1C 8.5.5 will shrink your database: what finally moves out of it

Today tabular section attributes are not saved in the binary data storage, and selective placement through configuration settings and the built-in language is not supported for them. Version 8.5.5 adds that option for both the internal and the external storage.

The point is practical: the more binary data is moved out of the working database, the smaller it becomes and the lighter the load on hardware. Until now part of that data stayed inside simply because it lived in a tabular section.

In the technical specialist function for managing binary data storage, two forms change: the one for using binary data storage and the one for updating data placement. Tabular section attributes appear in the metadata tree, and only fields of the value storage type are listed.

Such attributes gain a setting for using the binary data storage. Choosing to use it opens one more setting, where you pick a boolean attribute of the same tabular section to control writing. The built-in language will be extended to support the new functionality.

The second change concerns the database testing and repair function. Today the binary data storage integrity option requires an exclusive lock on the whole database, and on large databases the operation takes a significant amount of time.

In separated databases that is particularly wasteful: the check may be needed only for some of the applications running in the database, yet everyone stops. Version 8.5.5 adds a run filtered by data separator, so only selected applications are tested and repaired while other users keep working. The same improvement will also be available in 8.5.4.

Three kinds of deployment gain something, for different reasons.

• Large databases with attachments: scans, photographs and printed forms inside tabular sections stop inflating the working database.
• Separated databases and cloud services, including those running as a service on 1cfresh: routine checks stop being an event for every tenant at once.
• Projects with a tight maintenance window: an operation that used to require a full stop now fits into partial maintenance.

1C itself warns that this is an announcement of new functionality rather than documentation, and that it should not be used to learn the mechanism. The full description will appear in the documentation for the relevant version, and the complete list of changes in the v8Update.htm file.

Before moving, it pays to see which of your tabular section attributes use the value storage type and how much space they take: that is the potential gain. Decide separately which boolean attribute will control writing, and allow time for updating the placement, because moving existing data is never instant.

Both changes address the same problem from different sides: a large database is hard to maintain. The first shrinks the database, the second makes maintenance less painful. Small deployments will not notice the difference; large ones will measure it in hours of downtime.