Measures reported by SPFileTypeTest

SharePoint users typically upload and/or download files of different types in a SharePoint environment. Administrators may choose to block some of these file types owing to various reasons. One of the most common reasons is to reduce space usage of files! Certain file types may not be critical to the business but may occupy significant space. If files of such types accumulate, they may not only deny space for business-critical information, but may even crash the sites they are uploaded to. To avoid this, the ‘heavy’ file types may be blocked.

But, how does an administrator know which file types are consuming space excessively? This is where the SPFileTypeTest test helps! This test groups files uploaded to the SharePoint environment on the basis of their file types, and reports the number and total size of each file type. The percentage size distribution of every file type is also reported, so that administrators can instantly and accurately identify the file type that is hogging space! Using the detailed diagnosis of the test, you can easily pinpoint the exact file extensions that are occupying the maximum space.    

By default, eG Enterprise groups a pre-defined set of file extensions under a file type. For instance, files with extensions .doc, .docx, .log, .msg, .odt, .pages, .rtf, .tex, .txt, .wpd, and .wps are by default grouped under the file type ‘Text files’.Space usage statistics related to all the aforesaid extensions will hence be aggregated and reported for the measure group, “Text files”. If required, you can add more extensions to a file type or remove existing extensions from a file type. For example, to make sure that files with the extensions, say .xls and .xlsx, are also classifed as “Text files”, do the following:

1. Edit the eg_tests.ini file in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory.

2. In the [Sharepoint2010_server] section of the file, you will find entries for each file type. In this section, look for the following entry:

   Text_Files=.doc|Microsoft Word Document,.docx|Microsoft Word Open XML Document,.log|Log File,.msg|Outlook Mail Message,.odt|OpenDocument Text Document,.pages|Pages Document,.rtf|Rich Text Format File,.tex|LaTeX Source Document,.txt|Plain Text File,.wpd|WordPerfect Document,.wps|Microsoft, Works Word Processor Document

3. As you can see, the “Text_Files” parameter is set to a pipe-separated list of <DocumentType>,<FileExtension> pairs. For instance, in the pair Microsoft Word Document,.doc, .doc is the file extension that will be grouped under the measure group, “Text files”. Microsoft Word Document will be displayed as the Document Type of all files with extension .doc, in the detailed diagnosis . Now, to make sure that files with extensions .xls and.xlsx are also grouped under the “Text files” measure group, append the following entry to the “Text_Files” parameter:

   |Microsoft Excel,.xls|Microsoft Excel,.xlsx

   The full Text_Files entry will now read as follows:

   Text_Files=.doc|Microsoft Word Document,.docx|Microsoft Word Open XML Document,.log|Log File,.msg|Outlook Mail Message,.odt|OpenDocument Text Document,.pages|Pages Document,.rtf|Rich Text Format File,.tex|LaTeX Source Document,.txt|Plain Text File,.wpd|WordPerfect Document,.wps|Microsoft, Works Word Processor Document|Microsoft Excel,.xls|Microsoft Excel,.xlsx

4. Finally, save the file.

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the SharePoint server being monitored.