Private BIMcloud server - access from anywhere (NO VPN needed)

[Algimantas Kuprenas]

Hi,

I made video tutorial about how You can host and run BIMcloud basic server on VPS (Virtual Private Server) that can be accessed from any place in the world without need of VPN. Hopefully it will help to start Your own BIMcloud servers

Video tutorial:

[Anonymous]

What a great video, seems like an interesting idea. I have couple of employees who are living in their houses in Cannes and this server can be a great solution for our work. I will discuss it with our IT department and maybe we will install it eventually. Thank you for a good idea.

[Marton Kiss]

Algimantas wrote:
Hi,

I made video tutorial about how You can host and run BIMcloud basic server on VPS (Virtual Private Server) that can be accessed from any place in the world without need of VPN. Hopefully it will help to start Your own BIMcloud servers

Hi Algimantas,

first of all thank you very much for posting this video. Such in depth tutorials are quite helpful for anyone who wants to get things started.

Your video covers a few essential steps on how to get started, but I think there are several other factors that need to be considered for a production setup:
- resources: the example shows a very basic setup with a 2 core CPU, 4 GBs of RAM and 80 GB of SSD. This is quite enough for the installation itself and to share/upload a couple of small projects, but surely won't be enough for productions workloads. A few example configurations: https://helpcenter.graphisoft.com/knowledgebase/64443/
- monitoring: running out of resources can significantly hinder the teamwork performance in ARCHICAD and running out of disk space can even result in data corruption. So the best practice is to monitor at least the CPU, RAM usage and the disk space, allowing ample of headroom.
- security: accessing a server over the Internet (WAN) poses a great security risk, so it is critically important to apply encryption on the communication. Without that, sensitive BIM data might be exposed to unwanted audiences. Depending on the confidentiality level of the hosted projects this needs to be carefully considered. The two most typical methods for encryption on the communication level are HTTPS - by adding reverse proxies in front of the setup - or VPN - channeling all traffic through and encrypted channel
- data safety: it is highly recommended to configure a backup for your data for situations where the unexpected happens

All of these factors require a quite a bit of IT expertise and require additional components. Both of these influence the overall cost of the chosen solution, so take that into consideration when looking for the best alternative.

From the GRAPHISOFT perspective we recommend the following solutions to have access to a BIMcloud that is available over the internet:
- involve our local GRAPHISOFT teams and channel into the conversation to get help in designing and implementing a setup that meets your needs/requirements and is supported by us
- consider BIMcloud as a Service, where we - GRAPHISOFT - take care all of these for you. You can sign up for BIMcloud as a Service for a monthly/yearly fee. (due to the COVID situation currently we have a special offer: https://www.graphisoft.com/covid-19/ )

Stay safe,
Marton

[Algimantas Kuprenas]

Hi Marton,

Agree with you about safety, my video is just to show possibilities in this case you are in control of everything

Marton, maybe you know if BIMcloud is planned to be made for Linux Terminals ? Would be very nice to have This way BIMcloud host need less computer power requirements, computer resources would be used out more efficiently and more stable.

[Noemi Balogh]

Algimantas wrote:
Hi Marton,

Agree with you about safety, my video is just to show possibilities in this case you are in control of everything

Marton, maybe you know if BIMcloud is planned to be made for Linux Terminals ? Would be very nice to have This way BIMcloud host need less computer power requirements, computer resources would be used out more efficiently and more stable.

Sorry, we are not planning to support Linux at the moment. Most of our users are working in Windows / macOS environment at the moment, and many of them are not IT professionals.

On the other hand, future is ahead of us - would you believe a few months ago that GRAPHISOFT will host BIMcloud as a Service? Maybe one day we will even support Linux.

(Yeah, this one is definitely not a hint. Just didn't want to kill the party.)

[Algimantas Kuprenas]

I made this video because we used very pour BIMcloud service provider for hundreds of USD per month - Medium bandwith, ~3users, 10projects, 100 GB data. So I was in need to find better cost/performance solution. BIMcloud on VPS works very fast, upload/download much better, still nothing hacked it What I'am afraid of that Graphisoft one day will not release BimCloud basic (Free version) and Game for people like us will be over, we need to buy services from others

[Laszlo Nagy · Accepted solution]

I would not worry that much, BIMcloud (previously named BIM Server) has been on the market for about 10 years and there was always a free version.
And if you worry now, that won't change anything that may or may not happen in the future. So, don't worry.

[mikas]

A clip from 2020.2 BimCloud license agreement:
"4. LICENSE PARAMETERS
The license granted by this Agreement is subject to the License Parameters defined hereinafter:

BIMcloud offers both free and paid features: The collection of free features is called BIMcloud Basic, the paid version is called BIMcloud.

BIMcloud Basic - Free License
* BIMcloud Basic requires a one -time activation of the installed BIMcloud Manager using a valid GRAPHISOFT ID of the customer.
* The Software enables You to install the following software product together:
BIMcloud Manager
BIMcloud Server

* Special Conditions: BIMcloud Basic’s usage is limited to local area networks (LAN / VPN). Using BIMcloud Basic over wide area networks (WAN / Internet) is strictly forbidden. BIMcloud Basic can be installed on on-premise hardware only. BIMcloud Basic is not allowed to be installed on / operated from cloud based virtual computers. All End Users who activated any versions of BIMcloud Basic prior to July 1, 2020 (“Existing End Users”) are exempted from the Special Provisions contained in the present paragraph until July 1, 2021 and these Special Provisions shall not apply to Existing End Users until July 1, 2021 even if the Existing End User activates additional BIMcloud Basics during the transitional time period between July 1, 2020 and July 1, 2021.
* These components must be installed on the same computer.
* BIMcloud Basic can work with a single ARCHICAD version only, which must be selected during the configuration process and cannot be changed later.
* If you wish to work with more than one ARCHICAD version, then multiple BIMcloud Basics can be installed on the same (or different) computer(s)
* The software will allow you to use only the free features provided with the BIMcloud Basic.
* GRAPHISOFT reserves the right to modify BIMcloud Basic's free feature set including adding new features or removing features which were previously free.
* You may connect an unlimited number of Clients at any time to a BIMcloud Basic
* BIMcloud Basic can be upgraded to a paid BIMcloud to enable all free and paid features, see BIMcloud license"

What does that mean to this kind of VPS solution, and for accessing BimCloud Basic from road, over the internet (BimCloud Basic with public IP address)?