.. _orthanc-storage:

How does Orthanc store its database?
====================================

Storage folder
--------------

**By default** (i.e. if no database plugin such as :ref:`PostgreSQL
<postgresql>` is used), Orthanc stores all the DICOM files it receives
in a folder called ``OrthancStorage`` on the filesystem. Orthanc also
associates each incoming DICOM file with a JSON file that summarizes
all its DICOM tags, which speeds up subsequent processing by avoiding
a costly DICOM parsing.

More generally, the ``OrthancStorage`` folder contains a set of
so-called **attachments**, that may correspond to either a DICOM file,
a JSON file, or any user-defined file. Internally, each attachment is
automatically associated with an `universally unique identifier (UUID)
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universally_unique_identifier>`__.
Orthanc can be configured to compress these files on-the-fly in order
to save disk space (cf. the ``StorageCompression`` :ref:`configuration
option <configuration>`).

To reduce the number of files in a single directory (which is
something that some operating systems might not like), a 3-level
hierarchy of directories is created to store the attachments: The
first two hexadecimal characters of the UUID give the first-level
folder, and the two next characters give the second-level folder.


SQLite index
------------

Inside the same ``OrthancStorage`` folder, Orthanc maintains a `SQLite
database <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQLite>`__ called ``index``
that **indexes** all these attachments. The database records, for each
attachment, its compression method, and its MD5 hashes before and
after compression in order to detect disk corruption (cf. the
``StoreMD5ForAttachments`` :ref:`configuration option
<configuration>`).

One attachment must be associated with one :ref:`DICOM resource
<model-world>` (patient, study, series, or instance). Incoming DICOM
files and associated JSON summary are associated with one
instance-level resource, but user-defined attachments can be
associated with any kind of resource. 

Given one DICOM resource, all of its child attachments are identified
by a number between 0 and 65535. Identifiers <= 1023 are reserved for
the Orthanc core, whereas identifiers >= 1024 can be user-defined for
external applications.


Direct access
-------------

Directly accessing the content of the ``OrthancStorage`` folder and
the content of the SQLite database is strongly discouraged for several
reasons:

* This internal organization is only true when no database plugin is
  used (e.g. the :ref:`PostgreSQL plugin <postgresql>` can be
  configured to store the attachments inside a database).
* Orthanc can be configured to compress the attachments before writing
  them on the disk (cf. the ``StorageCompression`` option).
* By directly reading the content of ``OrthancStorage``, you bypass
  all the locking mechanisms used by Orthanc, which might result in
  data corruption.
* One SQLite database should be accessed by at most one process at any
  time to avoid any problem (e.g. with NFS filesystems), for reasons
  that are `explained in the SQLite FAQ
  <https://www.sqlite.org/faq.html#q5>`__. Orthanc will stop if it
  receives the ``SQLITE_BUSY`` status.

As a consequence, it is **HIGHLY recommended NOT to directly access**
the ``OrthancStorage`` folder and the SQLite database. Use the
:ref:`REST API <rest>` instead, which contains primitives to access
the attachments (cf. the ``.../attachments/...`` URIs).

The only exception to this rule is for **read-only access when Orthanc
is stopped**, e.g. as a part of a :ref:`backup <backup>` or
:ref:`upgrade/replication <replication>` process.