topic Re: Stop using Vault in Vault Forum

Stop using Vault

GTSN100 — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 06:47:09 GMT

The last 6 years we have been using Inventor with Vault Server/Client 2018.
We have only 2 Inventor users in the company and with no plan to expand in the near future.
The usage has also been limited to check in/out parts/assemblies/drawings and copy of designs.

IT department will soon start to upgrade all our servers from Windows Server 2012 to Windows Server 2022.
The migration/upgrade process of Vault Server to the newest version seems to be a bit more complicated than anticipated. As long as it is only possible to upgrade two releases at a time and with different requirements for Windows Server/SQL Server versions.

So my question is as follows:
If we decide to stop using Vault, is it possible to just extract all the CAD files (50 GB) from the Vault Server to our new server, and then work directly on these files with e.g. Inventor 2024?
Any risk of data getting lost or relationship between parts/assemblies/family tables getting broken?
Any other things to be aware of?

Thanks!

Re: Stop using Vault

jorgen.bjornes — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 08:01:36 GMT

Sure you can "get" all files to your local workspace and move them to a network share. You will loose all history (only get latest version). You will need to edit project file of course.

relationships should not be broken, but tcontrol of this is one of the main reasons to use vault.

Personally, as a design engineer, if I worked somewhere where vault is looked upon like a "problem" and the company would rather stop using vault than take the trouble to upgrade it, I'd probably look for somewhere else to work.. But CAD files, drawings and designs might not be important for the running of this company..

Re: Stop using Vault

a_delangeT6HEN — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 10:17:27 GMT

Can you tell us what you decided? And how things are looking 6 months down the line?

@jorgen.bjornes: Not everyone works for a company that has teams of people looking after infrastructure just to make the designers work easier.

In our case for example the implementation of Vault is something I am personally trying to figure out. It is a complicated and difficult task to be honest. I understand how he is looking for a way around taking on the job of upgrading vault.

Re: Stop using Vault

Gabriel_Watson — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 14:10:06 GMT

You need to set a project file that remains consistent for the files living outside of Vault in the future. Making sure libraries and design data locations/paths are well-referenced, the relative locations of files can be easily respected if you maintain the folder structure. You can test with a small sample.
With only 2 Inventor-Vault users you can also think of hosting Vault Basic for those, depending on amount of data and complexity required for management.

Re: Stop using Vault

GTSN100 — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 10:35:19 GMT

As mentioned in the topic, I find the upgrade process from Vault Server 2018 to Vault Server 2024 a bit complicated (at least with my skills..). We have unfortunately not maintained and upgraded the servers and software like we should have done. I would anyway prefer to keep on using Vault in the future.

If we decide to extract all the latest files from the old Vault Server directly to our new server, then install Vault Server 2024, and then bulk upload the same files with Autoloader. Is that a feasable solution?

I can't really see that we need the older iterations and the history of all the files. We have a fairly simple CAD structure on our products.

Re: Stop using Vault

jorgen.bjornes — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 11:30:59 GMT

yes it is feasable. But autoloader may be a bit temperemental in my experience (depending on dataset size and file quality) 🙂

I understand that you feel upgrading from 2018 to 2024 is troublesome. No reason you should need to do this yourself.

I would talk to my reseller and hear what kind of plan they might have to help with an update.

Not free of course, but all such systems have some maintenance costs.

Upgrading will probably involve using Vault 2020 and 2022 as intermediate upgrades in order to jump 2018-2024.

SQL versions and server versions also have to be planned. Your reseller will be able to assist with planning and execution. They might even restore a backup to a virtual machine and do upgrades there for flexibility, before moving a backup set back to the final 2024 server.