Database Storage Location

The RDM docroot directory is similar concept to a web server document root directory. Each database instance managed by a TFS will be stored in a sub-directory of the docroot named with the database name including the .rdm extension.

The default location for the docroot directory is determined by the following precedence prior to instantiating the TFS:

  1. The docroot directory is explicitly set.
  2. The docroot directory is defined in a system environment variable RDM_DOCROOT.
  3. The docroot directory is defined as the current working directory when the TFS is instantiated if the current working directory (CWD) is not the root directory of the file system. (Not recommended)

In other words, you will only need to set the docroot if your database is located outside of your projects root directory. If working with a remote TFS or client/server application, the docroot will not be applicable as the application will look to where the remote TFS is hosted.

Setting the DOCROOT for the TFS

The selected location of the docroot directory should be sufficient size to hold the database instances that will be managed by the TFS.

For client/server applications, the docrootis set on the TFS host. For example, if the rdm-tfs utility is used as the TFS host, the docroot can be set by: 1) defining the RDM_DOCROOT environment variable before executing rdm-tfs; 2) providing the --docroot option on the command line; or, 3) use the CWD of the rdm-tfs application when launched (not recommended).

DOCROOT Rules

  1. The docroot directory CANNOT be the root directory of the file system;
  2. The docroot path specification CANNOT be a relative path;
  3. The docroot path must be writable for the TFS process;
  4. The docroot directory should not used for storing files not managed by the TFS.