming" of the data records as they are saved. Our directories then would have a number in them "/data/1" for the first 500 and so on for each batch of 500. Upon saving a data record we would need to see if 500 files exists in the highest numbered directory. If not, save in that directory, else create a directory names with the next number and save in that directory.

Is anybody else doing something like this? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

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Comments

Adam Stoller

I think you would be better served by choosing a more "natural" divider that approximates keeping N number of files per directory.

First - perhaps you can use subject-matter or business or web hierarchy to divide the content - e.g:
data/about/
data/hr/
data/hr/engineering/
data/projects/
data/projects/free/
etc.

Otherwise, you can use year, year&month, etc., eg.:

If you have a relatively low-volume usage template type:
data/2003/
data/2004/
data/2005/

If you have a medium-volume usage template type:
data/2004/12/
data/2005/01/
data/2005/02/
or
data/200412/
data/200501/
data/200502/

If you have a medium-high-volume usage template type:
data/200501_01-15/
data/200501_15-31/

If you have a high-volume usage template type:
data/20050101/
data/20050102/
data/20050103/

--fish
Senior Consultant, Quotient Inc.
http://www.quotient-inc.com

Bowker

The number of files limit depends upon which version of TeamSite you are running.

In Production now I'm running 5.5.2 and put 3500 files in one folder. NEVER DO THAT!

It now takes about 5 minutes to submit a file to that folder (and I've tried cleaning it up) during which time the whole TS server is pretty much hung.

To fix it, We believe the only solution is to do a backing store migration.

The limit is better (I think) in 6.0 and I understand there isn't a limit really in 6.5.

Dan Bowker
Northern Trust
Web Publishing Technology