Ideal Workgroup Referencing Strategies

[Markus Dohner]

I'm trying to find the optimum way to deploy WR for a small architectural design firm. Using VW12.5 and Windows. Would it be a good idea to use a server for this? That way all the reference master files are an a central machine, not on an employees? What are the things I should look out for (and utilize) in version 12.5 workgroup referencing. Is it more reliable? I remember past versions of WR were a little flaky.

Thanks for the help-Markus Dohner, Chicago

[Christiaan]

You'd ideally want them on a server if you want more than one person working on the project, yes. I find WGR quite robust these days.

[ptarmigan]

Can s.o explain what a Vectorworks fileserver is ?

On a Mac OSX small office network, let's say you have two Macs joined up w ethernet cables. You have to use something like Sharepoints to get old-style file sharing going. It'll enable you to mount another Mac's folders on another Mac and access the contents. So you open up a file located on the other Mac using the copy of VW on the Mac which you're using.

Is there another piece of sw namely "Vectorworks file server" or is the scenario above the whole story ?

ptarmigan

[Christiaan]

There's no VW file server. Either you have a dedicated server or you share files from a client machine.

[ptarmigan]

thanks

and since you seem to know what you're talking about and I've never "got my head round" this stuff.. what is a "dedicated server" ?

Is it just a pc/Mac on the a network on whose HD files are stored?

Do users of the client pcs/Macs simply open up the files stored on the server using "local" copies of VW ?

This model, presumably, doesn't allow two clients to access the same file simultaneously except through WGR..

Does a "dedicated server" run special software to "serve files" ?

Is that much more than the built-in sharing facility that OSX has for example ?

ptarmigan

[Christiaan]

what is a "dedicated server" ?

A computer dedicated to serving files as opposed to a computer that's used as a desktop and and a file server.

Is it just a pc/Mac on the a network on whose HD files are stored?

yeap

Do users of the client pcs/Macs simply open up the files stored on the server using "local" copies of VW ?

yeap

This model, presumably, doesn't allow two clients to access the same file simultaneously except through WGR..

No, file servers do not generally allow for simultaneous access. Neither for that matter does WGR. WGR just allows you to reference one file into another.

Does a "dedicated server" run special software to "serve files" ?

Yes, and so does a desktop which is serving files too. On Mac OS X this software is built in to both the desktop and server versions.

Is that much more than the built-in sharing facility that OSX has for example ?

Yeah Mac OS X Server allows for more connections and more control and a dedicated server can concentrate on serving files and not be at risk from crashing or interruptions because of any desktop software being used.

[islandmon]

Check out Subversion ... this may be the answer:

http://subversion.tigris.org/

[wezelboy]

Note:

Most networking file systems do what is called "write locking". This essentially means that whoever opens a write filehandle first can write to it. Everyone else can just read it.

When you open a file in VW, it always tries to open a write handle and if it fails, you get a message that you will only be able to read.