Slow Navigation of AC Acroos Network

[Anonymous]

I've read several forums about navigation problems in AC, all of which point to upgrading hardware or updating software. Our office is currently running AC 8.1; all of the computers here are G5's with 1.8Ghz processor, 1GB RAM, and OS 10.3.3 (except for the server which is a G4). we are finding that it takes an extraordinarily long time to navigate the network with AC (and we know that it is AC because this problem does not occur with any other application), sometimes taking 30 sec-several minutes to view the contents of the next folder. It's not the network either; we use CAT5 wiring between all the computers, connecting them with a Lynksis router.

Our next problem is that we cannot sign into a TW project from another computer (after spending such a long time locating the file to open ); .PLP's are accessible only from the computer that they were created on originally. If I try to sign into one from another computer, AC brings up a blank screen as it would when starting a new project with the title "untitled." Help?

[Anonymous]

Yes we all (three of us) share projects from our central server. I have not thought it through as completely as Wes. For us, we simply have the OOB libraries all named the same on different computers. The computer hard drives have different drive names.
But what seems different for us is that after the very first time a person loads the library, ArchiCAD finds it fine on later openings of the Teamwork file (regardless of who opened it last). All those "not found" libraries show up at the bottom of the list, but they are dupes of the libraries that ARE found. We just hit "Done" at that dialog box (it pops up twice when signing in to teamwork). So after the initial setup we do not have to browse for our libraries.

[Anonymous]

We use the same system as John and Weston.
[OOB] libraries on local drive (all with different account names but the same short-name "user").
But the path to the ArchiCad-libraries is the same.

[Macintosh HD : Applications : ArchiCAD 8.1 folder : ArchiCAD Library 8.1]

As long as the HD isn't renamed and the ArchiCad installation is [OOB] there shouldn't be any problem.

Office standard (180 MB)- and project (?MB)-libraries on server is a bit slow but
compared to the waiting times I had before the Terminal stunt it's nothing.
I've never tried satellite libraries as I think it's to complicated to explain and manage for 30 users.
Am I wrong?

I would also like to warn you about .PLA-files, users have saved archive's and later unpacked them with
multiple libraries on the server as a result. Make sure they read from the archive-file.

[Anonymous]

Lasse wrote:
I've never tried satellite libraries as I think it's to complicated to explain and manage for 30 users.
Am I wrong?

I used to use satellites, but their behavior has been erratic over the years, so I have never found a way to standardize their use. In 8.0 they were a nightmare the one time I tried them, and I didn't bother investigating any further.

In 8.1 we have found the network performance adequate and so have just kept everything on the server.

BTW. When I am away from the office I run a file sync program to update the libraries on my laptop. It's easy, quick, and trouble free.

[Anonymous]

Oddly, editing the plist didn't speed anything up here. I am going to try this all out today/tonight if I get the chance.

Since everything is absolute path, I am not sure what advantage there is in accounts using the same short name? Does that keep only a single entry in the Library Manager? Even if it does, I think that may confuse NetInfo settings to my OSX Server... I would consider setting all of hard drive names the same if could simplify the users' experience (we are 13).

I agree that satellites must only be being used by mobile installations. I haven't been able to take advantage of it for in house remote use.

Lasse, Weston and John, we can take this offline if that is easier. I appreciate your input/help. I'll post after I have a chance to test these settings.

[Anonymous]

Matthew, you too if you want. Your post came in while I was crafting mine...

[Anonymous]

Ted wrote:
I would consider setting all of hard drive names the same if could simplify the users' experience (we are 13).

I never quite understood the satellite library concept either. We have 9 users and I can tell you that making sure all of your hard drives and folders on the path to your local libraries will help. We were having problems with the background archicad dropping library parts that seems to be fixed with keeping the path the same on all machines.

[Anonymous]

Millard wrote:

Ted wrote:
I would consider setting all of hard drive names the same if could simplify the users' experience (we are 13).

I never quite understood the satellite library concept either. We have 9 users and I can tell you that making sure all of your hard drives and folders on the path to your local libraries will help. We were having problems with the background archicad dropping library parts that seems to be fixed with keeping the path the same on all machines.

We had the same problem with BGArchiCAD, but it seems to have gone away with the setup of multiple OOB libraries on teamwork files (as described in my previous post). single user .pln files would still have the problem if not opened and saved by the same machine using the lbk.

Regarding HD names and paths, I thought of using the same names, but decided aginst, since our nightly backp system would have a heck of a time figuring ouut where to go, not to mention I could never the difference if I had to retrieve something from the backup tapes (knock on wood).

Wes

[Anonymous]

(off topic + reality check)
Retrospect for backups?

(on topic)
My oob test last night actually yielded better than expected results. Two workstations with a AC9.0 Teamwork model stored on the server. Unique computer names, unique hard drive names. Both workstations had the oob libraries loaded in the default location. At the initial sign-in each browsed to their local copy of the library. From there on out, neither ever was presented with the Library Manager during subsequent sign-ins. I can believe my client-server prejudiced brain never unearthed this solution. I may go out and get a "Phase 3 of 12 progress bar" tattoo as a constant reminder of time lost.

Thank you all very much. I am going to work through permissions/protections and a periodic update strategy, location of project specific library folders, etc.

We are still finding one or two stations that update layout books in PM9 more slowly than other stations in the office. I think this might be similar to BGArchiCAD "dropping library parts", but I haven't made progress on a solution yet.

[Anonymous]

Ted wrote:
(off topic + reality check)
Retrospect for backups?

I've used it for years, as have many of my clients, with no problems. The only thing I don't like is backing up to tape. CD/DVD and hard drive backups are best.

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am expreicing very long delays on save/open dialog boxes in ArchiCAD 9 running under windows xp. This is happening with folders with about 7000 files in and was never a problem with archiCad 7.

Is there some DisableCrossPlatfromMountingFeatures option for windows too?

Thanks,
Adam