Store files on Tricentis File Service

Tosca Commander allows you to attach files to test objects, and it also generates files and logs at run-time. Over time, these files can accumulate, which impacts the performance of your workspace.

Tricentis File Service is a web-based application that stores your Tosca Commander files in a separate file system. You can still access the files in the workspace, but they don't take up its storage space. This keeps your workspaces slim and improves their performance.

Additionally, Tricentis File Service offers auto-removal functionality, which removes execution log data from the Tricentis File Service file system after a certain period of time. This allows you to manage your file system size without any manual intervention.

What's in this topic?

If you're an administrator who is in charge of setting up Tricentis File Service, this topic is for you. It explains how to get Tricentis File Service, important considerations, and the admin workflow.

No problem! Check out this topic instead. It explains how to attach and view files when Tricentis File Service is turned on.

Get Tricentis File Service

Tricentis File Service is a server-based file storage service and part of Tosca Server.

To use it, you need to install Tosca Server, which automatically installs all necessary features and services with their default settings. You can modify these settings in the Tricentis Service Configuration.

Important considerations

  • Tricentis File Service is only available in multi-user environments.

  • Tosca Commander and Tricentis File Service need to communicate. If you keep getting timeouts, modify the setting FileServiceDefaultTimeOutInMs in the TOSCACommander.exe.config file. To give Tosca Commander more time to contact Tricentis File Service, enter a higher value.

  • Make sure that the machine that holds Tosca Server has enough disk space. If the machine runs out of space, Tricentis Tosca lets you know when you check in. In this case, Tosca embeds the files in the workspace instead. Once you have enough space on your server machine again, you can migrate these files from the workspace to Tricentis File Service.

  • Consider the size of the files you expect to upload to Tricentis File Service. By default, the service accepts a maximum file size of 1,000MB. If you expect your files to be bigger, modify the setting MaxUploadSizeMb in the Tricentis File Service appsettings.json file. After a default installation, this file is located at C:\Program Files (x86)\TRICENTIS\Tosca Server\FileService.

  • If you use DokuSnapper, you have to be specific about where you want to save the DokuSnapper document. By default, Tosca saves the document locally. If you want to add the document to your execution results and save it to Tricentis File Service, change the Storage Location Type setting.

Which files does Tricentis File Service store?

You can store the following file types in Tricentis File Service:

Admin workflow

You're an administrator and want to set up Tricentis File Service for users. What you need to do next depends on where you're at:

You have just added a new project to the Tosca Administration Console.

This means that Tricentis File Service and auto-removal are turned on. Tosca automatically saves your files to Tricentis File Service and removes all execution log data that's older than 90 days.

Welcome to Tricentis File Service!

To complete the setup and use Tricentis File Service, take these steps:

  1. Make sure that all Tosca workspaces are closed.

  2. In Tosca Commander, go to Project->Settings->Tricentis Services and enter the endpoint of Tosca Gateway Service.

    You need to do this in every workspace that should store files on Tricentis File Service.

    Alternatively, you can create project settings for your repository. You only have to do this once as project settings apply to all workspaces connected to this repository.

  1. Since auto-removal is turned on, Tricentis File Service automatically removes all execution log data that's older than 90 days.

    You can change the auto-removal settings, for instance if you want to change the number of days or how often Tricentis File Service checks for files to remove. And if you have important logs that you want to keep indefinitely, you can exclude them from the auto-removal process.

    You can also turn off auto-removal. In this case, we recommend that you regularly delete files yourself, to reduce the size of the Tricentis File Service file system.

    Never delete files directly from the Tricentis File Service file system. Doing so will break your project. Only use the delete tasks described in this topic.

  2. Once you have a project in the Tosca Administration Console, Tricentis Tosca saves all new files that you create to Tricentis File Service. If you want to move files to Tricentis File Service that already exist in your project, you need to migrate them.

    Before you do so, check your auto-removal settings. It doesn't make sense to spend effort on migrating old execution logs if they'll be auto-removed 2 days later.

  3. Some antivirus programs might interfere with Tricentis File Service. If that's the case, add Tricentis.FileService.WebApi.exe to the exclusion list. By default, this file is located at C:\Program Files (x86)\TRICENTIS\Tosca Server\FileService. If you can't exclude files, exclude the storage path you specified in the Tricentis Service Configuration.

We recommend that you back up Tricentis File Service regularly. You can use your backup if you migrate Tricentis Tosca to a new machine, or if you run into issues with your data.

You have an existing project in the Tosca Administration Console where you haven't enabled Tricentis File Service. This means that Tricentis File Service and auto-removal are turned off. Get started with Tricentis File Service!

To enable and use Tricentis File Service, take these steps:

  1. Make sure that all Tosca workspaces are closed.

  2. In Tosca Commander, go to Project->Settings->Tricentis Services and enter the endpoint of Tosca Gateway Service.

    You need to do this in every workspace that should store files on Tricentis File Service.

    Alternatively, you can create project settings for your repository. You only have to do this once as project settings apply to all workspaces connected to this repository.

  3. Open the Tosca Administration Console.

  4. Go to the project for which you want to enable Tricentis File Service and click on the Edit icon.

  5. This opens the Project details dialog. In the File Service section, select the Enabled checkbox.

  6. Click Yes in the confirmation dialog.

  7. Decide whether you want to use auto-removal or not:

    • If you want to use it, leave the Auto-removal checkbox in the Project details dialog selected. In this case, Tricentis File Service automatically removes all execution log data that's older than 90 days. You can change the auto-removal settings, for instance if you want to change the number of days or how often Tricentis File Service checks for files to remove. And if you have important logs that you want to keep indefinitely, you can exclude them from the auto-removal process.

    • If you don't want to use auto-removal, clear the Auto-removal checkbox. In this case, Tricentis File Service keeps all execution log data indefinitely. We recommend that you regularly delete files yourself, to reduce the size of the Tricentis File Service file system.

    Never delete files directly from the Tricentis File Service file system. Doing so will break your project. Only use the delete tasks described in this topic.

  8. Click Save.

Tricentis File Service and auto-removal are enabled for ProjectA

  1. Once you have enabled Tricentis File Service, Tricentis Tosca saves all new files that you create to Tricentis File Service. If you want to move files to Tricentis File Service that already exist in your project, you need to migrate them.

    Before you do so, check your auto-removal settings. It doesn't make sense to spend effort on migrating old execution logs if they'll be auto-removed 2 days later.

  2. Some antivirus programs might interfere with Tricentis File Service. If that's the case, add Tricentis.FileService.WebApi.exe to the exclusion list. By default, this file is located at C:\Program Files (x86)\TRICENTIS\Tosca Server\FileService. If you can't exclude files, exclude the storage path you specified in the Tricentis Service Configuration.

We recommend that you back up Tricentis File Service regularly. You can use your backup if you migrate Tricentis Tosca to a new machine, or if you run into issues with your data.

You have an existing project in the Tosca Administration Console where you have already enabled Tricentis File Service. This means that Tricentis File Service is turned on, but auto-removal is turned off.

Click here for information on how to turn on auto-removal.

This is not mandatory. You can still use Tricentis File Service without auto-removal. In this case, we recommend that you regularly delete files yourself, to reduce the size of your Tricentis File Service file system.

Never delete files directly from the Tricentis File Service file system. Doing so will break your project. Only use the delete tasks described in this topic.

Turn off Tricentis File Service

If you don't need Tricentis File Service for a particular project, you can disable it. This also migrates the files back into Tosca Commander.

Click here for more information.