Enabling or Disabling FileStream

Scenarios

FileStream of RDS for SQL Server stores unstructured data, such as documents and images, in file systems, effectively improving the database performance.

Constraints

• Enabling or disabling FileStream for a DB instance will reboot the DB instance. A DB instance reboot takes about 3 to 5 minutes. Services are unavailable when a DB instance is rebooting.
• This feature is supported only for single instances and 2017 Enterprise Edition cluster instances.
• FileStream cannot be disabled for a DB instance when databases of the DB instance have been created with this feature enabled. If you need to disable this feature, delete the databases first.
• Databases of a DB instance with FileStream enabled cannot be created using v3 APIs. For details about how to create a database using APIs, see Creating a Database.
• After you enable FileStream, the DB instance type cannot be changed from single to primary/standby.
• The backups generated after you enable FileStream can only be restored to an existing instance (not the original one) or a new instance, and the instance must be a single instance or 2017 Enterprise Edition cluster instance.
  • If you want to restore to an existing DB instance (not the original one), ensure that FileStream has been enabled for this DB instance.
  • If you want to restore to a new DB instance, FileStream will be automatically enabled for the new DB instance.

Enabling FileStream

1. Log in to the management console.
2. Click in the upper left corner and select a region.
3. Click in the upper left corner of the page and choose Databases > Relational Database Service.
4. On the Instances page, click the target instance name. On the displayed Overview page, click Enable under FileStream.
5. In the displayed dialog box, click OK.
   

   Enabling FileStream will reboot your DB instance, and services will be unavailable during the reboot. Exercise caution when performing this operation.

Disabling FileStream

1. Log in to the management console.
2. Click in the upper left corner and select a region.
3. Click in the upper left corner of the page and choose Databases > Relational Database Service.
4. On the Instances page, click the target instance name. On the displayed Overview page, click Disable under FileStream.
5. In the displayed dialog box, click OK to disable FileStream.
   

   Disabling FileStream will cause your DB instance to reboot, and services will be unavailable during the reboot. Exercise caution when performing this operation.

Parameters

filestream access level

Default value: 0

Function: Use this parameter to change the FileStream access level for your RDS for SQL Server DB instance.

Value range:

• 0: disables this function.
• 1: enables this function for Transact-SQL access.
• 2: enables this function for all streaming access.

  To change the parameter value, see Modifying RDS for SQL Server Instance Parameters.

Impact:

• If FileStream is enabled, set this parameter to 1 or 2.
• If FileStream is disabled, you can set this parameter only to 0.