Virtual Directory Persistence

[tekktonic]

I asked this question in a followup to another thread, but it makes sense as its own as well: what persistence, if any, is offered in a virtual directory? Let's say that I set up an edge device with an outgoing virtual directory, put some files on there, and wait. The server can see the files through the FileTransfer shape. If I delete those files on the edge device, the files disappear from the FileTransfer shape, but were are those files still visible from an upload sent to my Thingworx server? Can I make use of Thingworx Virtual Directory to copy files from an edge device for backup directly essentially, or do I need to have another "BackupThing" which listens for the appropriate event on the Thing that I care about and executes Copy services to move the files being backed up into the always-on "virtual" BackupThing for safe keeping?

[AdamR · Accepted solution]

By backup do you mean making a copy to a server repository Thing or to another directory elsewhere on the edge?  If you mean a server repository then yes you can make that copy at any point.  As long as the user for that connection has permissions to the Thing.  In the end both edge virtual and server repositories are just folders on the respective file systems.

[tekktonic]

I think that answers my question. To clarify: I can have a RemoteThingWithFileTransfer and, when the event for a new file is fired, use CopyFile to put it into a repository on the Thingworx server, where it can be held persistently if the edge device gets wiped? (Some names may be wrong, don't have the listing in front of me.)

[AdamR]

Correct if you use the copy service to a repository it is now also a file in the server's file system so you have a persistent copy even if the edge file is deleted.