File Saving Issues

There have been a few threads at AUGI and Revitforum.org alike that discuss an error like this one.

The folks at Autodesk support have apparently pinned the cause down and are now offering a solution via a post at The Revit Clinic yesterday morning. Here's the text of their post.
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This post is contributed by Niranjan Kamath who supports Revit on our team in India.

While working with a workshared file, Revit will report an error whereby the central file is not accessible.This issue occurs only when the clients had a different OS version. We could not recreate the file access issue if the clients were both W7, or both XP for example.

The reason this happens: Windows 7 client communicates with the server using SMB2, while the Windows XP client uses SMB. This difference in version may cause some file handling issues.

To resolve this issue disable SMB2 from Server and Win 7 users.

To disable SMB 2.0 for Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 systems that are the “client” systems, run the following commands:

• sc config lanmanworkstation depend= bowser/mrxsmb10/nsi
• sc config mrxsmb20 start= disabled
• Note there's an extra " " (space) after the "=" sign.

To restore SMB 2.0 for Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 systems that are the “client” systems, run the following commands:

• sc config lanmanworkstation depend= bowser/mrxsmb10/mrxsmb20/nsi
• sc config mrxsmb20 start= auto
• Again, there's an extra " " (space) after the "=" sign.

In order to disable SMB 2.0 on the server-side computer, follow these steps:

Warning!
This document contains instructions for editing the registry. If you make any error while editing the registry, you can potentially cause Windows to fail or be unable to boot, requiring you to reinstall Windows. Edit the registry at your own risk. Always back up the registry before making any changes. If you do not feel comfortable editing the registry, do not attempt these instructions. Instead, seek the help of a trained computer specialist.

• Run "regedit" on Windows Server 2008 based computer.
• Expand and locate the sub tree as follows.
• HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LanmanServer\Parameters
• Add a new REG_DWORD key with the name of "Smb2" (without quotation mark)
• Value name: Smb2
• Value type: REG_DWORD
• 0 = disabled
• 1 = enabled
• Set the value to 0 to disable SMB 2.0, or set it to 1 to re-enable SMB 2.0.
• Reboot the server.

Revit Server

I've been patiently waiting for some real information on this concept since I first heard a little birdie mention it at the end of last year. In my previous post I listed the bullet points I saw during our presentation but I didn't really explain the problem that this feature is intended to solve.

Fundamentally a firm with more than one office is at the mercy of their internet connection between offices when attempting to collaborate on a single project file. The existing methodology for Central and Local files passes too much data back and forth to be practical. As a result many firms have invested in server computer and hardware based WAN acceleration like offered by Riverbed. This technology does improve the situation and in many cases turning an unacceptable situation into a viable one. Revit Server is both a server computer based application and optimization within Revit itself to improve the project file relationship further.

Do you need Riverbed? Maybe. If you already have it you are primed for further improvement. If you don't you could evaluate it (Revit Server) and then decide whether investing in Riverbed is warranted, it may still be beneficial. The bandwidth available between offices is the critical variable.

• The first hurdle, if your firm doesn't have a server this solution won't help you. Hopefully a firm with more than one office isn't in this situation?
• The second hurdle, the imminent release is limited to your intranet/domain which rules out collaboration with external project teams that can't be permitted access to your domain. EyeTee talk for allowing other people in other firms to access your project folder(s) from outside your computer network. This rules out multi-firm collaboration unless you can work with EyeTee to provide a common domain for the whole team. Remember this is the first release and they clearly understand the desire to accomplish the broader collaboration between external firms

The user interaction is described well on David Light's blog because he captured images of various dialog boxes. From the user's point of view there isn't much difference. They create a local file just like before but they choose a project from the Revit Server instead. This is exposed via a drop down option on the Collaborate ribbon's Synchronize panel.

On the management side the firm must choose a dedicated server (choose an office location) for Central Files and the Revit Server software is installed on this server. The Revit Server Administrator application provides access to the Central files for each project as well as other maintenance items. If you browse the network using Windows Explorer it won't see the Central Files on Revit Server. They will only be accessible via the Revit Server Administrator application.

I wrote earlier about Globalscape's WAFS application and to me they seem quite similar. The most notable difference is that a company with active Autodesk subscription for Revit gets Revit Server for the subscription fee (or if you prefer to think of it as "free"...no additional money). Globalscape's solution will cost about 3K for each agent software initially with a yearly subscription fee thereafter. You'd need two agents to accomplish sharing between two offices, more agents for more offices naturally.

Robert Manna and David Light both shared network charts that explain the relationship between computers. They both have had the benefit of using the technology during early testing. I mentioned earlier that Robert is conducting an AU Virtual session about their implementation on an ongoing project.

Part of the technology includes a reworking of the user permissions that used to be collected into individual files (eperms). A new database is now used to manage user borrowing to provide a more robust monitoring and control system.

Back to workflow, all changes made to your local file are saved to a central file that is on a server located in the same office as your local. The changes to this central file are passed to the central file that exists on Revit Server. Changes made by others are also passed to Revit Server and these changes are passed to each other's local files via the Central files that are on their own office's servers. During the presentation yesterday it was stated that 100 milliseconds seems to be the threshold at which synchronization delays are perceived by a user so that is the threshold they are seeking to avoid, faster not slower than 100ms.

Some observations:

• Language is going to be a difficult transition, the word server, central and local all get used in an overlapping manner. For example, I'm saving my local file, it synchronizes with the "local" server which synchronizes with changes at the Revit Server installed on the master project server.
• If your firm has servers but doesn't have dedicated EyeTee staff this may seem "hard".
• The minimum requirements (see previous post) may deter your EyeTee staff if they are not ready to deal with the implications of deploying a server operating system that is newer than your current domain is using.
• It has always been a good idea to use a dedicated Revit server but getting that budget approved if it isn't already set up this way may be another hurdle.
• Spontaneously deciding to put a project at a specific office because the majority of the staff is in that office might contradict the single Revit Server location chosen. For example a project using teams in Phoenix and Tuscon might not enjoy the best results if the Revit Server is located in the Dallas office. It is technically possible to provide a Revit Server in multiple locations but each is blind to the other and teams can only access one at a time. The simplest implementation at this time is to focus on a single location to use Revit Server and this location provides access for all other offices.
• Worksharing monitor will be replaced with a Autodesk Bluestreak based solution that requires users to join this additional Autodesk technology and that might be a deterrent.

I encourage you to read both David's post and Robert's post as they have been using this tool for awhile now. They both offer worthy insight that should help you decide how well it will meet your needs. Keep in mind that this, like many other developments, are a stepping stone toward further developments in worksharing.

Added: Lachmi Khemlani's AECBytes has a new article based on an interview with Autodesk and Robert Manna. You can read it HERE. The article also discusses the new Conceptual Energy Analysis tool.

[Added March 30, 2011] Jame Wong has a couple videos on his blog to guide you along with installing and setting up Revit Server.

Dropbox and Project Sharing

I was trading messages with Martin Taurer today regarding WAFS (wide area file services). His firm has been exploring the use of Globalscape's WAFS product that I mentioned in a post recently. While we were both in Sydney attending the Revit Technology Conference Phil Read frequently extolled the virtues of Dropbox.

He (Martin) mentioned that it seemed to him that Dropbox is doing much the same thing as Globalscape's product which prompted a test. The results working with three users were interesting.

• Paths to central file must be identical (may need to use dos command "subst" to map a location)
• Initial synchronization of files took quite awhile
• Subsequent synchronization was quite fast
• Worked quite well while adding new elements
• It was possible to select and borrow the same element at the same time (BAD) First person to Synchronize won, the other "lost".
• The user permission files (eperms) don't update quickly enough at times

Conclusion? For a few power users who are very diligent it is a very inexpensive solution (free 2gb account). For users that are following the sun and not working at the same time it would be an excellent way to permit sharing and working using the same central file. Globalscape's solution seems to have solved preventing users from editing the same element at the same time and for that they can demand their fee.

Try it out but just be careful and test thoroughly to make sure it works for your conditions.

[Added 6/7/10] A friend wrote to say that WAFS is a bad idea whether Dropbox or Globalscape. His comment was, "good luck getting support from Autodesk using that setup". Perhaps he's correct at the moment. But Riverbed devices weren't a proven concept at first, Revit on a MAC using Parallels wasn't supported, running Revit on Win7 beta wasn't... nothing that is a stretch initially is a good idea until it becomes the norm (assuming "they" develop into reliable workable processes). That said, please please do be careful before launching into production mode with either!!