Setting up revit server

[vancikv]

I need to set up a Revit Server for our company. The purpose is to allow people to work from home (mostly same city as the office) on workshared models. I have read the documentation and have an idea of how it will be done, but I'd like someone who's done it before to fill in some gaps.

1. I assume there will be a single instance of Revit Server installed at the office on a machine that runs Windows Server 2012 or 2016. All the roles will be enabled here, i.e. Host+Accelerator+Admin. The Revit workstations connecting to the server don't need any application other than Revit itself. Is that correct?

2. I have read that I have to create and distribute the RSN.ini file. How do I first create the RSN.ini file?

3. Assuming the RSN.ini file was succesfully distributed and everything is working properly, I can now access server models through Revit from all local workstations.

Question is - does an internet connection suffice or do the workstations need to be connected to the office VPN?

4. The workshared file will have linked models. Do they need to be located on the server machine, or can they be stored on a network drive?

[Chad-Smith · Accepted solution]

I've completed dozens of RS integrations over the years. However, I will say that I haven't done any recently in case my knowledge is now slightly out of date.

RS is primarily designed for office to office Worksharing, where each office has their own server instance. Each instance can be a Host, an Accelerator, or both. It depends on which instance the project data is stored.

In all cases, the Revit client connects to an instance which is an Accelerator, which in turn talks to one or more Hosts. As the name suggests, the Accelerator speeds up the data transfer over the WAN from the client's location to the host.

So, having a client working from home and talking to a Host instance in an office defeats the purpose of RS. Each remote worker would need their own RS Accelerator server at their home.

You would be better off investigating Autodesk Construction Cloud with the BIM Collaborate Pro license. This alternative solves the Revit Server infrastructure issue, and will allow the client to communicate directly with the central model. You should reach out to your Autodesk reseller for more details.

[vancikv]

Thanks a lot for your thorough reply, Chad. What you say corresponds with what I learned from a consultant in the meantime.

The reason I wanted to set up RS was the warning about working on workshared files via VPN here. At the time, we were having trouble with remote desktop connection, which was very slow, so we thought that was not an option. But in the end, it seems we're going to have to make ti work. We don't need to work remotely that often so we're reluctant to paying for the cloud solution.