NAS Network File Storage and Revit

[cwilrycx.109927]

Hey all, we are considering forgoing a traditional server and moving to WD Sharespace NAS appliance and use Google Premiere in lieu of Exchange. My question is whether or not anyone knows if Revit will have any issue with this type of setup where a server is not present, and instead a networked file storage device is. Any thoughts?

[mmiles]

Our office uses a NAS device, though it is connected to an exchange server. There have been no issues that I am aware of with regard to storing Revit files on it.

[iru69]

A NAS shouldn't be an issue for Revit. Revit reads/writes files like any other application.

You didn't say anything about how many users are going to be accessing the NAS, whether you're regularly using worksharing, project/file sizes, etc. A NAS is basically a very minimal computer - it has a low-powered CPU, RAM and an OS (typically Linux these days) connected to a bunch of hard drives. Consumer-oriented NAS's tend to be slower than dedicated file servers, and their RAID implementations are sometimes suspect. Any more than half a dozen or so Revit users could at times quickly overwhelm a product like this. More than ten users, and I'd suggest looking at a more business-oriented NAS.

Regarding the WD Sharespace specifically, I'm not personally familiar with the product, but I'd suggest you do some further research into the product's reliability and performance. Just a cursory glance at the product suggests to me that it may not be an appropriate product as an office file server.

Also, whatever you do, make absolutely sure you have a solid daily data backup plan in place. That should go without saying, but these kind of RAID storage products sometimes lull users into thinking their data is safe.

I'd be very interested to know how you plan to use Google Premier as a replacement for Exchange? We'd love to dump Exchange, and I have high hopes for Google to come up with a solution, but I haven't seen it yet. But maybe you're only minimally using Exchange features, so it's no great loss.

Good luck!

p.s. - this thread would have been more appropriately placed in the Revit Hardware forum - just something to keep in mind for next time. :beer:

[Mike Sealander]

We have a WD Sharespace in lieu of a server. I think there are some issues with the Sharespace and Windows (like sometimes accessing files can take a lot longer than it should) but Revit doesn't appear to have it's own set of issues.

[JH75]

Hi,
We do have an exchange server but all our files sit on a NAS drive.We have a QNAP- the 4-bay version which is working fine.

Cheers,
J

[cwilrycx.109927]

Hi everyone, and thanks for the replies. We are going to use Google Premiere to replace our e-mail, word processing, transmittal, and spreadsheet applications. We are then paying to have Memeo handle our document management (logos, formatting..etc..) This way we not only dump exchange, we dump Office as well. We use a Mac solution for digital presentations anyway. We also layer in Drop Box and feel very comfortable with all our office needs being pushed to the cloud. Our payroll CRM is going to be Archioffice so there again its web based.....

We are a small office (4 people) and almost always use Work Share, the NAS solution is Gigabit as is our network. Im crossing my fingers.....

[JH75]

Hi.
I know this might not be the right place for this question..
I do think the Google Premiere seems like a good idea (not being an IT professional though) but how does it work if you need to bring a document to work on where there are no internet? Can you download the google apps to work on the document or do you have install openOffice? Assuming you don’t have Microsoft Office as the whole point of using Google is that you can make that redundant :)

Cheers,
J