Steve wrote:
Is anyone else having this issue?
Encountered it on multiple occasions for as long as BIM server 2.0 (Delta server) exists.
This is by far the most annoying error message of BIM server.
It has to do with loss of communication with BIM server due to:
1. bad Internet connection (WAN). Bad means loss of packets, not speed. You can have a very stable, but slow connection and everything will work fine, or you can have a very fast connection that looses packets and the error will happen. Your system administrator will know more.
2. due to all RAM being consumed on the BIM server machine (both, LAN and WAN). Rather simple. No RAM — switching to slow drives... virtual memory kicks in... bad idea.
Without too much tech stuff, if the connection is bad or RAM is gone, BIM server will struggle to check objects in and out (Delta server activity). When this happens, project database will get out of sync as states of object updates will be different on remote server (BIM server) and local machines causing this error to appear.
Prior to AC19 this message meant terminal damage to the project and the need to reshare it using the last/best available copy.
With AC19 it became better.
If the issue was Internet connection-related a few subsequent send/receive requests cleared the error (if connection got better, of course). Turning off any network hogs like downloads, movies, video conferencing or, god forbid —games, always helps.
If the issue was RAM-related server reboot was required (entire server, not just BIM server application). Reboot does not help for long, though, as RAM issue is terminal and when you are running a very RAM hungry BIM server with no empty RAM slots — it is time to move to distributed project hosting — BIM Cloud.
With AC19, the worst case scenario with this error was cleared by force-quitting affected accounts from the project (local loss of data for the affected accounts) and asking them to reconnect (administrator's rights are required for force quitting people). No terminal damage was recorded to any of AC19 projects as opposed to previous AC versions.
I have no info on AC20 yet, though.
In short. Get the best and the most stable (packet loss) connection to the server and have your sys admin monitor server's vitals from time to time to see if there is enough RAM in the box.
I would also monitor network activity to make sure there are no processes that take all the bandwidth.
Having a good connection and enough RAM largely mitigates this error.
The error will still happened to specific users as they get connected through bad connection (can't eliminate all unreliable connections), but force-quititng them solves the issue without reshaping the project (at list since AC19).
General project organization always helps too. Well-organized and well-cared for BIM server projects see little of these errors. Large unwieldy monster projects with little to no checks-and-balances related to project structure, library, object and texture management will see more of these errors.
