Thread: Inserting an Encrypted file into DB

Hi,
I want to put into the postgres DB, a file which is an encrypted file
(say, the PKCS# files).
I have used a bytea column for storing this file. So the operations with
regard to the file at my end are:
Filesystem ----> DB ------> Filesystem
What I need to know is:
1. Is there any information loss when the file is being transferred from
the filesystem to the DB?
2. If the answer is no, then does that mean that when the stream is
received from the DB, the file is an exact copy of the file which
existed? If so, the reverse key should be able to successfully decode
the stream received from the DB.

Kindly answer my query.
Thanks!

Smita

Smita Vijayakumar wrote:
> I want to put into the postgres DB, a file which is an encrypted file
> (say, the PKCS# files).
> I have used a bytea column for storing this file. So the operations with
> regard to the file at my end are:
> Filesystem ----> DB ------> Filesystem
> What I need to know is:
> 1. Is there any information loss when the file is being transferred from
> the filesystem to the DB?

No.

> 2. If the answer is no, then does that mean that when the stream is
> received from the DB, the file is an exact copy of the file which
> existed? If so, the reverse key should be able to successfully decode
> the stream received from the DB.

Yes.

This is assuming we're talking about the contents of the file. Dealing
with any metadata like filename, creation timestamp etc is of course up
to the application as well.

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  Heikki Linnakangas
  EnterpriseDB   http://www.enterprisedb.com