Autodesk Technology Managers Forum
Share your knowledge, ask questions, and engage with fellow CAD/BIM Managers.
cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Sharing AutoCAD Work between locations.

11 REPLIES 11
Reply
Message 1 of 12
mdhutchinson
4301 Views, 11 Replies

Sharing AutoCAD Work between locations.

What options are out there for sharing CAD Work between locations?

 

The big issue for us is that we have Job servers in multiple locations... More and more as time progresses... We are sharing work back and forth.

 

Surely there is a better alternative then simply good management practices... i.e.. Copying revised drawing files / updated backgrounds back and forth.

Currently, drives are accessible to both locations... But there is no way to work these files over our WAN with any kind of performance. Working on DWG files across this is extremely slow. I would think that most of you would agree.

 

What are others doing?

What is needed from a technology / cost standpoint to assure file are kept in sync by means other than shear manual moving / copying files?

Something called 'Virtual Desktop'... is this an option?... can Autodesk software run / licensed in this evironment?

11 REPLIES 11
Message 2 of 12
TravisNave
in reply to: mdhutchinson

It's called Autodesk Vault.  The files are stored as a change database in a central location and checked out to the user who is working on them.  The files are used locally and not on the network.  Then the files are checked back in.  This prevents work from being overwritten and yet still allows other users to access the latest changes to the files read-only.  You should consider this.



Travis Nave Send TravisNave a Private Message                                             Need help in your post? Mention me with @TravisNave



My Expert Contributions to the
Autodesk Forums:
FLEXnet License Admin | MSI Cleanup Utility | .NET Framework Cleanup Tool | IPv6 NLM Fix | adskflex.opt Options File | Combine .LIC Files
Message 3 of 12
jggerth1
in reply to: mdhutchinson

Hqave you investigated Riverbed appliances for your locations?  That's one of the better ways to improve performance of editing/tansferring files across a WAN.  Basically a Riverbed only moves changed bits across the wire, so total data transfer is reduced, 

 

It may also be helpful ton investigate EDMS options -- Vault is one, albeit one of the lesser implementations - although if you are an Inventor shop, Vault is probably worth exploring  Adept from Synergis Software is generally well regarded as a CAD-capable EDMS, and there are other vendors in that market space as well.

Message 4 of 12
rkmcswain
in reply to: jggerth1


@jggerth1 wrote:

Hqave you investigated Riverbed appliances for your locations?  That's one of the better ways to improve performance of editing/tansferring files across a WAN.  Basically a Riverbed only moves changed bits across the wire, so total data transfer is reduced,


Another vote for Riverbeds here. 

R.K. McSwain     | CADpanacea | on twitter
Message 5 of 12
mdhutchinson
in reply to: rkmcswain

We are investigating Riverbed and are gearing up for a trial.

I think that Riverbed introduces de-duplication on it's own... is this not the case?

What I understand of the term 'de-duplication' is that once the file has been replicated... later updates to the file are that only changed bits get copied across. Isn't  this correct?

 

Asside from all the Project Management tools / functionality, What does Autodesk Vault bring to the table that Riverbed replication / de-duplication does not?

 

 

 

 

 

Message 6 of 12
TravisNave
in reply to: mdhutchinson

We had 0 success with Riverbed testing here between offices.  Vault is essentially the same idea as Microsoft Visual Source Safe, if you know what that is.  Basically, it is SQL server database of all of your drawings (and subsequent changes) that are checked out to an individual user to work locally on his system and then checked back into the Vault when completed.  The benefit is that no work can be overwritten, all work is local and not over the WAN, and that if a change is made that is bad, you can revert to a previous version.  You can also use that previous version to make additional derivatives of the part for new part changes.  It also allows for the other users to continue to view the existing part database current versions even if a part is checked out.  Vault is an Autodesk product that is built into the suite.  You can implement it right now.  And because it is a SQL server, all of your data can be safely and easily backed up in the event of catastrophic failure. 



Travis Nave Send TravisNave a Private Message                                             Need help in your post? Mention me with @TravisNave



My Expert Contributions to the
Autodesk Forums:
FLEXnet License Admin | MSI Cleanup Utility | .NET Framework Cleanup Tool | IPv6 NLM Fix | adskflex.opt Options File | Combine .LIC Files
Message 7 of 12
jggerth1
in reply to: TravisNave

Interesting -- we've had pretty good results with Riverbeds -- and I've often worked on files in remote offices.  slower than local server access, but not intolerable.  After initial opening on a new file, it's been quite resonable for response time.   Not as fast as a local server, slower than local disk, and certainkynot up to SSD speed, but quite usable.

 

To be fair, I've not played with the latest Vault gneration, but prior to 2013 I found it to be a pretty poor 'dwg manager' -- at least for AEC type work.  Might be considerably more usable in the mfg widgets world, (after all, that's where it came from) but for my work, it was worth considerably less than the cost of licenseing ($0.00).

 

One gets what one pays for, but Vault was so poorly thought out for AEC wok that it was a mess IMHO - YMMV.  Heck, the old 1996 era WorkCenter worked better for AEC.   And I don't see any information that would lead me to think that Vault would improve remote office performance or response time.

 

Message 8 of 12

We use globalscapes avail agent for wafs replication, i strongly recommend it.  We tested riverbeds and found the avail agent to work better.

John Hammer, LA/CADD Manager
Message 9 of 12

We are now in trial mode. Started with Peersync Collaboration 15 day trial. Now on Globalscape 30 day Trial. So far Globalscape is winner hands down.

Anyone else have an oppinion?

Message 10 of 12

What version of globalscape's avail agent are you on, version 2?  they recently released an upgrade that we've implemented....

 

there is a boat load of optimization that is required on your servers, etc. to make this work effeciently and i STRONGLY recommend you have an I.T. Network Engineer and a Designer with exceptional familiarity with the product...  I understand you can deal directly with support at globalscape... USE IT!!!

 

how's it working for you?  whats your setup?  how many offices?

John Hammer, LA/CADD Manager
Message 11 of 12
IMKarla
in reply to: mdhutchinson

Please read the WAFS case study about how engineers from different countries and different companies collaborated on the Panama Canal redesign. Talk about sharing between locations! http://www.globalscape.com/files/case_wafs_acp.pdf

 

Message 12 of 12
mdhutchinson
in reply to: IMKarla

Well... we've been on Globalscape WAFS since late spring / early summer 2013. Since then the bulk of the data has grown conciderably.

... and for the most part it has been good. (depends somewhat on who you talk to I suppose)

 

However, starting with two or three releases ago... we started having three issues.... increasing in frequency starting with the least frequent to the most frequent below.

 

  1. Work on a drawing for sometime... then all of a sudden the file turns read-only while still open for editing. The user has to do a saveas to some temporary name, then do another saveas over the original name. Frequency is about 1 out of several dozen or more saves.
  2. After working on a drawing for sometime. On a save, you may be presented with a dialog that says...  'Unable to save the drawing to...  as it is being accessed by another session. Drawing saved to... sav21EF.tmp'. This may happen perhaps 6 or 8 times out of several dozen.
  3. Then... one day comes and you get persistent failed saves where, the drawing file vanishes from the server. Then you have to follow up with another save. This case comes in pairs like clockwork. First a bad save with the drawing file vanishing from the server, followed by a good save... where the drawing file shows back up again. The dialog is quite similar to 2 above, but like this... 'Unable to save the drawing to...  Drawing saved to... sav21EF.tmp' NOTE: You can stop this for perhaps even several days to a week or more by simply renaming the file. ALSO, one file worked from one office may produce this behavior... but the same file opened from a server in another office more often then not may not have the same behaviour.

Consistently... case 2 above leaves the sav*.tmp file behind... case 3 leaves the sav*.tmp file, and an ATMP* file, with no file extension. When we first starting seeing this... the user came into the office and discovered the file was no were to be found - additionally it did not exist in either the Globalscape Vault or even that eveings backup. We learned that you could rename the appropriate sav*.tmp file... and there was your file as you left it the day before.

On close investigation the ATMP* in actuality is the .BAK file that would have been if the saves were good. But interestingly, the ATMP* file does not show up until the second of the two saves in each pair.

 

As you may be able to tell... we've done many tests... we have screaming fast BOXX computers...and we thought that might be the issue, however, we plugged the computer directly into a server without any network routers or cable... we also disable the overclocking... and dug out one of our older 64 bit computers out... and in every case, we still have the issue.

 

IF ANYONE HAS... a thought, I would very much appreciate it.

AND... PERHAPS SOMEONE HAS HAD globalscape and had similar issues... we'd be very much interested to know.

Don't get me wrong... Globalscape support is very much a plus... they are bending over backwards to see this fixed...

I hope to post back soon as to what the solution is.

 

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Error-C...

 

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/DWG-fil...

 

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad-mep/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Err...

 

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad-lt-for-mac/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcartic...

 

http://blog.microsolresources.com/2013/01/29/autocad-files-that-delete-themselves/

 

https://helpdesk.egnyte.com/hc/communities/public/questions/200862974-AutoCAD-DWG-files-are-lost-whe...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can't find what you're looking for? Ask the community or share your knowledge.

Post to forums  

Administrator Productivity


Autodesk Design & Make Report