Recommended Hardware for BIMcloud Basic

[Istvan Moharos]

Related version: 2022.1 The following chart contains example specifications for BIMcloud Basic setups based on the number of active users. Note that the load on a BIMcloud Basic does not only depend on this, but also on other factors, such as the size of the projects, usage characteristics or network bandwidth. If you need further help in choosing your hardware for BIMcloud Basic get in touch with your local Graphisoft reseller. In case more BIMcloud Basics are installed on the same computer, make sure to provide enough hardware resources to each instances according to the following specifications.

• System requirements

Specifications for BIMcloud Basic

Firm size	Small	Medium
Users	~2-5 users	~5-25 users
CPU	4+ cores 2.2+ GHz	8+ cores 2.5+ GHz
RAM	8-16 GB	16+ GB
Application disk	SSD	SSD
	NVMe/SATA	NVMe/SATA
	100+ GB of free space above hosted data	100+ GB of free space above hosted data
Database disk (for projects and libraries)	SSD	SSD
	NVMe/SATA	NVMe/SATA
OS	Desktop/Server	Server
	Windows Server 2019  Windows Server 2022 Windows 10  macOS 14	Windows Server 2019  Windows Server 2022

* Make sure to calculate with the size of projects and libraries.

CPU

64-bit CPU with 4 cores or more is recommended.

RAM

8 GB RAM for BIMcloud Basic is strongly recommended. For servers having a high number of active users and projects, consider 16 GB or more RAM. As a more specific calculation, use 2 GB plus 1.5 times as much RAM as the actively used projects' size, which is approximately 4.5 times larger than a PLN (and actively used means used at the same time by Teamwork users). For example, if there is a 1 GB and two 3 GB size projects which are used on the same BIMcloud Basic actively at the same time, then 2 + 1.5 x (1 + 2 x 3) = 12.5 >>> 16 GB RAM is recommended.

Storage

For BIMcloud Basic this is the most important factor, because the operations of the application are highly I/O intensive, which means the BIMcloud Basic has to read and write many database files at the same time really fast. Consider using the fastest possible storage (SSD, RAID solutions etc.). 5 GB free disk space is required for the installation and 10 GB or more is required per active project. Maintain 100 GB of free space for standard operation. Make sure that the disk meets the following conditions:

• Minimum 100 MB/s read AND write speed. For example a SATA SSD is a minimum.
• If the database files (projects, libraries, BlobCache) are stored on a separated disk then the above mentioned speed must be able to handled by the connecting cable. For example, if the disk is an external disk which is connected with a common 1 Gbit Ethernet cable, it can handle circa 125 MB/s. Divided it into two parts (read+write) means the cable can handle 62 MB/s read and write speed maximum, which is NOT enough for the proper operation of BIMcloud Basic.
• The disk must be started and mounted before BIMcloud Basic starts.
• In case of external disks, the disk must have an own power supply. For example, getting power through an USB cable is NOT recommended.

[wjakubowski]

Hi,
I've got question about CPU. Is Singlethread important , as for Archicad or not? 
Should we go for Xeon of f.e. Ryzen/I.x?
Thanks in advance.