PDM/Works Web Portal

[pdybeck]

For all the Web Portal users out there - Do you have a separate server to handle the web portal as opposed to the server that has the vault on it and service running? Is it recommended either way? Are there performance issues with the portal being run from the same server? Thanks in advance.

Pete Yodis
Harold Beck and Sons

 

[PDMAdmin]

What we use is a separate file server and login server for PDMWorks. The PDMWorks login server is the same machine we use to access web portal. This has worked out well for us.

I am not aware of any issues with doing the files, client logins and web portal access from the same machine, but obviously you will want to back up your vault files frequently. Also, web portal requires Microsoft IIS, which many IT groups detest because of its lax security, so you will want to get your IT group involved in the discussion.

 

[pdybeck]

PDMAdmin,

Thanks for the response. I guess I asked my question on behalf of my IT department. They wanted to know if for performance reasons the portal should be run on a separate server. We will have as many as maybe 20-30 people using the portal at the same time, though I really expect it to be around 10-15 at any given time. Why do you use a separate log-in server(I assume the machine running the service) and vault server? What are the advantages, dis-advantages. I'll excuse my inexperience in these matters, I'm really an M.E.

Thanks,
Pete

 

[PDMAdmin]

First of all, before you commit too deeply to web portal, read the article I wrote about web portal a while back. There are some severe limitations to it versus the client software.

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?SQID=95015&SPID=559&newpid=559&page=1

Our web portal has only been used by one or two people at a time, so I don't really know how it would perform with 30 users, but the actual performance depends on many things. How up-to-date is your server? How is your network speed? And so on... On an "apples to apples" basis, I would say that the client software performs better than web portal, but that's not surprising, since web portal has the added burden of having to use HTTP.

We use a separate file server because all our file servers are Unix systems. We do this mainly for stability, but the downside is that Windows machines (which the PDMWorks login server has to be) prefer to communicate with Windows, not Unix. We have a great IT group, so they have it working very well, but every now and then Windows decides to stop communicating with Unix. Those situations, though rare, are painfully catastrophic.

(BTW, I'm also an M.E. You can see how far I've gone towards the dark side.)

 

[pdybeck]

PDMAmin,

On days like these I feel myself slipping to the "Dark Side" as well. We will just be using the portal solution for searching, viewing, and prinintg documents that are in the vault. I have been hearing complaints around the departments here about getting access to what the select few SolidWorks users can see. I am fully aware of what the Web portal is used for and it seems to fit that need just right for us. My guess was that you were using a Unix system, but thought maybe there was some other reasons. I've heard of other people/companies having your set up. Thanks for all the information and for the post you submitted on the Portal.