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Project Sharing to Remote Offices

12 REPLIES 12
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Message 1 of 13
dbill2508
2755 Views, 12 Replies

Project Sharing to Remote Offices

My company has recently bought out a smaller firm. IT has setup everything through our "pipeline" so that there is a direct connection to both offices. The servers are all mapped pretty much identically and we are beginning to work on the same projects between the offices. However, this is putting a huge lag on the "pipeline" slowing down all the data going back and forth. Now they would like the Technicians to refrain from opening drawing files over the network.

 

So, I am wondering if the CLOUD is an option to handle this for our shared projects? Or Vault?

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

Bill H.

Civil 3D 2011

12 REPLIES 12
Message 2 of 13
rkmcswain
in reply to: dbill2508

What are the specs regarding your "connection"? We have multiple offices sharing C3D data fairly successfully using Riverbed WAN optimization inline appliances - and there are other options similar to this for this purpose.

R.K. McSwain     | CADpanacea | on twitter
Message 3 of 13
dbill2508
in reply to: rkmcswain

They way I take it is we have a Dedicated T1 connection. From IT: (Type: 100Mbps Port Speed: FETHER)

Not being IT I have no idea what this means.

Message 4 of 13
LeafRiders
in reply to: dbill2508

We have encountered this exactly as you have described. The answer regarding "The Cloud" is NO. Autodesk and Civil 3D and AutoCAD haven't implemented the neccessary tools to go completely to a cloud format for you CADD operations. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Many companies are starting to convert servers to clouds, but at the end of the day everything that is CADD doesn't enter the Cloud, unless it's part of an archiving procedure.


Opening files, especially design files over the network connection can be problemmatic. Any large mapping drawings, Civil 3D designs, anything with an aerial image is very slow and not practical. I would suggest highlighting your workflow process and ultimately you will need to have a "pipeline" for both offices. Have both your offices having access to each of the servers with matching setups would be a great start point. So when copying from server to server all the references are the same. Hopefully this helps you improvise until Autodesk brings in full cloud capabilities. Something tells me it might be awhile based on how things are currently setup. Drefs, Xrefs, images, etc. all need paths. A cloud setup ends up being web based and file paths go away, so i'm pretty sure in a CADD environment this would create a mass of confusion. Or at least has the potential to NOT be practical. Good Luck.

Message 5 of 13
dbill2508
in reply to: LeafRiders

Well since CLOUD is not a viable option, is anyone out there utilizing VAULT for this type (Civil) of file sharing?

Message 6 of 13
rl_jackson
in reply to: LeafRiders

To add to what Leafriders said,

 

I have used Vault, and dedicated Mirrored servers which our mapped identical, I my opinion the mirrored server approach is easier to use.

 

With Vault you do get revision controls and the ability to go back if necessary, but the approch is really the same with the additionally software controlling things.


Rick Jackson
Survey CAD Technician VI

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Message 7 of 13
LeafRiders
in reply to: rl_jackson

I've also used Vault in 2010 and it was great for managing our customizations and CADD Standards. I couldn't imagine using it for day-to-day, too many ins and outs in my opinion.

Message 8 of 13
dbill2508
in reply to: LeafRiders

Thanks for all of the replies. This is something I can take to my IT guys and discuss.

Message 9 of 13
terryl
in reply to: dbill2508

We have been doing this in 2, 3 and 4 offices now for about 8 years using a software called Availl.  It is a software that mirrors all files from one server to another.  It does it at the bit level so it does not use a lot of band width, 3 of my offices are just on a cable internet connection.  The software does file locking so you don't have to worry about two people having the same file open for editing.  Here is a link to their web site  http://www.globalscape.com/wafs/

Civil 3D 2021
Dell 5510
Win 10 Pro X64
Intel Xeon 3.2 GHz
32 GB ram
NVIDIA Quadro 4000
Message 10 of 13
ralstogj
in reply to: dbill2508

We use to nightly mirror servers between offices and looked into vault but was to expensive for extra licences for people with out civil3d. Now we just use dropbox we typically work in small teams 3 or 4 and just I'm each other in Skype to check drawings are free as Dropbox does not lock you out of files
Regards

Justin Ralston
http://c3dxtreme.blogspot.com/
Message 11 of 13
Hammer.john.j
in reply to: terryl

I'm also aware of Globalscapes Avail Agent.

 

Here's the catch.... even if you map the network drives.... Autocad mapping ignores them at the root level and sees paths as unc and that is where you are screwed, and deployments tell the tale.

 

ideally, i'd prefer 1 server and high performance accelerations over high performing fiberopt network connections and eliminate this bandaid cheaper than a good network solution.

John Hammer, LA/CADD Manager
Message 12 of 13
terryl
in reply to: Hammer.john.j

I don't see the problem, I have all the drives mapped the same way in all four locations.  We have no problems with xref's or anything.

 

Terry

Civil 3D 2021
Dell 5510
Win 10 Pro X64
Intel Xeon 3.2 GHz
32 GB ram
NVIDIA Quadro 4000
Message 13 of 13
Hammer.john.j
in reply to: ralstogj

Open the sheetset manager database and you will see that if the data base is accessed by multiple locations, the UNC path is changed to the local server regardless of the mapped drive path.

 

It does the same thing for anyfile kept on a local server, in fact, it changes the paths because it keeps copys of the xrefs on your local computer anyways, unless you tell it to do something differently....

 

AutoDESK hasn't changed how the paths work since the inception of arg files.  The program is not designed to play nice with a complex network and the more you dig into the more obvious it becomes.  You really need a Network or Software Engineer to customize your WAN, LAN, hardware and software in such a way that it replicates the program functioning with files retained "locally" i.e. on your c drive, like autodesk initially intended it.

John Hammer, LA/CADD Manager

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