Central model corruption from multiple people syncing

[LisaDrago]

A team in my office has been experiencing central model corruption when multiple people sync at the same time. Is anyone else experiencing this?

To my knowledge when two people sync - one is paused until the other finishes. This is how it has worked for the last 14 years I have worked on Revit.

I have been working cloud based the last 4 years - so has something changed in those 4 years that server based models no longer capable of syncing correctly?

Has something changed to break this process - to me it is a fundamental functionality of the program. 

Someone did point out to me a help page

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/revit-products/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles...

From that - before I sync I have to check the worksharing monitor to make sure no one else is syncing - and then sync... that makes no sense to me.

Anyone have any other thoughts?

Thanks!

LD

[fabiosato]

Hello Lisa,

We have been working with all versions of Revit up to 2019, most of the time we have one or two persons working in the model, and so far we had no corruption when syncing, and we do not use worksharing monitor, we rely only in Revit to manage the syncing.

In Revit 2018, we were up to 8 people simultaneously working and syncing without any problem. I will pay attention to this eventual problem, but we have very few corruption issues in our models.

[Anonymous]

Upon further reflection, IF the work sharing tool is that essential to preventing corruption by synching, it should be integrated in the synch button inside Revit rather than being an external optional tool for users.

That would further idiot proof the UX, making it much safer and easier to use for everyone.

[pkolarik]

To skip over all the b.s. of not getting your question answered Lisa.... we've never experienced model corruption from multiple people syncing at the same time.

Whenever two people initiate the sync command at the same time (and this happens quite often) one of the two will get "paused" while the first one finishes, then their sync will go through. But never any corruption from this. (and no, I doubt anyone here has ever gone through the extra clicks to "check and see" if anyone else is sync'ing first. Such a button is basically useless due to how fast a sync can happen on some models anyway)

[RobDraw]

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@pkolarik wrote:

(and no, I doubt anyone here has ever gone through the extra clicks to "check and see" if anyone else is sync'ing first. Such a button is basically useless due to how fast a sync can happen on some models anyway)

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That's a pretty narrow minded viewpoint. I, for one, have been checking since I started using Revit. Having more than one person trying to synch at the same time can cause major delays in the time it takes to synch. There are places that require people to keep the worksharing monitor on at all times. Just because you haven't experienced any issues with simultaneous synching, doesn't mean that they don't exist outside of your world. Assumptions like that only serve to spread bad practices.

[Anonymous]

My point of view was the using the Worksharing monitor does two things:

-Allows you to wait pointlessly on slow model with multiple collaborators

-Allows you to see the history of synch and troublshoot

No one expects to have to use it to not corrupt the model. If that were the case, it should not be an optional tool, but an integral part of the synch button.

[pkolarik]

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@RobDraw wrote:

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@pkolarik wrote:

(and no, I doubt anyone here has ever gone through the extra clicks to "check and see" if anyone else is sync'ing first. Such a button is basically useless due to how fast a sync can happen on some models anyway)

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That's a pretty narrow minded viewpoint. I, for one, have been checking since I started using Revit. Having more than one person trying to synch at the same time can cause major delays in the time it takes to synch. There are places that require people to keep the worksharing monitor on at all times. Just because you haven't experienced any issues with simultaneous synching, doesn't mean that they don't exist outside of your world. Assumptions like that only serve to spread bad practices.

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Well hooray for you. I, for one, have literally never used this supposedly "required feature", and have never had a problem resulting from multiple people sync'ing at the same time. Ever.

Just because *you* choose to use a feature that isn't required to be used doesn't mean it's a good practice. As has been said, if it truly is intended to be "required" by Adesk in order to not corrupt models it would be unavoidably integrated in some fashion into the sync button itself.

Narrow minded.. lol. So thinking for yourself is narrow minded now? Ooooooookay....

Since you've been supposedly using this button since "day one", I can assume (oops, I must be spreading a bad practice.. lol) you've never experienced corruption issues from simultaneous syncing? Well, guess what? Neither have I.... so, who is right? The guy who spends extra clicks using a feature that may, or may not, do anything other than waste time? Or the guy who doesn't spend the time doing those extra clicks *every time he sync's* and still doesn't experience the OP's corruption issues? The fact is, you have no idea.

So your assuming someone not doing something your way is a "bad practice" is also an assumption spreading bad information.

edit: Oh, and as for your "there are places that required workshare monitoring to be on" statement... so what? And there are places that don't. One way or the other that doesn't prove anything. I can't believe I had to explain that.

[RobDraw]

No one has experienced corruption due to simultaneous synching because it cannot happen, therefore I am using the tool for other purposes, genius.

[LisaDrago]

hello @fabiosato  - thank you for your response. 

What you experienced is what I have experienced. It seems off to me that that is the actual culprit. I think someone in my office was grabbing at straws.

Thanks!

LD

[LisaDrago]

Hello @pkolarik  - thank you for your response.

I totally agree - I have never experienced this and I think someone just just trying to come up with something... even though it isn't right.

Thanks again!

LD

[evgeny.kurbatov]

Do you apply Audit option when you open the central file?

[LisaDrago]

hello - @evgeny.kurbatov - yes, it has been done on this project.

It is not my project and I was approached with this issue. so i did the standard trouble shooting and they still had the issue. they asked someone else in the office and they brought up the syncing issue.

To me it isn't an issue - just trying to see if others were having that specific issue. 

[samromero]

Well that was an interesting thread..

I've worked in 4 offices. Ranging from 500+ employee A&E firm with a Revit expert IT and great Revit training and workflow standards, to a 20 employee firm that didn't use View Templates before I started. I've not personally known anyone who turns on Worksharing Display or recommends it (insert unavailable shoulder shrug emoji), but I'm open to trying it out out. I only discovered the value of Worksharing Display's neighbor Temporary View Properties tool in the past couple years, and I do recommend that to many users, to avoid temporary changes to View Templates that are accidentally not returned to standard.

In my first 3 offices I never heard of "issues" or corruptions when teams of 3 or more worked in a workshared central model.

But in this last firm, it's seemingly an accepted event that if multiple users attempt to synch at the same time we're all restricted from synching at all. The model becomes unavailable, and there is no 'pausing' user B while user A is synchronized, and then user B synch begins.

There has to be a reason, whether it is how the network is set up, or something else. I'm not sure yet, and I'm not sure anyone on this thread is either. But it's good to hear we're not alone. 

[RobDraw]

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@samromero wrote:

if multiple users attempt to synch at the same time we're all restricted from synching at all. The model becomes unavailable, and there is no 'pausing' user B while user A is synchronized, and then user B synch begins.

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That's a new one by me and it seems unrelated to this thread about model corruption when multiple people synch at the same time, which isn't possible. Only one person can synch at a time and Revit does the pausing automatically. I've never seen a model come unresponsive to all except when someone opened the central model directly without creating a local.

[zhongding_cui]

For the record: (this has been the same doc page & same claim from ADSK since as early as at least 2014)
https://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2024/ENU/?guid=GUID-5196BA79-8632-45EC-BC8A-4971FE362465

"

When multiple users try to access a project’s central file at the same time, their operations may cause delays for each other.

A Synchronize with Central operation consists of 3 main steps: Querying Changes, Updating Local File, and the Synchronize with Central process. A Reload Latest operation consists of 2 steps: Querying Changes and Updating Local File.

If several users initiate Synchronize with Central operations around the same time, the Revit software interleaves the Synchronize with Central steps for each user as much as possible. However, there is no guaranteed order of completion, such as first-come, first-served. In some cases, for example, the first user to start a Synchronize with Central operation may be the last to finish. In addition, after one user’s Synchronize with Central operation is completed, the other concurrent Synchronize with Central operations must restart. The Revit software manages this process automatically.

Such delays can disrupt your workflow. If activities of other users will interfere with your access to the central file, the Worksharing Monitor issues a notification (Expected delay during your central file accesses). The Central File Access pane shows information about who is accessing a central file. In these cases, you may want to cancel your operation and do it later.

The following table shows how you may be delayed if you and your colleague (Sam) initiate Synchronize with Central operations at the same time. The table shows how you are affected by Sam. Sam is affected by you in a similar way. If more users are involved, more time and waiting are required to complete all Synchronize with Central operations.

Note: The Revit software automatically manages the Synchronize with Central process for multiple users. In general, you do not need to restart a Synchronize with Central operation manually if it does not complete right away.

"

According to this doc above, Revit supports multiple user sync to central at a same time by implementing an internal wait queue. Theoretically Revit should not corrupt a file with a feature they have been supporting for over 10+ years. If any corruption happens due to this, it should consider a bug and send to Revit dev asap. 

[RobRocks]

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@zhongding_cui wrote:

Theoretically Revit should not corrupt a file with a feature they have been supporting for over 10+ years. If any corruption happens due to this, it should consider a bug and send to Revit dev asap. 

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It's more than a theory. Revit doesn't allow more than one person to synch because that could cause corruption. The cause here is likely elsewhere and the OP got stuck in a box provided by a coworker. They were approached with an issue and a "cause" and couldn't let go of that "cause" so that they could explore other possibilities.

[evgeny.kurbatov]

We have had a same problem a while ago (Revit error on multiple users' sync). Since then we did the following:

1. Developed a team culture where people put "sync" to the team's chat before starting the Sync command.
2. Computers were upgraded from 9th CPU generation to 14th generation.

We don't have issues with synching now.