IT infrastructure for Revit

[Anonymous]

Hi,

A lot is written about workstation requirements to run Revit, but none for the support IT infrastructure to run it. That is network, server/ file storage, network switches, and perhaps also other support equipment.

This office has currently 10 users running Revit files up to 500MB from a Synology NAS (Central and Non-central files) on a 1GB network. The NAS is effectively a file storage only and also stores all other types of files (PDFs, DOCs, etc) while backing up offline.

It is looking at upgrading the server/ storage to allow redundancy of equipment, so the office keeps running if there is an equipment failure. This is possible through Synology High Availability and certainly other technologies. The office also would like to implement a solution able to expand up to 20 users.

What kind of requirements should be looked at? Would a NAS file storage still be adequate? Should start looking at a SSD server? Or SSD cache is enough? Is it worth start looking a 10GB switches and network cards? What needs to be done to improve load and save times? And quicker syncs to central?

It would be nice to have a guideline for IT infrastructure requirement to run Revit in an office environment. Could even be a sort of tiered configuration like it is done for the workstation - 'minimum, Value, Performance' - or white paper.

Any comments or suggestions on best practices and where to look for, would be highly appreciated.

Thank you!

[SteveKStafford]

I'm not an IT professional. I'm a Revit consultant. I've worked at and with very large firms...and small ones. I've seen a lot but I've never had to buy their gear or make sure it works. I have had to help sort things out at times...so I'm not completely out of my depth. I'm just not going to tell you buy this with that and that to make the perfect server. The tech is ever changing and it's a full time gig to keep up with it at a pro level.

The focus of information being on workstations is because the heavy lifting is being done at the user's PC where Revit is running. It gets less clear when you start talking about virtualization since the computer hosting the virtual machines is doing the heavy lifting. You didn't ask about that though...

What you're asking for is a bit like "how high is up". Budget is always a factor...besides, ask 10 computer experts what the best computer is for x and you'll get 10 answers, that share some themes and vary on manufacturer, chip, ram, drive etc.

From your description, it sounds like your system is working well for you, so far. The fault tolerance issue is important. Be careful how you approach that with Revit files, file replication that touches central files while they are in use can cause great heartache. I've been told a couple stories related to Synology and replication that has ended badly (details escape me at the moment). Replication should only happen when you can guarantee nobody is accessing the data. If people can work any hour at your firm then make it clear what hours are off limits to allow replication to do its things safely.

Given a budgetary reality, you want to buy the best quality gear you can afford that provides the fastest most reliable access to your files. Servers cost a lot because those intended for enterprise work are built with gear the manufacturer can guarantee the greatest percentage of run time possible. Things like redundant power supplies, fans and such help ensure a failure doesn't sideline everyone all day of for days. You can argue 10 users isn't enterprise level seriousness but ask your boss how much 10 people doing no billable work costs per day...preaching to the choir I'm sure.

All the related pieces and parts should be given similar attention. One bad switch can create file corruption that derails project progress for days until it is diagnosed properly. Properly installed and terminated wiring is important too.

I'd dedicate one server to just Revit projects so it has no other job description. I've seen a small office that put Exchange Server and their cool new VOIP phone system on the same server. Then Revit users wondered why project performance seemed off, was sporadic thereafter. Once they moved those to a different server things improved again.

I didn't give you a shopping list, sorry. I probably didn't tell you anything you don't already know...hopefully I've reinforced your own convictions about it all.

Good luck, happy shopping!

[Anonymous]

Steve thanks!

Actually your reply was quite usefull!

We were leaning towards upgrading our NAS as a high availability node. We're in the process to check our current usage of the NAS and wether we should consider adding SSD cache and/ or 10GB cards.

However, your mention about the replication will lead us to raise some more questions about this solution.

The way Synology high availability works is to have 2 identical NAS in sync and they are seen as one single equipement in the infrastructure. Both equipments are connected to the switch and have a direct connection between them (heartbeat connection likely to be the 10GB connection) to check if the other equipemnet is working properly and make sure they are effectivelly in sync.

I feel, if the sync issue can be confirmed as not an issue (the NAS should not exchange information between themselves but directly to the switch) this is the best way to provide failover support.

I'll post here any developments about this. Any further knowledge share from the communitty would be higly appreciatted.

[dgorsman]

Is Revit the only thing you're running?  I've seen posts here on various Autodesk products not running well with NAS.

[Anonymous]

Hi dgorsman,

The NAS is a file storage. It hosts all files - docs, xls, pdf, and RVTs, including centralized files. All files are run from the NAS, excepet for localized revit files.

The NAS itself runs a series of services, like on-line backups and file syncs.

So far, so good. We're quite satisfied with it. What we now want is create some sort of redundancy/ high-availabity node. If the NAS fails, we want to be able to keep running the office with minimum disruption, or none at all.

In principle, having 2 identical NAS in this configuration should do want we want. However, we would like to know if anyone out there has any similar sort of setup, NAS or server. Like Steve mentioned, replication/ sync when a central file is being accessed may be an issue.

The high-availability theoretically presents both NAS as a single one, and data is written to both simultaneously. But we would like to know from others if they have any experience about this.

Also, like I mentioned earlier, Autodesk defines requirements for the workstations, but appears mum on what is a recommended IT infra-structure to run Revit. any insight would be highly appreciated.

Rgs.