Reload latest and sync at same time

[Anonymous]

I am working on a large scale project, and the procedure is that people should avoid sync at the same time and check worksharing monitor before they do. At this moment the rule is you can reload latest while someone is sync to centralfile. Do anyone knows if this interrupt the sync process and makes it slower, risk of failure, that other user reload latest at the same time?

Looking forward to hear your answer.

Kenneth

[Lance.Coffey · Accepted solution]

Hello Kenneth, thank you for your question.

Based on your reference to the Worksharing Monitor, I am inferring that you are using File-based worksharing (and not Revit Server or Collaboration for Revit, as the worksharing monitor doesn't work with these options).

    The synchronize process involves 3 major steps (where one is repeated):
    1.    Save the local model (STL)
    2.    Reload Latest (RL)
    3.    Save to the Central model (STC)
    4.    Save the local model again

Two of the steps RL and STC involve interactions with the central model.

During the STC portion of the synchronize process other users would not be able to use the Reload Latest command, as the STC process would lock the central model. (It wouldn't make sense to allow others to RL when the model is being changed.)

This leaves just the RL portion of the synchronize process that could be impacted by other users using the Reload Latest command.

Since the file server and network resources are limited, I would expect that multiple people using the Reload Latest command have a good chance of increasing the amount of time needed for each user to complete the command.

However, as there are many variables (such as server hard drive read I/O bandwidth, network bandwidth, the number of changes that need to be reloaded, etc.) it would be hard for me to accurately estimate what impact this would have.

    On the plus side, it should be relatively easy to test this (in your current environment) by going through the following steps:
    1.    Have one user make changes to the model and synchronize (this should be a "normal" amount of changes that would be made prior to when they would normally synchronize).
    2.    Have one user (User A) run the Reload Latest command and time how long it takes to complete.
    Note: If the RL command finishes is only a few seconds, it may not be sufficient changes for a good test.
    3.    After User A has loaded the latest changes, have multiple other users (B-E) run the Reload Latest command at the same time and have each time how long it takes to complete.

    Note: If any users encounter errors/failures in the RL command, then this would indicate that multiple users using RL at the same time could lead to failure of the synchronize process (since RL is part of it) and should be avoided in your environment.
    4.    Look at the difference in the RL command for User A, and for Users B-E to get a feel for how much extra time could be taken up by having multiple people RL at the same time.

Additional Info/options:

If you haven't already done so, it would be a good idea to look at Revit Server and/or Collaboration for Revit, as these shift the responsibility of handling the central model from each individual workstation to a server which can queue up requests to access or write to the central model. (E.g. with Revit Server two people can synchronize at the same time without running into an error (although it would still take longer than if each synchronized separately). (Some downsides of this can be the need to maintain an IIS Application server in the case of Revit Server, and an added per-user cost in the case of Collaboration for Revit. For other benefits/costs, see the article: Revit options for Remote Access.)

Note: Revit Server does not currently have an option similar to the Worksharing Monitor, so a separate communication channel would need to be used to manage the timing of user synchronization (if desired).

[Anonymous]

Hello Lance

Thanks for the reply I will run a test for our project when I have the time. We work on a project with a size of 65000m2 square meters. we have roughly 25 models incl. all disiplins. The ARK building interior model is 724 MB comptacted and is the largest file. At AU2016 I had different experiences about advice using A360 for large scale projekts.

We do struggle with sync time sometimes and it varies a lot, what the exact reason is, seems unclear still.

I will post result when it is done. 

[Anonymous]

Hello Lance,

I am getting the following error message when doing an Auto Sync function in Revit Server.  This issue does not show up for normal Revit users.  Is the protocol the same in regards to reload and syncing errors?

If you could let me know, I would greatly appreciate it.  Thank you.

Kevin

[Lance.Coffey]

Hello Kevin,

I'm not sure what you mean by the Auto Synch function. My understanding of Autosynch in the context of Revit Server is as a service that runs on an Accelerator and this service checks for updates on host servers every 2 minutes.

From your description it sounds like you are running some other command. Could you provide more details on the steps you are going through to use this function?