Revit Server 2013 - Connection with a Partner Firm
Since January, our firm in Kentucky has been using Revit Server 2013 to connect with our partner firm in Oregon to complete a healthcare project using consultant firms from across the country. We met with Autodesk toward the end of last year to discuss the type of connection that we desired and to get suggestions on how to go about setting up this type of connection.
Autodesk suggested that we either use Buzzsaw to maintain a connection to eachother's models, or to use Riverbed to accelerate the connection between our servers. They suggested NOT using a VPN connection to maintain a connection due to the long distance of connection and the lag time associated with the distance. Obviously both of these solutions are an added expense that we were trying to avoid. They offered no support in setting up RS 2013 because "we have very very little experience in this type of direct connection and cannot provide adequate assistance because of this" and cited a few ways that the RS to RS connection had been made using Riverbed or Amazon servers, but no direct RS to RS connections.
We ultimately ended up virtualizating our server and directly connecting our servers together with no riverbed, buzzsaw etc. We are now working in the same revit model (firm responsibilities are broken into Core&Shell and interior fit-out) with no hitches and very, very minimal lag times. We can cite #s and ping times to any that are interested in the nitty gritty.
My question to the forum is: Are there other firms out there that are connecting with partner firms in this type of manner, with no additional hardware or software to aid the connection?
Thank you in advance for your replies and comments. Please feel free to ask any questions that you may have, as this post is an initial introduction to my overall data gathering period. Thank you again.
Chris Fredi
EOP Architects
Re: Revit Server 2013 - Connection with a Partner Firm
A few years back we set up a nifty little method to share files that put us close. We had One firm doing the exterior, one firm doing the lab planning, one firm doing the interiors, 2 different firms doing the structural (In different locations) and I think 4 MEP firms that were also on board. While we weren't working in the same central file on the outside firms, it was very important to the team that we somehow maintain current files so we could see (In just about real time) where there problems were and where the clashes were.
Each firm setup an Rsync to copy deltas from their own central files to a duplicate central file on our FTP site. At the same time we set up an rsync to look for any deltas on files on the FTP site and overwrite the file on our server. So in a sense each office was only able to work on their model as changes to models they didn't own would be overwritten by the rsync from the ftp site.
We had this set up to run every 15 min. So every 15 min, our current model would be sent out to the ftp site (We were using our FTP site kind of like a cloud) and any updated models would be pushed from the ftp site back to the server.
Cost involved..... a lot of thinking to figure out how to write the scripts and set up permissions to ensure Rsync would work. That's it. We didn't spend money on hardware, or other services. (but I should mention we have a fiber connection to the outside world.
On our current projects we've been playing with this method along with Revit Sever, but RS has some limitations that I don't like. It's also expensive. And after you get it, you're not done. Now they're talking you need to have Citrix on top of that.
Re: Revit Server 2013 - Connection with a Partner Firm
Chris,
We have recently done something very similar with 2014 and are just getting started with a couple new projects. Although we are not as geographically separated as you (Colorado & Missouri). I am not aware, at the moment, of the details of the hardware involved in our configuration. I see its been 8 months since you first posted this. How has the project progressed?
Neil Osher