Can a BIM Server be set up in the Amazon cloud?

[Eric Bobrow]

Hi Folks -

A colleague and I are starting to work with remote clients on projects, and want to be able to use Teamwork and a BIM Server but NOT have the server on premises. There are a few reasons for this, but mainly we want the theoretical simplicity of a server that is equally accessible to all participants, is not dependent on our physical presence and management, and that can be managed remotely.

It appears that Amazon offers virtual workstations and servers at a reasonable price, and that these can be configured as needed in terms of both hardware specs as well as user-installable software (such as BIM Server).

Has anyone set up a BIM Server using Amazon's cloud services?

Are there any theoretical, practical or Graphisoft licensing issues with regards to using a BIM Server in the cloud?

Any assistance or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Eric Bobrow

[Ed_Brown]

Eric,

There are a few practical considerations. With versions before ArchiCAD 18 an assumption was made that the time to create a TCP connection would seldom exceed 1 second. This is the case for private networks, but wide area networks can have delays that can sometimes push the TCP connection establishment time above 20 seconds. Above 20 seconds the ArchiCAD client assumes the server is offline. Additionally, a TCP connection that is broken will require the client and server to restart the data communication from the start. Over the Internet TCP connections break with more frequency than they do in a private network.

Large data set transfers like a library or a join, might need multiple tries before successful completion when done over the Internet. Where a small project with an optimized library may work superbly for 40 users a larger weight project may be dismal with 1 user. (Note number of users isn't really a concern, it is the project and library size in MBs that matter)

There are other practical considerations. The installer wasn't designed around cloud services; you’re bound to run into a few glitches. Each BIM Server module uses 3 ports, which will need to be opened – not just the http port as is the case for most web servers. The BIM Server’s speed is highly dependent on the speed of access of data. What might be the cost for an acceptable quality of service on storage? What might be the cost of opening ports? What might be the cost per data transfer?

In ArchiCAD 18 we are testing the software in cloud environments. ArchiCAD 18 is prepared to cache data to remote sites to reduce byte transfer costs and work around unreliable network issues.

I’m sure what you want to do can be done. I’m not sure it will perform to your expectations. I believe what you will really want is in ArchiCAD 18…. patience….it will be here soon.

[Eric Bobrow]

Hi Ed -

Thanks for your thoughtful comments.

So far, our tests have gone well and it appears that the BIM Server runs nicely on an Amazon EC2 virtual machine instance. We've had clients test it from several countries with projects of various sizes up to several hundred megabytes I believe.

I want to install the modules for BS16, BS15 and BS14, but am not sure where to find them. I checked www.myarchicad.com and can only gain access for the BS17 installer. While I have in my possession the original install disks from each version of ArchiCAD over the years, I'd prefer to download them to the virtual machine rather than upload them from my workstation.

Can you point me in the right direction for these installation files?

Eric

[Anonymous]

This is exciting for a small office like ours that's increasingly becoming cloud-based with a "work anywhere" mentality.

I'd be particularly interested in Graphisoft taking the AWS install off our hands entirely and just rolling it into the ArchiPlus subscription.

We'd love to see a true competitor to this service: http://www.autodesk.com/products/autodesk-360/overview


Eric, will you be writing about your experience on your site?

[Anonymous]

Hi

Has anyone successfully deployed Archicad software in AWS? If so, which EC2 instance types are you using?

Do you have any tips?

Thanks
Mike

[Eric Bobrow]

Mike -

I did this a few years back, but ran into some reliability issues.
I believe Graphisoft's new BIMcloud technology may make this easier to deploy.

As I recall, I used a fairly basic EC2 instance since the BIM Server does not require a huge amount of horsepower; you can always upgrade the instance later if you need more power.

Eric