AutoCAD Civil 3D

[#1]

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

[#2]

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.

[#3]

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.

[#4 · Accepted solution]

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.

[#5]

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

[#6]

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.

[#7]

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.

[#8]

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

[#9]

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/

[#10]

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