There are several methods of storing documents in Kentico, I've read about all of them. I'm looking for advice on which method best fits specific requirements. Of importance is that we are running on Azure (no file system access).
The documents being stored are usually PDFs, ranging in size from 200k-5mb, up to 1000 total files across 3 sites. Ideally, all the files would be stored in a global repository for use in any site. For storing these types of documents, the two best methods to be using the "Content tree" or "Media library".
My understanding is "Content tree" stores files in the database, so over time as more and more files are added, the database may grow in size significantly. Is this correct? You can then access the files using a Document Library webpart. However, I have not found the option in this webpart to allow for custom transformations (in order to change the display format). Is this correct?
"Media library" files are stored in Azure Storage. From a storage and performance perspective, storing documents in a media library seems to make the most sense. I have not found a webpart that gets non-image files from a media library, but I imagine a repeater with a custom transformation would do the trick (and could also be used for the Content Tree method)?. We would also like to use the Azure CDN in the future.
Of most importance is the ability to format the display of the document metadata (title, description, file type) in any number of ways. Second is performance of high-demand downloads of the files.
Considering all the above, what method would the community recommend and are the ideas above an accurate interpretation of the docs? Would that recommendation change if the files were 100mb+?
Thanks.