Using SSRS 2005 and looking for some clarification regarding the following report deployment parameters that are listed under the project's general configuration properties: TargetDataSourceFolder Data Sources TargetReportFolder MyProject TargetServerURL http://server_ip_address/reportserver The only 'Data Sources' folder on the server is C:\Program Files\Common files\ODBC\Data Sources, however when I deploy my BIDS project to the server the DataSource1.rds file resides in the project directory (MyProject). MyProject also represents the name of the TargetReportFolder where all the .rdl files reside as well. Is this a naming convention and does Data Sources refer to some kind of virtual directory?

TargetDataSourceFolder rerfers to folder on the report server in which the data sources will be deployed. The default value is Data Sources folder. Hope that helps.

That was kind of my point, I understand that the values listed above were autopopulated, but I want to know why my data source gets deployed to the TargetReportFolder on the report server when the default destination is set to a TargetDataSourceFolder called Data Sources.

If you leave the TargetDataSourceFolder value blank, the data sources will be deployed to the location specified in TargetReportFolder. Are you sure it's not blank?

No, the TargetDataSourceFolder property isn't blank, it contains the value Data Sources, but regardless of whether I leave the TargetDataSourceFolder property blank or use Data Sources, the result of the deploy is the same...DataSource1.rds gets placed in the TargetReportFolder location on the report server. When TargetDataSourceFolder contains the value Data Sources, The output from the deploy looks like this: Deploying data source '/Data Sources/DataSource1'. When TargetDataSourceFolder property is blank The output from the deploy looks like this: Deploying data source '/StatusReportManager/DataSource1'. (where StatusReportManager is the TargetReportFolder location on the report server) Either way, DataSource1 ends up in the StatusReportManager directory.

I am new to SSRS and have cleared up my confusion regarding this post. I was bothered by the fact that I could see some report and datasource files physically located on the report server, but now realize that these were left over project files from some report development that was done directly on the report server. I realize that the data source resides in the ReportServer database, and that those default parameters must represent some kind of virtual directory. Sorry about the confusion.