BIM Server on Mac Mini Server keeps restarting: ideas?

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone. I recently buried under a tree, all of the PC's I used to facilitate my carbon footprint... I thought a fitting end to them all.

I'm new to Archicad and have a small office with an i-mac, a couple of mini macs and a mini mac server... I now have BIM up and running on the mini-mac server... imho ~ where it rightly belongs.... but the BIM server apparently doesn't play nicely with the other mac server's services and BIM keeps dropping out and restarting.

I'm not going to contaminate my office with the filth of an old PC .... but I really shouldn't have to install a dedicated mac just to run the BIM service should I? I mean.. it's just a file service after all.

Has anyone got a small office BIM up and running on a mac server without dropouts??

Regards
Gaz

[Karl Ottenstein]

Do you have the most recent 14 hotfix downloaded/installed on all machines?

Do any of the steps listed here help:
http://www.archicadwiki.com/Teamwork/BimServerStopsRegularly

Also, MasterScript's idea here:
http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=181602

[Anonymous]

The BIM server is running Build 3636

The macs are running Archicad 14 Build 3636....

However, I just got a pop up note advising of new build 3862.
Maybe that will fix things for me!

thanks

Karl wrote:
Do you have the most recent 14 hotfix downloaded/installed on all machines?

[Anonymous]

gazpacho40 wrote:
Hello everyone. I recently buried under a tree, all of the PC's I used to facilitate my carbon footprint... I thought a fitting end to them all.

I'm new to Archicad and have a small office with an i-mac, a couple of mini macs and a mini mac server... I now have BIM up and running on the mini-mac server... imho ~ where it rightly belongs.... but the BIM server apparently doesn't play nicely with the other mac server's services and BIM keeps dropping out and restarting.

I'm not going to contaminate my office with the filth of an old PC .... but I really shouldn't have to install a dedicated mac just to run the BIM service should I? I mean.. it's just a file service after all.

Has anyone got a small office BIM up and running on a mac server without dropouts??

Regards
Gaz

Just out of curiosity what other server services are you running?

[Anonymous]

The standard suite of services on a mac server include firewall, address book, AFP, SMB, DNS, ical, mobile access, open directory, VPN, SMB, web and mail. I'm running half of those, but really it shouldn't matter... it's not as if I have 100 clients connected.. never more than half a dozen... usually less than 3.

Regardless of the number of clients it seems BIM doesn't like sharing resources and instead of releasing, or time slicing or whatever it is that a server does in that environment, the BIM server sulks, refuses to play nicely and has to be sent to the naughty corner for a time out. It just shuts down and restarts when it feels better.

I've tried the other fixes recommended in previous posts. We'll test it today with the new Build. After that I will start removing the services, one at a time, but frankly, I do not think I should have to.

Gaz

SteveC0013 wrote:
Just out of curiosity what other server services are you running?

[Karl Ottenstein]

gazpacho40 wrote:
TWe'll test it today with the new Build. After that I will start removing the services, one at a time, but frankly, I do not think I should have to.

You shouldn't have to go through that agony. The steps in the Wiki are from tech support. If those do not resolve the issue, maybe it would be best to contact your assigned Graphisoft tech support team directly to help?

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your moral support! However, the recommendation I got from the team at Graphisoft Australia was to set up a dedicated PC just to provide BIM services for my two license office.

That was a rather obvious "solution"... but I'm inclined to think that is a workaround for an underlying deficiency in programming excellence. I was hoping I am wrong and my inclinations are misguided... and the users have prevailed to make it work amicably and sensibly in a typical workplace environment without having to resort to incorporating otherwise redundant hardware.

Gaz

Karl wrote:

You shouldn't have to go through that agony. The steps in the Wiki are from tech support. If those do not resolve the issue, maybe it would be best to contact your assigned Graphisoft tech support team directly to help?

Cheers,
Karl

[Karl Ottenstein]

gazpacho40 wrote:
Thanks for your moral support! However, the recommendation I got from the team at Graphisoft Australia was to set up a dedicated PC just to provide BIM services for my two license office.

You're welcome - but sorry that GS Australia sounds like a lazy bunch. For a two person office, there is no need even for a server - you can install BIM Server on one of your workstations and performance will be just fine.

I'll change the title of this thread to see if more people running an OS X server on a Mac Mini might come to your aid here.

To confirm for sure: you have tried every single step (completely) in this article:
http://www.archicadwiki.com/Teamwork/BimServerStopsRegularly

Cheers,
Karl

[owen]

gazpacho40 wrote:
Has anyone got a small office BIM up and running on a mac server without dropouts??

Yes ... all our small office setups use a Mac Mini Sever as BIM Server. Not sure if there are any tricks to running BIM Server on the same machine as your other OSX Server services - I will get my colleague to contact you or post some tips here.

cheers,

owen

[Rob]

but the BIM server apparently doesn't play nicely with the other mac server's services and BIM keeps dropping out and restarting.

Mate we had the same problem on Leopard and XServe with a grunt... so I do not think it is a MacMini problem. The latest Hotfix#4 did fix it though.