Put the "vault data" folder on a map drive on network

[SWscience]

My purpose is using one computer as a pdmserver for 2 differents admin/client groups in company.
some definition :
1) vaultservice : a windows service which runs on pdm server and provides the net for pdm , it has been installed by pdmserver.exe
2) vault data folder : a folder contain vault data and it seems that it must on server but I'm not sure.

question is :
Because I cant run 2 or more service on a one computer to make 2 server on a 1 computer , I run two pdmserver on two different computer , and then reference to 1 vault folder for both on network , but it will not work , I mean pdmserver will not start in windows in this way.
any solution ?

 

[PDMAdmin]

Regarding your question on whether the vault files actually have to be on the PDMWorks server, the answer is no. They can be different machines.

I've never tried to assign multiple PDMWorks servers to a single vault location, so I'm not sure what the restrictions are. Regardless, you can't improve access speed by doing that, since your bottleneck in that case is the vault computer. It seems to me that a better solution is to use one vault/server, carefully create groups and assign them folder permissions as appropriate. There's also a setting in the Vault Admin that will hide folder names from groups/users who have no access to them.

If your issue is access speed (such as having users in a different country), a better solution would be to have the other location set up their own local login server and vault computer, then sync up the files between sites. However, this is *very* tricky to set up and maintain properly without corrupting vault data, so the expertise and involvement of your network and CAD admins will be essential.

 

[SWscience]

Thanks pdmwadmin
Really my issue is :
This is very easier to back up data of just 1 server (vault folder in 1 server) than 3~4 server in multiple department in company . and we prefer not working with server , so if we reserve 4 computer just for pdm vault , at first , it becomes expensive and then backing up becomes difficult.
And because these 4 department have their own admin , and their own revision scheme , and their own global setting , we can't share the vault by difining 4 groups cuase then they have to use same settiong , and this way is not a safe way to protecting datas not copying by other department's users.
So I though about this , and I fine that way i explained before ( runing 4 pdm service on for clients but define a map drive on network for all => z:\vault1 , z:vault2 , ...
I tried to do this , but when I define a map drive as a vault folder in pdmsercer installation , after finishin the installation , pdmserver will not start .(control panel / admin tools / services ) and it can't be run manually .
Now , any solution you can suggest me ?

Best regard

 

[APPENG]

Okay... lets get a couple of things straight here before I reel off any advice here...

First... In what capacity do your other division need to share documents? View only? or do they need read write access to each others vaults from time to time? What do they need to do with each other documents?

Second, what sort of connection to you share with your divisions? Fractional T-1, Fiberoptic, Etc?

Regards,
Jon
jgbena@yahoo.com

 

[PDMAdmin]

SWScience,

Okay, let me see if I understand your situation. You have four different divisions that all use different revision schemes, have different admins, etc. This means that each of the four divisions needs a different file vault. However, your company doesn't want to buy four different computers for that, so you're trying to put all four vaults on the same file server, each accessing a different file vault directory. Did I summarize that right?

I've never tried putting multiple file vaults on the same machine, so I'll have to go by "gut feel" here. My "gut feel" is that you should be able to do that, as long as a PDM server is *not* running on the actual file server itself. (Keep in mind, I can't imagine any reputable SolidWorks VAR recommending such an approach.) Try a couple of things first:

1) Type in the full network name (i.e. \\hostname\directory) instead of the map drive when you install the PDM server. It shouldn't make a difference, but give it a try anyway.

2) Check the properties on the Windows service that runs the PDM server. Which account is running that service? Most likely, it's the local admin, which may not have read/write access to the file server. I'm suspecting file permissions may be your culprit here.

Another question: Are you able to get *any* of your PDM servers to start?

 

[APPENG]

PDMadmin,

The thing here is that the pdm vault structure is not treated the same as a set of windows folders. WHen you access documents via PDMworks, you are merely pointing to the service. The Service is what retrieves the data. You never actually work directly on the vault. The only thing that has permission to access the vault directly is the pdmworks server (service).. well of course the vault admin should have read write access to the vault for maintenance.

Switching vault directories is not as easy as changing paths in windows explorer... It involves stopping the pdm service, changing a reg key, and starting the service again. This is difficult to perform remotely unless you are the IT admin. And also not recmommended because every time a user wants to access a different vault, someone else who is trying to access the different one is out of luck. 4 servers is not a bad idea although I would prefer that the company get on the ball with its rev schemes and standardize to make things simpler and run with only one. But the solution really depends on what they want to do with the stuff in the vault.. how they want to share... etc. We need to know these things before anything else..

But if he is doing what I think he is doing then we have a bit of a problem. And this is only my assmuption of what he wants to do (until I hear back from him that is) It sounds to me like he is trying to create a homogenous file reference structure such that when a file is opened on one divisions network and its looking for a part on Z:\partslibrary\part1.sldpart that the part is there.. Then when he sends his part over to the the other division and the other guy opens it on their network it also has a Z:\partslibrary\part1.sldprt on it. Theoretically eliminating any "cannot find the part specified" errors that you commony see when sharing assembly files.

This is of course not the correct apporach and I want more information from him before I give him any instructions...

jon



Regards,
Jon
jgbena@yahoo.com

 

[SWscience]

Thanks Appeng for your reply.
At first I should say we hav NO sharing data between vaults.

Really the each admin/clients ONLY use 1 vault , NOT others.

So , admin1/client1 use vault 1
admin2/client2 use vault 2
admin2/client2 use vault 2
.....

Now , its too dificult and expensive to use 4 Server.because of difference between global settings and file protection we can't use 1 vault for all.
And if we can use 1 computer for 4 different vault , it's very easier and better .
So , canyou help me ?
I did the suggestions wich pdmadmin told me , but not successful.
Best regard.

 

[APPENG]

I see,

I wish I had better news for you but the problem is this...

The only thing that accesses the vault is the PDMWorks service (an autonomous program that loads upon bootup) the problem is that you cannot have more that one instance of the same service running.

You can have more that one vault on a machine, and switch the service between them by stopping the service, and editing the reg key holding the current pathname to the vault. but this would be a very clunky method and I am sure that you would have users screaming at you the first time you switch to another vault.

The only solution here to have vaults up and working concurrently is to have the PDMserver service running on unique servers. Now the storage of the vault data does not need to be on the same server. In fact I have done installs where the Actual vault data resides on an NAS (Network area Storage system) and it works fine. It took a lot of tweaking with permissions for access but it works fine and has been for nearly a year. This is of course an option if its the storage space that is whats making you cringe about the cost of a server class unit.

hope the helps a little?


Regards,
Jon
jgbena@yahoo.com

 

[SWscience]

Thanks alot.
so you mean I install pdmserver on 4 computers , and I can use these computers for my designers to run solidworks on each and there is no problem to use a pdm server for other purpose such as runing solidworks.
Now I have to indicate 1 vault computer on network with 4 different vault folders , on installing pdmserver.
and then pdmservice run on 4 computers which have same location with different folder for vault data.

Is it correct ?
Best regard