Connecting Remote Offices

[rmartin_12]

Looking for suggestion on connecting our two offices. I need to share AutoCAD drawings, so real time file sharing / locking is critical.
We're currently connected via 4.5Mbps Ethernet which is ok but a bit slow, bringing up files with large topos.
We're considering having servers in both offices and using file syncing software.
Anyone out there have any experience?

Best,
RMartin

Any other suggestion on real-time file sharing / locking?

Thanks

[Anonymous]

rmartin_12 wrote:
> Looking for suggestion on connecting our two offices.
>
> Any other suggestion on real-time file sharing / locking?
>

Take a look at the Riverbed Steelhead products.


--
R.K. McSwain
http://rkmcswain.blogspot.com

[Anonymous]

We've got Steelheads and they're good to a point, but with the advent of the
new drawing format in R2007/2008 they can no longer transfer just the
changed bits of a file, the way it worked with earlier AutoCAD versions. If
you save or open a 2007/2008 file over the WAN that has changes, there is no
acceleration. They're still good for other file optimization, email, etc.

John

"R.K. McSwain" wrote in message
news:5794102@discussion.autodesk.com...
rmartin_12 wrote:
> Looking for suggestion on connecting our two offices.
>
> Any other suggestion on real-time file sharing / locking?
>

Take a look at the Riverbed Steelhead products.


--
R.K. McSwain
http://rkmcswain.blogspot.com

[sdavis_199]

You could just simply deploy the standalone versions and then run a registry fix that converts the installation from standalone to network version. The network version doesn't really care about the serial number, since the license comes from the NLM.

This would work and save a lot of time. Otherwise, just make a new deployment.

Best,
Davis

[damienrange]

Does the offices have clear line of sight to each other? There are several wireless solutions that offer several times more speed then you currently have. With a line of sight setup it will be very secure since anyone trying to intercept the signal would have to be directly between the antennas. If the antennas are placed 20 feet in the air that makes it even harder.

[rmartin_12]

No we do not have a clear line of site......

[mathewhills14]

I fully agree with the experiences that are being shared for Riverbed. The Steelhead's work pretty well. I did some testing and they increased WAN speeds about 5x the first time a file is accessed (this is still about half the speed of the LAN). The second time you access the same file, the speed is comparable to the LAN as long as the file is still cached.

Cheers

[rmartin_12]

Thanks for the suggestions. We deployed Riverbed Steelheads.

The product was incredibly simple to install, and has exceeded our expectations in terms of both bandwidth efficiency and latency improvements. Moreover, Riverbed has great technical support – extremely knowledgeable and very responsive.

[mathewhills14]

Hi RMartin,

Since you have deployed Steelheads, you might come across certain issues.
I explored their site and found one forum where queries on these products are being discussed.

You can also check it out on the link below:

http://www.wdsforum.org/forum/index.php?

[rmartin_12]

Steelheads addressed all our issues, in terms of application acceleration, bandwidth savings and usability.

The results were pretty impressive. The file transfer time was cut from hours to minutes. Subsequent file edits and re transfers were reduced to just a few seconds - a performance that was practically LAN-like. At the same time, the Steelhead appliance was optimizing our bandwidth.

[rmartin_12]

They have also enabled us to centralize our IT infrastructure at our corporate data center, from where all the remote sites can access critical data and documentation. We no longer need to maintain IT infrastructure at all our many offices worldwide.

[damienrange]

You might face certain issues about these appliances. Well, they have their discussion group that talks about the problems after the implementation. That is by the name of wds forum. You can check it out.

[mathewhills14]

There are lot many solution as well as performance briefs available that exhibits well about their proven results. As far as AutoCAD files performance is concerned, there is one performance brief. Here is the link to that one :

http://www.riverbed.com/docs/PerformanceBrief-Riverbed-AutoCAD.pdf

[Anonymous]

Note - that document deals with R2005 and earlier format files.

Starting with the new compressed AutoCAD 2007/2008 file format, Riverbed
Steelheads are no longer able to accelerate/cache file transfers for
R2007/2008 drawing files. They currently have loaned a couple of Steelheads
to Autodesk to see if they can find a way to resolve this. They're still
good for most other file formats and Exchange email servers, so may still be
worth it, depending on your organization's needs.

John

"mathewhills14" wrote in message news:5822756@discussion.autodesk.com...
There are lot many solution as well as performance briefs available that
exhibits well about their proven results. As far as AutoCAD files
performance is concerned, there is one performance brief. Here is the link
to that one :

http://www.riverbed.com/docs/PerformanceBrief-Riverbed-AutoCAD.pdf

[rmartin_12]

After IT deployed Steelhead appliances and Steelhead Mobile, our employees recognized the difference immediately.

Steelhead Mobile software is now deployed for half of our workforce. In no time our users were experiencing accelerated performance and greater access to the data they needed the most.

[rmartin_12]

Files that once took more than five minutes to download when working in branch offices or remotely now take only two seconds, making download speeds that were once unbearable almost unnoticeable.

[mathewhills14]

They are proving themselves to be the leader in network acceleration. They help in enabling reliable and regular complete network-based backup without interfering with other applications that require the WAN.

[Anonymous]

Anybody getting the impression that this post was staged???

Ricky
Houston

wrote in message news:5830080@discussion.autodesk.com...
After IT deployed Steelhead appliances and Steelhead Mobile, our employees
recognized the difference immediately.

Steelhead Mobile software is now deployed for half of our workforce. In no
time our users were experiencing accelerated performance and greater access
to the data they needed the most.

[TravisNave]

I got that impression. I have tried to bite my tongue on this post since it came out, but your response pressed me to respond.

We tested the Riverbed Steelheads and found only a 2% improvement on our WAN. Sure, it may cut down on chatty network protocols, but the bottom-line is that it doesn't do a lot of good for Autodesk network file changes and/or Vault.

Riverbed's solution to our lack of improvement was to disable the built-in Autodesk compression of the files. That is ridiculous. Turn off one compression so that your hardware can compress it and make the numbers look better? What a joke.

Riverbed might be a good solution if you have remote offices constantly opening the same files over the WAN. But the cache and compression simply doesn't work on Autodesk file changes.

To make a long story short, they've been boxed up and sent back. The idea is a good one, but it just isn't practical in this situation. Especially for the money...