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Painfully slow network speeds

25 REPLIES 25
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Message 1 of 26
wilsonm2000
2038 Views, 25 Replies

Painfully slow network speeds

Hi

 

We are using Civil 3D in our office, only a few of us just now, but that will be expanding, and also people will start using Revit and other BIM software.  But already, we are struggling with our network speeds while using Civil 3D, we were moaning to management that our PC's, which were upgraded, still were not good enough.  But we done a test with one of our models that takes 7 and a half minutes to open on the network.  We moved the model and all its references to the C:, and then opened the drawing, it took just over 2 minutes.  Thats over 70% quicker than opening on the network.  I am just wondering if any other companies have had this issue, and what was done about it.  I work for a massive internatinal company, so its not just some small office.  The IT manager told us there is not much that can be done, as the servers were upgraded 2 years ago, and they are a very good spec.  Its worrying that we are having issues at this point when only a few people are using BIM, what is it going to be like when everyone is using it 😛

 

Was hoping someone could give feedback on this, or some advice.

 

Cheers

Martin

25 REPLIES 25
Message 21 of 26
dodgese2
in reply to: dodgese2

I forgot to elaborate on this procedure.

 

Also....see if this helps

Copy the file(s) to your local drive. (data shortcuts, xrefs, etc.) Keep the directory structure the same. The only difference will be the drive letter.

for example

H:\project1\Data references\_Shortucts

c:\project1\Data references\_Shortucts

 

open Civil3d to a new blank drawing.....go to toolspace >Prospector and under 'Data shortcuts' point to your Desktop. You should have a blank Data shortcuts path.

Physically (or go to ctrl panel and choose disable adapter) disconnect from Network (cable, wi-fi)

 

RECOVER and point to your problematic .dwg drawing in your local drive. It will ask to re-path every xref. Data shortcuts will be lost, it may ask you re-point to the location of the data shortcut. (DO NOT choose to remove/erase the entity) You may need to re-point 2-3 times to the file containing your data shortcuts.

Unfortunately, this defeats the purpose of working with others, but you have converted a dwg to a local project.

Once you have finished the big part of the Civil stuff you need to do , for example, LIDAR, contours,etc. You can copy it all back to your network and re-point all the data references again. I have noticed that some computers are used to crunch huge amounts of topographical info. by themselves. Then produce smaller files for others to share and use in the civil design of a bigger project. 

 

Let me know if it's able to load projects and work quicker with the files locally on one computer.

 

Message 22 of 26
dodgese2
in reply to: dodgese2

I forgot to elaborate on this procedure.

Also....see if this helps
Copy the file(s) to your local drive. (data shortcuts, xrefs, etc.) Keep the directory structure the same. The only difference will be the drive letter.
for example
H:\project1\Data references\_Shortucts
c:\project1\Data references\_Shortucts

open Civil3d to a new blank drawing.....go to toolspace >Prospector and under 'Data shortcuts' point to your Desktop. You should have a blank Data shortcuts path.
Physically (or go to ctrl panel and choose disable adapter) disconnect from Network (cable, wi-fi)

RECOVER and point to your problematic .dwg drawing in your local drive. It will ask to re-path every xref. Data shortcuts will be lost, it may ask you re-point to the location of the data shortcut. (DO NOT choose to remove/erase the entity) You may need to re-point 2-3 times to the file containing your data shortcuts.
Unfortunately, this defeats the purpose of working with others, but you have converted a dwg to a local project.
Once you have finished the big part of the Civil stuff you need to do , for example, LIDAR, contours,etc. You can copy it all back to your network and re-point all the data references again. I have noticed that some computers are used to crunch huge amounts of topographical info. by themselves. Then produce smaller files for others to share and use in the civil design of a bigger project.

Let me know if it's able to load projects and work quicker with the files locally on one computer.

Message 23 of 26
Joe-Bouza
in reply to: wilsonm2000

I feel that pain too. I have a similar post

 

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/cad-managers/advice-on-network-pathiing/td-p/6582347

 

I'm wondering if working local is the solution too

Thank you

Joseph D. Bouza, P.E. (one of 'THOSE' People)

HP Z210 Workstation
Intel Xeon CPU E31240 @ 3.30 Hz
12 GB Ram


Note: Its all Resistentialism, so keep calm and carry on

64 Bit Win10 OS
Message 24 of 26
GTVic
in reply to: Joe-Bouza

If the server is local in the building there can still be bottlenecks. E.G. someone could put a 100Mbit switch under their desk to connect to the 1Gbit LAN. Probably should test file copying speeds to the network from various PCs to see if you are getting Gbit speeds. Use ping to check response time of the server. Download and run Procmon attached to acad.exe to see which files and folders it is accessing most often.

Message 25 of 26
dodgese2
in reply to: GTVic


@GTVic wrote:

If the server is local in the building there can still be bottlenecks. E.G. someone could put a 100Mbit switch under their desk to connect to the 1Gbit LAN. Probably should test file copying speeds to the network from various PCs to see if you are getting Gbit speeds. Use ping to check response time of the server. Download and run Procmon attached to acad.exe to see which files and folders it is accessing most often.



tried to isolate network issue as best as possible.

It is the only program application doing this in my workstation and other workstations running win 7.
We are running Civil 3d 2015.

Connected directly to SYNOLOGY NAS (bypassing a switch/router) same result.

 

Then connected to Windows server 2012 file server (bypassing a switch/router) same result.

 

 

Process explorer is running and acad.exe is the only process 'hanging'

It's not using CPU, RAM or Input/output load.....

It's just goes blank, The process states "not responding", after a while, it starts working (working times are random....) you might have 'upgrading COGO points' issue, it blinks, hangs and after a few minutes loads the drawing.

It usually happens when pipe networks have been changed. Even by a small amount. I.E. I made one structure have a rim elevation of 12.00 instead of 11.00... Load the plan and profile and then Civil 3d can take a while to load the file or crash.

Cross sections take quite some time to load after pipe/pressure network changes.

Additionally, 

  After quite some time of not accessing a project. It will take a while to open drawings as it syncs and reloads x-refs.

 

It is however a smoother process when working locally. 

 

Any other recommendations would be gladly welcomed...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Message 26 of 26
GTVic
in reply to: dodgese2

I would repeat the above suggestion, to use Process Monitor (procmon.exe), add a filter for "Process Name=acad.exe", and watch the output to see what is being accessed when the application is slow or hanging. There are probably lots of tools that can do this but this one is easy to find/download and it is what I am familiar with.

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