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Legacy Content Delivery storage on the file system

Published content is stored in the Content Data Store, which is normally a database. However, SDL Web still supports storage on a local file system (the hard disk of a Presentation server or a network-accessible hard disk) as a deprecated legacy feature. However, if you use the local file system as your Content Data Store, you restrict the functionality of SDL Web in many ways.

The following Content Delivery features require storage in a database:
  • API (RESTful)
  • Content Service
  • Discovery Service
  • Preview Service (part of Experience Manager)
  • Session-enabled Content Service
  • Dynamically assembling content onto a Web page through querying and filtering
  • Profiling & Personalization, which enables you to track visitors and offer them personalized content
  • Intelligent navigation (taxonomies)
  • Outbound E-mail (deprecated feature) (Tracking database) and Audience Manager (Subscription database)
  • User-Generated Content (UGC)

Because some of these items are core software components as of SDL Web 8, a normal SDL Web installation always requires a database. The only scenario in which you can use local file system storage is if you are upgrading an existing implementation and are continuing to use legacy features.