Generally, you can choose one of the following techniques:
- Upload the file in specific folder in your server and store in your database only the
URL to the file. Latter, use the URL for showing or downloading the file
- Upload the file and store in the database in
BLOB (Binary Large OBject) field
Each of these, has advantages and disadvantages and it is up to your situation and you to decided which technique for use.
Fortunately, when we are using SQL Server for storing files we have one more option which can lead to better performance - Filestream Storage.
This type of storage is recommended in the following situations:
- Objects that are being stored are, on average, larger than 1 MB.
- Fast read access is important.
- You are developing applications that use a middle tier for
application logic
Since, rarely PDF files are smaller then 1 MB, I believe you should use this technique but:
For smaller objects, storing varbinary(max) BLOBs in the database
often provides better streaming performance.
You can check the following this tutorial in order to activate the storage.
