Where are infos stored?

[sbudrez]

I just want to understand where alfresco saves some infos
For example when i create some new users or some new space rules. Are there saved in the mysql database? I see a lot af tables there and can't manage to find where things are 
Are they maybe stored on the file system?

Any idea?
Thanks

[gronfelt]

Generally you shouldn't need to be concerned with the database and the Alfresco engineers on this forum often advise strongly against manipulating the database content directly.

Almost everything in Alfresco, including users and rules, is stored as repository nodes. Of course, these repository node data is kept in the database, but the proper way to browse them is through the node browser, which is found in the Administration Console.

Users are stored in the alfrescoUserStore and rules and other content-specific aspects are stored in the SpacesStore, along with the content node they belong to.

[sbudrez]

Do you mean that directly manipulation of the database can crate problems?
I need a way to manipulate those info outside of the administration console (let's say outside alfresco itself), is there a way to do this?

Users are stored in the alfrescoUserStore and rules and other content-specific aspects are stored in the SpacesStore, along with the content node they belong to.

I don't understand. What are alfrescoUserStore and SpacesStore? They are not database tables or?

[mrogers]

You should be using one of the Alfresco Public APIs rather than trying to fiddle with the underlying database directly.   

Yes direct manipulation of the database can cause problems.   And if you manage to get away with it then your code is likely to break the next time the private internals of Alfresco are re-worked.

[sbudrez]

I don't understand how does these API work
I'm reading http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Web_Scripts#json

If i understand well here http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Repository_RESTful_API_Reference#Package:_.2Forg.2Falfresco.2Freposito... is the list of the various scripts
For example if i put inyo my browser this URL: http://localhost:8080/alfresco/service/api/people/smario (listed under Package: /org/alfresco/repository/person - Get Person) it gives me a file which contains the infos about the user "smario" of alfresco:

{
   "url": "\/alfresco\/service\/api\/person\/smario",
   "userName": "smario",
   "enabled": true,
   "firstName": "super",
   "lastName": "mario",
   "jobtitle": "",
   "organization": "",
   "location": "",
   "telephone": null,
   "mobile": null,
   "email": "smario@brazorf.it",
   "companyaddress1": null,
   "companyaddress2": null,
   "companyaddress3": null,
   "companypostcode": null,
   "companytelephone": null,
   "companyfax": null,
   "companyemail": null,
   "skype": null,
   "instantmsg": null,
   "quota": -1,
   "sizeCurrent": 0,
   "persondescription": null
}

But how can i for example create a new user?