Gateway Folder Structure Reference
This page is a reference sheet for Ignition's data folder structure. Ignition uses this data folder structure for many elements of the software, including the Gateway, projects, modules, configuration changes, and more.
Migration Logging​
The config child folder within the data directory also includes a migration log Markdown file. This migration log details the various tables that are migrated over when upgrading from 8.1 to 8.3, including metrics such as the migration duration time, migration timestamp, migration strategies, and any remaining tables that have not been moved over.
File Naming Conventions​
Certain symbols and characters are not allowed when renaming Ignition Gateway files, as they are either illegal characters or reserved for Ignition or the operating system. Follow the guidelines below when naming files:
- You can use any unicode letter, number, punctuation mark, or symbol as the first character, except for symbols that typically cause naming problems.
- Some symbols are not allowed as the first or last character, but can be used for characters in between.
- File naming follows canonical equivalence.
The following characters, with some exceptions, are not allowed to be used when naming files:
| Character | Symbol | Allowed? |
|---|
| Space | | Yes, except for the first and last characters |
| Period | . | Yes, except for the first and last characters |
| Hyphen | - | Yes, except for the first character |
| Backtick | ` | No |
| Forward slash | / | No |
| Backslash | \ | No |
| Question mark | ? | No |
| Asterisk | * | No |
| Colon | : | No |
| Vertical bar | | | No |
| Quotation mark | " | No |
| Less than | < | No |
| Greater than | > | No |
Gateway Folder Structure​
See the sections below for a breakdown of each directory.
/data/config/resources/external​
| Description | Is added to .gwbk? | Synced to redundant backup? | Example files |
|---|
| Files that are part of the resource collection system but are read-only within the Gateway | No | No | Docker container volume resource collections |
/data/config/resources/core​
| Description | Is added to .gwbk? | Synced to redundant backup? | Example files |
|---|
| Files that are part of the resource collection system | Yes | Yes | --- |
/data/config/resources/local​
| Description | Is added to .gwbk? | Synced to redundant backup? | Example files |
|---|
| Files that are part of the resource collection system, but are meant for a specific machine | Yes (separate /local-backup folder for redundancy) | No | Local system properties files |
/data/config/resources/{mode}​
| Description | Is added to .gwbk? | Synced to redundant backup? | Example files |
|---|
| Files that are part of the resource collection system | Yes | Yes | --- |
/data/config/ignition​
| Description | Is added to .gwbk? | Synced to redundant backup? | Example files |
|---|
| Platform files that should be identical on the redundant master and backup. These files provide configuration and therefore should be included in a .gwbk | Yes | Possible, but depends on the redundant provider | OAuth2 email token files |
/data/config/{module-id}​
| Description | Is added to .gwbk? | Synced to redundant backup? | Example files |
|---|
| Files maintained by a module that should be identical on the redundant master and backup. These files provide configuration and therefore should be included in a .gwbk | Yes | Possible, but depends on the redundant provider | OPC UA trust store file |
/data/config/local/ignition​
| Description | Is added to .gwbk? | Synced to redundant backup? | Example files |
|---|
| Platform files that should be different between a redundant master and backup. These files provide configuration and therefore should be included in a .gwbk | Yes (separate /local-backup folder for redundancy) | Possible, but depends on the redundant provider | Hostname-specific certificates and files that are machine-specific but not part of a resource collection |
/data/config/local/{module-id}​
| Description | Is added to .gwbk? | Synced to redundant backup? | Example files |
|---|
| Module files that should be different between a redundant master and backup. These files provide configuration and therefore should be included in a .gwbk | Yes (separate /local-backup folder for redundancy) | Possible, but depends on the redundant provider | --- |
/data/var/ignition​
| Description | Is added to .gwbk? | Synced to redundant backup? | Example files |
|---|
| Transient platform data files that should not be part of a gwbk | No | Possible, but depends on the redundant provider | Designer auth tokens, internal Alarm Journal, internal Audit Log, 61850 report-id cache, Vision credential fallback cache, licensing, Store and Forward engine |
/data/var/{module-id}​
| Description | Is added to .gwbk? | Synced to redundant backup? | Example files |
|---|
| Transient module data files that should not be part of a .gwbk | No | Possible, but depends on the redundant provider | Perspective & Vision auth tokens, QuestDB data, SFC state, 61850 report-id cache, Vision credential fallback cache, SQLite Internal Historian |
/data/projects​
| Description | Is added to .gwbk? | Synced to redundant backup? | Example files |
|---|
| Projects that are part of a .gwbk | Yes | Yes | --- |