BIM Server and Archioffice 2010

[Anonymous]

We are being told that Archioffcie 2010 can't be run (served) on the same machine as BIM. They don't say BIM Server specifically. Anyone have any experience with this? Something about using the same ports...

[Karl Ottenstein]

SteveC0013 wrote:
We are being told that Archioffcie 2010 can't be run (served) on the same machine as BIM. They don't say BIM Server specifically. Anyone have any experience with this? Something about using the same ports...

Who is telling you this? I cannot see any reason that they cannot run on the same machine. You can explicitly choose non-conflicting ports for BIM Server if there is a conflict.

But, this ArchiOffice article
http://www.bqe.com/BillQuickKB/KBDetail.aspx?KBID=548
does not list any ports that conflict with the default BIM Server ones.

Some older (AC 13 oriented) info on BS ports is here:
http://www.archicadwiki.com/Teamwork/BimServerConfiguration

Note the very end of the article:

Additionally, you can coax the BIM Server to search for ports above xx by changing the Model Service Port for the BIM Server to a number above xx

[MMontgomery]

On a side note, we are going to be installing ArchiOffice in the near future - how do you guys like it?

[Anonymous]

I have to apologize... Typically I'll do some homework before posting.... I still haven't done that home work but I suspect that what they (BQE/Archioffice) really mean by BIM is Revit... Currently we are not running BIM Server because our file server doesn't meet the specs required. We are a small office and don't have a ton of shared projects so we've avoided spending that money. Our file server technically doesn't meet Archioffice 2010 specs but they said it should still work. I was annoyed to think that we might end up having to buy two new machines to run both pieces of software, partly because of the expense but that is really a problem for the partners. My biggest annoyance was the added machine that I would end up maintaining...

[Anonymous]

MMontgomery wrote:
On a side note, we are going to be installing ArchiOffice in the near future - how do you guys like it?

I like it just fine... We haven't installed 2010 yet... They (BQE) had trouble with the Mac installer... We should be upgrading soon. I just use it for tracking my time and total project time. The partners get into the billing and accounting functions of it...

[Anonymous]

An ArchiOffice representative told me that ArchiOffice could not run on a BIM Server because both programs use the same port numbers for communication.

If this is the case, I think both vendors should allow users to adjust the port settings to avoid this issue. It will be costly to have two separate servers especially for small or one-man operations who wish to outsource drawing production for increased productivity and reduced overheads. The BIM Server is the perfect solution to achieve this.

The use of ArchiOffice will become a vital tool for firms. I know it will definitely minimize the amount of time I currently spend on administration tasks, I would rather be designing and drawing.

[Eduardo Rolon]

AFAIK you can specify your port numbers in your Bim Server.

[Karl Ottenstein]

As I responded to the initial question:

Karl wrote:
You can explicitly choose non-conflicting ports for BIM Server if there is a conflict.

[rob2218]

what is "Archioffice 2010"?
is it for Macs?
what is that?

Can someone point me to the proper website where they sell Archioffice?

Also...we ran into a similar situation with the BIM server and the port 14004 messaging port which Archicad defaults to for messagine.

Whenever we launched "ichat" the BIM server would krap out...basically "STOP RUNNING" and we had to continually "RESUME" the Bim server manager. It was very annoying....until a dude from GS..."Tim" was his name, helped us out tremendously.

He instructed us to use port 61616 which apparently came from Archicad13's communication port numbers is what he said....and once we did that...it worked like a charm.

Another side note. We had to reconfigure our modem/router (same box from Comcast) settings to also provide the BIM server with port forwarding to that same port 61616.

Knock on e-woody, we have yet had any issues so far...again, thanks Tim from GS!!

[Karl Barker]

We have been running archioffice for around five years now but still have not upgraded to 2010 version due to a variety of issues. Namely the Mac OS installer not working properly.
I have taken a couple of old iMacs of our drawings team and used then as separate servers, one for each. I am currently running AO2010 in test format where only I work with it.
I have found it to be a emory hog in the intel iMac, such that I would not want both our BIM server and the Archioffice server on the same machine anyway.

Best bet for your money if you do need new computers is to upgrade your workstations and reuse the old ones as your servers.