When it comes to enterprise content management system, many seem to be grappling with the question whether to migrate content from File Servers to SharePoint or not. Can SharePoint be considered as a replacement of File Servers? If you take such a simplistic approach to the question, the answer would be no.
MS SharePoint can be better summarized as a collaborative file storage system which offers a very conductive environment for collaborative development. Features such as check in, check out, publishing, versioning, and single instance storage only emphasize the fact that it is an ideal solution for file sharing.
File Servers, on the other hand, can be primarily considered as storage system with scope of sharing documents. But, it certainly cannot be considered as a system with such collaborative standards as in case of SharePoint. Let’s compare the two systems in the context of document storage:
- SharePoint is a suitable storage option for small documents up to the size of 50 MB. The storage size limit can be increased up to 2 GB but that too is not sufficient considering big media files.
- The maximum amount of data that can be stored in the SharePoint Content is 4 TB, but the recommended size of SharePoint Content is 200 GB to avoid problems in database backup.
- SharePoint uses SQL Server for data storage. So, if you have stored a database in the File Server, it doesn’t make any sense to migrate it to SharePoint to store a database within a database.
- SharePoint data storage is quite expensive in comparison to File Servers. File Servers typically requires a server license and a client access license. SharePoint servers, on the other hand, require Windows Server License, Client Access License, SQL Server license and SharePoint server license as well.
As we see above, when it comes to only storage, File Server is certainly a better option than SharePoint. Now let’s see when to prefer one above the other. SharePoint can be considered as a better storage option in the following situations:
- If you are looking for better search options, SharePoint certainly offers superior search feature than File Servers.
- If the documents need to go through a workflow based system as in DMS.
- If the file is part of an extensive collaboration process.
File Servers, on the other hand, can be considered as a better option in the following situations:
- If big size files to the tune of GBs are to be stored.
- If you are looking for a system to archive files that need not be accessed frequently.
- If a database needs to stored.
As we see above, both File Servers and SharePoint are part of the enterprise content management system but for slightly different purposes. If you have some data that requires features offered by SharePoint then you should certainly go for it. You can also consider it an opportunity to better organize your data by dividing them in two categories that cater to above described two different situations.