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Forums >> Revit Building >> Technical Support >> File Sharing/Production
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Joined: Mon, Sep 13, 2004
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Scenario
Two offices working on a project done in Revit. How can we set the project up so that both offices can work on it and not override each others work. Is there an easy way of doing this.
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Joined: Mon, Jan 12, 2004
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If you are using the internet as the method for access the two networks then you'll have difficulties.
Refer this thread:
http://www.revitcity.com/forums.php?action=viewthread&thread_id=1307
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Okay,
Mr. Spot,
I read your forum discussion, so basically it sounds like it can't be done.
What about remote access to the network, you have to be able to tap into the network remotely can't you, then working with worksets you keep the file centrally located and still be able to work from a remote computer. Think that is possible Thanks for the reply.
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By remote access, I know that some offices have done it using VPN's(from AUGI Forums) to create that tunnel to the central file. Maybe that is the answer, I dont know.
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We use a VPN also.
Basically what you'd need to do, depending on file size. Would be to notify the office which contains the central file and notify them you are saving to central as you would have to make sure that noone else accesses the central file while this is happening otherwise the interoffice save to central won't happen.
For instance a 30MB file may take upto 30-40 minutes to save to central with today's internet speeds.
HTH.
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Hi all,
I found another way of enabling Revit Workset Sharing over the internet with a minimum of installation and configuration. It suffers from the similar illness as Mr Spot's way posted above.. you cannot "Save to Central (STC)" with more than one user at a time. Although, if you read further, you'll see that even this problem is easily solved!
Down to my method:
I use Novell's free NetDrive tool to create a mapped (s)FTP drive (indeed, even secured FTP transfer, if your FTP servers supports it). This utility comes in quite handy for a lot of other apps for me, since I can now (securely) use any FTP-account as a mapped network drive!
Now I STC to my newly mapped FTP drive Q:, and instantly the upload starts running. After completion, Revit becomes available again and I can save to my local version. I just drawed a square of walls to keep filesizes minimal. I can now edit the model the usual way and STC when I'm done. Every time I STC the upload starts and I have to wait till it's done. Now I'm looking for a way to tell NetDrive to cache disk-writes first as this would speed up the process a lot, since Revit wouldn't have to wait for the upload to complete.
Now I install NetDrive on a second computer (eg. laptop) and make shure it uses the same FTP-account (duh) and the same drive, Q: here. I open the central file from the newly created net drive, and the download starts immediately. I make some changes to the square of walls I used as testcase and STC and wait for the upload to complete.
Back on the first computer I first flush NetDrive (=re-read ftp-folder-content) and let Revit update from central, et voilą, synchronised! Now I can just use STC as much as I want on both machines, as long as I don't do it simultaneously. If NetDrive can be configured to auto-flush before every download, it would save me 2 more clicks.
For smaller workgroups I believe this is a perfect, easy-to-understand easy-to-use solution.
If NetDrive can be configured to protect the files that are currently being transferred, only one machine could upload the files at a time. Combined with some caching-configuring of NetDrive, it would even be possible to "enque" the different STC uploads, so that in the case one is already uploading, NetDrive would allow Revit to finish the STC and start uploading when the remote files become unprotected, even if Revit is already closed.
I discovered NetDrive just today, and the configuration panel is quite excessive, so I'm shure the above mentioned tweaks are in fact possible. I'll post my progress in this matter later, or if any of you folks care, plz do the same...
Why I like it this way?
I don't want to use VPN (unneeded/troublesome/impact on existing network) and certainly not RDS (Windows Remote Desktop Sharing).
I hope anyone finds this as usefull and thrilling as me, if so, do post your experiences here!
More information on NetDrive (incl. download-link): http://www.loyola.edu/5555/netdrive/index.html
Greets to y'all folks,
keep on breeding families!
And the saga continues!
I adjusted the NetDrive options (read the help!), and it is indeed possible to lock the files (change permissions to read-only) that are being transferred. After the transfer the files become read-write again and other NetDrive clients can start their uploads. The caching issue is also very easily solved, I just had to enable caching and automatic remote syncing. Now Revit can instantly STC and NetDrive takes care of the upload in the background. Even if I STC twice, NetDrive nicely enques the upload. Very nice indeed!
This works perfect! I love NetDrive for making this possible. I can even write custom FTP-commands to perform before and after each transfer. I can only hope that the Revit Programmers see the logic of this approach and incorporate it in their next release! The only issue left to solve is how to react on lost connections and corrupt transfers. NetDrive has already a solid approach to reconnecting and resuming uploads, but without proper testing, this can't be guaranteed.
Now.. since this solution is working for me as it is and I was only testing Workset sharing over internet, I won't investigate this further since my needs are completely fullfilled...
Many regards!
Post edited on 2005-12-02 04:43:06
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just wondering, since the last post was in 2005, if there's been any improvement to this scenario? we're working with another firm for a project and hoped to be able to work from one central file through an ftp if possible. are there any other options besides a VPN if an ftp still isn't a good idea?
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