To Vault or not to Vault... what experiences have people had with using Vault?

[Commissar Rod]

Just wanted to know if anyone has had any very outragous problems with vault.. we are thinking of using it but are not sure if we want to take that step. Also, will Vault work with Autocad LT?

[Robert.Hall]

Vault could be a very useful product.
The problem I have is that I have to get several people in my
office to buy in to using it daily.

If I could push them to use it, I definately would have it setup.
I currently keep all my drawings in a protected user directory.
It would be nice if there was a way to let other designers to
check data files out of my library. It would give me a really
good comfort zone, and I would not have to keep emailing
data to other employees.

[Commissar Rod]

How does licensing for Vault work? Is it by seat or do you "have it" and then anyone in the company can log into it?

[donovan.cox]

How does licensing for Vault work? Is it by seat or do you "have it" and then anyone in the company can log into it?

there is no licensing for the Vault. There is a restriction on where you can install it. It has to be installed with a supported Adesk app, I know Inventor, Acad M, Acad E, and I think AutoCAD, not sure what else is supported.

now if you want to set it on folks who don't use cad, you need to get product stream, i know its licensed per seat, not sure how the licensing is implemented.

One other thing, with vault theres a 10 user limtit, this isn't imposed by Autodesk, but by Microsoft. The limit results in the SQL database that Autodesk uses, basicly the free SQL can only handle about ten connections well, plus has a very firm database limit of 2 GBs. You can eliminate both of those issues by upgrading from MSDE 2000, to a full SQL, either SQL 2000 or SQL 2005

[Commissar Rod]

I can think of at most 9 people who would ever ever use it at my company, so the 10 person restriction would not be a probem. The problem would come from the fact that only 4 of us have an Autodesk Program (other then a dwg or a dwf viewer) so we would need to get seats for them

[madcadder]

there is no licensing for the Vault. There is a restriction on where you can install it. It has to be installed with a supported Adesk app, I know Inventor, Acad M, Acad E, and I think AutoCAD, not sure what else is supported.

now if you want to set it on folks who don't use cad, you need to get product stream, i know its licensed per seat, not sure how the licensing is implemented.

One other thing, with vault theres a 10 user limtit, this isn't imposed by Autodesk, but by Microsoft. The limit results in the SQL database that Autodesk uses, basicly the free SQL can only handle about ten connections well, plus has a very firm database limit of 2 GBs. You can eliminate both of those issues by upgrading from MSDE 2000, to a full SQL, either SQL 2000 or SQL 2005

We're looking into VAULT right now; had our reseller come out for a presentation.

Going the full SQL route is a lot more costly. Plus, the cost of a dedicated box (that probably should be a raid 10).

For a local network there are a lot of programs out there that manage revisions and check-in-check-out. So, Vault may not be the best to fit the bill. (I like the idea of using an adesk product to track adesk output)

For multi-city companies storing in one location this is a great product. Evidently, Vault stores in a manner that lends itself to efficient transfer over the internet. They touted a transfer from Wisconsin to Washington St (something like that) and how fast it was compared to.. But, I don't remember all the details, just the point. It's a lot faster than normal.

[jpostlewait]

Hopefully clearing up some misconceptions.
With Vault 2008 the default install is SQL Express which clears the 10 user limit that either a workstation o/s or MSDE imposed.
I have been a Vault administrator for a year or more and I will say that the product is very stable and works exactly like it is documented.
As far as Vault helping with WAN acceleration that is BS.
While there is additional expense with setting up a dedicated server to host Vault it doesn't necessarily require a Full SQL version to manage the Database.
If your install base is more than a couple users I would definitely recommend taking an in depth look at using Vault.
And get quality training on implementation and use.