Possible BIM Server performance decrease on Mac mini

[Anonymous]

Affected version(s): BIM Server 19 Build 8000 and BIM Server 20 Build 5011 | Severity: workaround applicable | ID: 204281

Issue

With the new BIM Server updates (BIM Server 19 8000, BIM Server 20 5011) there may be a decrease in performance on Mac based legacy hardware such as the Mac mini and other Mac servers using 5400/7200 RPM hard drives. The performance issues can affect most Teamwork operations, such as Send & Receive, Reserve, Release, Share, Join, etc...

Macs with SSD's or enterprise hard disks will not be affected.

Cause

In this Update we made changes to reduce the number of possible BIM Server database corruptions by increasing the durability of the BIM Server. We discovered that sometimes macOS/OS X would not write BIM Server database files onto these hard drives correctly. This could happen mainly if the BIM Server didn't stop properly before OS updates and because of hardware failures or power outages.

To achieve a more robust BIM Server, we ensured that all modified data are actually written to the disk physically on a database commit. This results in more tasks for the hard drives, which in case of legacy 5400/7200 RPM HDD's can result in Teamwork operation performance drops.

Solution

• Replace the HDD with an SSD and the BIM Server will perform much better.
• Accept slowdown with the new updates but benefit from the stability improvements.
• Remain on the latest build that doesn't include this change (BIM Server 19 7006, BIM Server 20 4017).

  If you keep using the earlier builds we recommend manually stopping the BIM Server before applying any macOS/OS X updates.