CAD Manager's Guide to Autodesk Vault Brian Schanen, Manufacturing Product Manager MasterGraphics, Inc. Brian Roepke, Product Manager - Autodesk, Inc.

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1 November 30 December 3, 2004 Las Vegas, Nevada CAD Manager's Guide to Autodesk Vault Brian Schanen, Manufacturing Product Manager MasterGraphics, Inc. Brian Roepke, Product Manager - Autodesk, Inc. MA11-1 Autodesk Vault is a true client/server environment that allows you to manage Autodesk Inventor data and all other related design data in a controlled manner. Learn how to better manage Autodesk Inventor files with the integrated Autodesk Vault. In this session, you ll learn concepts such as Vault implementation, configuration, and administration. We'll outline various Vault configuration scenarios, from a single user working on a small assembly to large teams working on assemblies composed of thousands of parts. Other topics include design collision avoidance, updating concurrent designs, and personal design workspaces. We'll also cover the Autodesk Inventor Project file environment and its relation to Vault. Other topics include performance tuning, working with libraries, data management techniques, and working with Microsoft SQL Server This course is designed for companies that have Vault installed and ones that are considering implementing Vault. About the Speaker: Brian is manager of the Manufacturing Group at MasterGraphics. He has worked with large corporations to implement mechanical solutions, specializing in Autodesk Inventor and Autodesk Vault. Brian has taught numerous classes in Autodesk Mechanical Desktop, Autodesk Inventor, and Autodesk Vault. His formal studies include mechanical and machine tool design. Prior to joining MasterGraphics, Brian worked as a journeyman machinist and as a CAD manager/designer. He is a recognized expert, instructor, and consultant in the field of Mechanical CAD and Data Management. Brian is both an Autodesk Inventor Certified Expert and Autodesk Manufacturing Solutions Implementation Certified Expert. Brian.schanen@masterg.com

2 The Vault Environment The vault is a true client server environment that allows users to manage their Autodesk Inventor data as well as all other related design data in a controlled manner. One of the keys to understanding how to work with the vault and the general use of the vault is to understand the way data is moved from the clients to the server. Figure 1 - "Client / Server" Vault Environment The above figure shows how clients are connected to a central, common server where the master data is stored. When files are added to the Vault, the data is then considered owned by the vault. When a user wants to work on a particular file, the data is then checked out by a user for editing. When the user is finished editing the data, the changes are checked in, updating the server and making the data available to the other users. Another key to understanding the vault is that at any time, while another user is editing a file or not, you may have a copy of any file from the vault on your local machine. These files that are copied locally are just that, copies of the data and the master is still kept in the vault. These files are initially set to be read-only by the system. When you check out files, the read only flag is removed and the files are available for editing. The read-only setting acts as the first line of defense for the user when attempting to edit a file that isn t already checked out. Because the file is read only, the operating system won t allow you to save edits to the file, therefore alerting you that you have to check it out first. Check In / Check Out One of the core functions of the vault is its ability to lock, or reserve, files that are in the vault to a single specific user. This allows you to be confident that the files you are working on are not going to be edited or changed by other users while you are working on them. This functionality in the vault is known as check in and check out. This ability is fundamental to the vault and allows you to avoid the last saved wins situations that are so common when working in a networked environment with Windows Explorer. 2

3 It is also important to understand that when working with the vault, you do not have to check out all files that you currently have open. It is possible to only check out the files that you actually want to edit, while maintaining a read-only copy of the rest of the dataset on your local computer. After you are finished making changes to your designs or simply want to save an updated version of the file to the vault, you can check the file in. Checking In a file transfers an exact copy of the last saved version back to the vault and removes the lock on the file. This process doesn t overwrite the last version that was checked into the vault, but actually stores a new version of the file making sure that you can always retrieve a copy of any other version at any time. Centralize Storage One of the biggest benefits to implementing the vault is organization. Users can feel safe that when they browse the vault, it is the location of their master files as well as the location of the latest version of their files. The vault provides a single source of data. In addition to working with Autodesk Inventor and AutoCAD Mechanical files, you can manage any other file you have though the use of the Autodesk Vault Explorer. This means that all of your related engineering documentation can easily be managed, shared, and version controlled along with you Autodesk Inventor designs. Indexing Indexing is a very important part of the vault. Indexing refers to the way the data that is extracted from the files is cataloged for efficient use. The indexing in the vault works similar to popular search engine technologies like Google and Alta Vista, allowing them to find millions of web pages in a matter of seconds. The vault indexes all of the textual data from files, allowing the vault to handle massive quantities of data while still maintaining its performance. In addition to indexing Autodesk Inventor files, the vault is also able to index content from Microsoft office documents as well as others. The most important aspect of the vault indexing technology is its ability to automatically adapt to new properties that are added to files or when new file types are added to the vault. When the vault finds a new file type, it instantly adds it to the system and makes it available for searching or display in a column. Version Control One of the key benefits of the vault is its ability to automatically version control files, with the understanding of any related files that are required in order to rebuild the data set. A perfect example of this in terms of Autodesk Inventor is the drawing file (*.idw) and its associated part file (*.ipt). In order for the drawing to be complete, the two files must exist as a perfect, matched pair. The vault automatically tracks these files and their relationships making them available whenever they are needed in the future. Traditionally, you might do one or more of the following to save past versions of your designs: Print a hard copy of a drawing, Save a complete copy of your design into alternate folders, Archive your data into zip files or onto CDs. All of these methods are manual, time consuming, and prone to error. Since the vault automatically tracks the appropriate relationships and versions, having to perform one of these manual steps isn t necessary. When you need a past version of data, all you need to do is retrieve 3

4 it from the vault. The files, plus any associated files, are automatically retrieved from the vault exactly as they were when they were originally checked in. Autodesk Vault for Autodesk Inventor Autodesk Vault is integrated into the Autodesk Inventor user interface allowing you to perform nearly all of your file management and vaulting tasks without ever leaving the Autodesk Inventor environment. From adding files to the vault, to checking them into the vault after changes are complete, the vault browser is a central location for working with your files, in relation to the vault. Another key to the browser is its ability to display the status of each file via an icon. This allows you to see any of the following states: Files that are new and not yet added to the vault. Files that are currently checked out to you. Files that are checked out to anther user. Files that are newer or older than the last version checked into the vault. These icons allow you to constantly be informed as to the current state of the data you are working with. Figure 2 - Vault for Autodesk Inventor 4

5 Autodesk Vault for AutoCAD Mechanical Autodesk Vault integrates into the AutoCAD Mechanical environment using the AutoCAD Vault ARX. The Vault is accessed from a pull down menu, command line, or toolbar within AutoCAD Mechanical, allowing you to check files in and out from within the application, and also keep track of attachments to the files. Similar to the Autodesk Inventor interface, you can perform most of your file management tasks without leaving the AutoCAD Mechanical user interface. This is achieved through the Xref Manager. Inside the Xref Manager you can: Check in and check out AutoCAD Mechanical files from Vault. Perform Xref commands such as Reload, Detach, Bind, and Open. Determine the Status of vaulted dwg files. Attach from Vault to share and reuse dwg data. Figure 3 - Autodesk Vault for AutoCAD (M, MDT and Vanilla) 5

6 Autodesk Vault Explorer The Vault Explorer is a stand-alone application that runs alone side of Autodesk Inventor or simply by itself and allows for a complete view of the data that is within the vault. The vault explorer is organized like Windows Explorer or Microsoft Outlook with a folder tree on the left and the list of associated files on the right. The vault explorer however is different form working with a standard file system. When browsing the vault via Autodesk Vault Explorer, you are essentially looking at a virtual file system that only exists in the vault and not anywhere that is on disk. Because the vault requires a secure username and password to access it, your data is safe from unauthorized access, preventing unwanted change. In addition to providing access to the virtual file system, Autodesk Vault Explorer also offers the ability to search for files based on any combination of criteria, view Where Used information about designs, giving you the ability to make an informed decision on change as well as the ability to manage any non Autodesk Inventor files that you have on your system. Figure 4 - Autodesk Vault Explorer (3.5) 6

7 Where-Used Figure 5 - Where Used The Where Used capability in the vault is fast and extensive. Autodesk Vault allows you to see any related files either directly related or related through any number of higher-level parents. A benefit of the Where Used capability over the Autodesk Inventor Design Assistant is its ability to perform the where used throughout the entire vault, not just the scope of the current project. This means that files such as standard parts from your company s library that are used over and over again throughout many assemblies, presentations, and drawings can be accurately investigated and changed when needed. Rename Wizard for Inventor Renaming files with Autodesk Inventor is traditionally a very painful task. There are a couple of ways to go about it: Design Assistant Can be cumbersome and difficult to use. When there are many files located over a network, the performance (due to the brute force nature ) can be horrendous. Windows Explorer Rename the file on disk, open it in Inventor and fix any broken references. This method can be very dangerous and time consuming. With Autodesk Vault 3 you have the ability to rename file with a simple wizard interface. The Rename Wizard lists all parent file dependencies and updates these references as needed. Often times, in Top Down Assembly modeling, components are created with generic name for prototype purposes (Part1.ipt, Part2.ipt,etc.) This can be a huge time saver and, alone is worth the price of admission for anyone who needs to rename their Inventor files for tasks such as release to production (rename from name to part number, etc ) Note: Files being renamed as well as all related files must be checked into the vault before renaming. 7

8 Basic and Advanced Searching Figure 6 - Rename Wizard Leveraging the Indexing technology, the vault is able to search through the many versions of files in an extremely fast manner. The Basic tab performs a text string search on properties in the vault. The Advanced tab searches for specific patterns within the entire vault based on any criteria. Typically, advanced searching involves compound criteria such as iparts I have modified this month that are made out of steel but not stainless steel. The vault s searching provides a significant advantage over searching for files via the standard Windows Search interface or the Design Assistant. 8

9 Figure 7 - Advanced Find with Vault Attachments Attachments in the vault allow you to manually associate any two or more documents together. Attaching one file to another established an associated link between the files within Vault. This association appears both in the Where Used and Uses tabs when the files are selected. Attachments can be anything from design specifications to ECO s for an assembly to something less design specific like a work order. Being able to attach, or link, these files together allows you to know what the attached documents are related to, as well as giving you the ability to control the actual versions of these documents while the associated designs go through change. Note: Attaching and detaching files from another file in the vault creates a new version of the file. 9

10 Figure 8 - Vault Attachments Attaching documents is not limited to Autodesk Inventor designs, you can relate any two or more documents together and track the dependencies similar to your design data. Often times, Inventor files have non-cad files linked to them through the Inventor interface (xls parameter spreadsheet,.ipa FEA file). Upon adding the files to Autodesk Vault, these files will be automatically attached with a parent-child like relationship. There is no need to establish a manual attachment. Attachments are used to establish a parent-child relationship between an Autodesk Inventor Drawing (.idw), Part (.ipt), or Assembly (.iam) and an associated DWF file. In this scenario, each time the Inventor file is checked back into Vault with changes, a new DWF file is published out to a Project specified folder. This enables users outside of the scope of the Vault to view non-stale upto-date viewable images of Vaulted data. Figure 9 - DWF Attachment 10

11 Pack-and-Go Autodesk Vault additionally provided the ability to pack-and-go a design right from the vault. Pack and go will take either all children or all related files (drawings and presentations) and collect them into a single location that can be used to send to external sources or potentially archive. In addition to working like the familiar pack and go with Inventor, the Vault brings the ability to pack and go both pervious versions of a design and the ability to pack and go to a Zip file. Figure 10 - Pack and Go from Vault 11

12 Using Autodesk Vault with a Single Inventor Project Proper setup of Autodesk Vault structure is critical to a successful and flexible vault. The following steps outline one way to integrate Autodesk Vault within your organization without the overhead and complexity of multiple Inventor project files. This method is the most simple and most robust way to set up your vault environment for use with Inventor while continuing to offer a high level of freedom and flexibility. With the single project file configuration you gain: Simplicity - With a single project, you use the same project file for every design in your environment. This keeps you from having to remember what project file to use with which dataset. You also benefit from having a single common location for all of your data. Reduced Resolution Failures - Inventor can automatically search for any missing files throughout your entire data set. This greatly reduces the number of times you need to manually locate missing files. Increased Design Reuse - Greatly simplify the reuse of other data from your vault. Using this method, any data in the vault can be reused in any assembly by using the Place from Vault command. This method prevents you from having to ever worry about adding a library path or copying a file from another project. Step 1: Set Up Your Environment Typically with Inventor, you create a new Inventor Project File (*.ipj) that is unique for each job you are working on. In this scenario, you create a new folder for each design, not a new project file. In the example, we use sample data and a test vault. After you are comfortable with your configuration, you can apply this same practice to your actual design data. 1. Open Vault Manager. On the left side of the window, right-click Vaults. Create a vault called Test. Click OK. 2. Open Windows Explorer. Create a folder under C:\ called Work. This is where all work on Inventor parts will be performed. In addition, create two new folders underneath Work called Content Center Files and Designs. These folders will store all of your design data. 12

13 3. Open Autodesk Inventor and the Project Editor. Click the New button at the bottom and step through the wizard to create a new Vault Project. 4. Enter Designs for the project name and set the Project Workspace location to C:\Work\Designs. 13

14 5. Click Finish to create the project file. 6. Double-click Designs.ipj to activate it and make it the default project. 7. Open Vault Explorer. Log into the vault named Test. Note that the vault is empty and the working folder has not been set. Right-click on the $ folder and then select Set Working Folder. Browse to C:\Work. 8. Right-click the $ folder and select New Folder. Enter Designs and click OK. Make sure the folder name you type matches the folder name in Windows Explorer exactly. Create a Library Folder called Content Center Files. Once again, make sure the name you enter is exactly the same as the name of the folder you created earlier. You now have the starting structure in Vault Explorer for adding Inventor documents. Note: $/Designs in Vault Explorer is equal to C:\Work\Designs in Windows Explorer. The structure inside and outside the vault must match. 14

15 Step 2: Add Data to the Vault 1. Now you are ready to add files from inside Inventor. For this example, use the assembly sample models that install with Inventor. In Windows Explorer, copy the entire group of folders under C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Inventor 9\Samples\Models\Assemblies to C:\Work\Designs. Notice that we didn t bring the original project file to our new location. We are going to rely on the new project file we created earlier. 2. Open Inventor and open the Project Editor. 3. Right-click on Frequently Used Subfolders and select Add Paths from Directory. Browse to C:\Work\Designs and click OK. Frequently used sub folders will help you quickly navigate to each of your new project folder instead of using an individual *.ipj for each project. 15

16 4. Open the ARBOR PRESS drawing from under the Arbor Press shortcut under Frequently Used Subfolders. In this example, this drawing is our top level file and can be used to add the entire assembly to the vault. 5. Save your assembly. This step is very important since the files were moved. When you move files, you can potentially change the way that Inventor resolves related files. Saving these changes now prevents other users who access this data from the vault from having issues with opening the files. 6. The next step is to specify where the vault stores these files. From the File menu, select Vault > Map Folders and map the two paths to their corresponding folders we created in the vault earlier. This step only needs to be done once. After this is complete, every other user that works with the vault leverages this same information. Click OK to save your changes. 7. In Autodesk Inventor, switch to the Vault browser 16

17 8. The question mark icons in the Vault browser indicate the files are not in the Vault yet. Right-click anywhere in the Vault browser and select Add Files. 9. The Add Files dialog box is displayed. Note how the vault is displaying the proper folder structure, including the Arbor Press folder. Add any comments as necessary: e.g., Initial Add to Vault, and click OK to copy your files to the vault. 10. Open, or switch to Vault Explorer and click the $ folder. On the toolbar, click Refresh to see the newly added files and folders. 17

18 11. The ARBOR PRESS drawing and all of its children have been added to the Vault. More importantly, the structure has been preserved. Note the creation of the Engine subfolder under $/Designs. 12. Repeat this with each design or Project as needed. Step 3: Share Data with Other Users The next step is to get all of the other users up and running with the vault. For each user, follow these steps: 1. On each user s computer, create a working folder. It is always easiest to use the same folder for every computer; however, this is not required. 2. Using Vault Explorer, set the working folder of the $ folder in the vault to the newly created folder. 3. Have each user use the Get Latest Version command on the Designs.ipj file from the vault. Note that the proper directly structure (e.g. C:\Work\Designs) is automatically be created. 4. Open Inventor and set the Designs.ipj file to be the current active project file in Inventor. 5. Have the users use the Open from Vault command in Inventor to start working on their designs. Additional Notes Adding additional Inventor files using the Single Project Method involves creating sub folders under C:\Work\Designs and placing the new Inventor files there. In general, open the top level document and ensure it loads and resolves successfully. Upon adding files to populate the vault, always verify the structure before adding the files. It is important that you understand that you will rely less on Windows Explorer and more on Vault Explorer daily to work with Inventor files outside of Inventor. Windows Explorer will still play a minor role in file management when working with Inventor and Vault, but you will end up using it less and less. Your working folder (C:\Work) should be considered a temporary folder for storing files. When you are finished working on a design and you have added the files and folders to the vault, you can clean up your working folder by deleting the files and folders from your workspace. Using Inventor Libraries with Autodesk Vault There are different philosophies regarding the setup and creation of Libraries in respect to Autodesk Inventor and Autodesk Vault. The concept of a library with Inventor and the vault is to have a single, standardized source of common components. Having a library can also help promote design reuse of standard parts. This document covers two different methods in setting up libraries, each method having its own pros and cons; the one you choose depends on a couple of things: how you define a library component at your company and the frequency of change of library components. It is important to note, regardless of which method you choose within this document, you will still achieve a single source for your standard components. 18

19 Libraries as a Simple Folder The first method we are going to discuss is basically to not use traditional libraries in the vault. This method will provide the most flexibility moving forward with very little downside. It is strongly suggested that this method is considered when using the Autodesk Vault. Ultimately, The scenario you choose depends on a couple of things: how you define a library component at your company, and the frequency of change of library components. A library can be composed of anything you design. They can be parts, assemblies or even non-cad files, such as standards and documentation. When creating your libraries of components, some of these may come in the form of iparts (iparts are Autodesk Inventor s method of creating a family of parts ). While iparts are typically seen as library components, for example a tabulated Socket Head Cap Screw, often times they go through change as new configurations are added, removed, or modified. Having ipart Factories and their ipart Members included in an Inventor library can often lead to an inflexible workflow as Inventor treats them as if they were read-only, preventing you from making the needed modifications. For this method we are going to be working in the same Inventor Project file configuration as the Using Autodesk Vault with a Single Inventor Project. Only this time we will be adding an additional Simple Folder for our libraries. 1. Using Windows Explorer, create a new folder called Libraries under in the same folder as your Inventor Project file. Note: The underscore at the front of the name is an optional technique that allows the folder to appear at the top of your folder list at all times. 2. Next, open Autodesk Inventor and the project editor. Here we want to add a new Frequently Used Subfolder for our libraries. This will help us navigate to the new library folder when we are working within Autodesk Inventor. Note: You may need to check out the project file to make these changes. 19

20 When working with ipart factories and Inventor libraries you have the ability to define what is known as proxy paths. This is a function unique to Inventor Libraries paths and is not needed in this workflow. Generated ipart children will be created in a subfolder of the iparts folder. The name of the subfolder will be the name of the ipart factory. 3. Next you will want to place ipart parent files into a subdirectory under the Libraries folder. Open an Inventor assembly and place several iparts. Choose from the list of children and place the parts. 4. Add the Inventor assembly to the Vault. Note the directory structure using simple library folders. 5. Open Vault Explorer and expand the Libraries folder. Note that Vault replicated the hierarchy from Windows Explorer, including the ipart child subfolders. 6. Right-click the Assembly and Get Latest. The Library components will be copied to the workspace when using Simple Folder scenario. 20

21 Pros: 1. ipart factories can be modified as needed without a special workflow that involves checking them out from Vault Explorer. 2. ipart factories will be checked out along with children when retrieving an assembly from the Vault, eliminating the potential for a newer version of an ipart than is in the Vault (the solid green circle icon). 3. A separate identical copy of library files on a centralized shared server isn t needed. All users will download library files to their local working directories as needed. 4. Any library file can be easily place (and downloaded to your working folder) using the Place from Vault. 5. Migration of ipart library components is easy, as they are checked out with the assembly and can be saved to the next release. 21

22 Cons: 1. ipart factories and children will be always be checked out with the assembly files if you select include children. To prevent this, you can uncheck the ipart folder and none of the components will be checked out. 2. Libraries can be checked out by any user with access to the project. When traditional libraries are used, the vault will prevent these parts from being checked out. Creating and mapping Library paths If the decision is made to use Library project paths with iparts and Standard company parts, you will need to declare the paths under Libraries within the project files. After the paths are created, you will create the corresponding Vault Explorer Folders. Windows Folders Note: You may need to check out the ipj to add Library paths. Autodesk Vault Folders For best results, create Library folders in Vault Explorer that match the name and hierarchy represented in Windows Explorer. Though this example is on a local drive, the same workflow applies for shared network library locations. 1. Open Vault Explorer. Right-click the $ folder and select New Library 22

23 2. Right-click the Library folder and create the following subfolders: Content Center Files iparts _iparts Note: In this example an underscore is pre-pended to the folder name Libraries. This will make the folder always appear at the top of the list in Vault explorer and in your working directory 3. Open Inventor Project editor. Add the following Library paths iparts=c:\work\_libraries\iparts _iparts=c:\ Work\_ Libraries\_iParts 23

24 4. Expand Folder Options and set Content Center Files = C:\Work\_Libraries\Content Center Files. The next step is known as Mapping Folders. The goal here is to ensure that Library parts in an Assembly find the correct Vault folder when adding from Inventor. Although you can create folders on-the-fly with the Project Folder Mapping dialog box, creating the Vault Library folders in advance (inside Vault Explorer) allows you to easily build the intended folder structure. 5. Open Autodesk Inventor. Go to File>Vault>Map Folders. The mapping is incomplete for the Library paths declared in the project file. This is indicated with? questions marks in front of each path. 6. Click Content Center Files to highlight it, then click the Edit button. The Vault Library folders created earlier are listed. 7. Expand Library and select Content Center Files. Click OK to map the Library path set in the Inventor Project file to the Content Center Files folder in Vault Explorer. 24

25 8. Repeat step 7 for each library path defined in the project file. Following the example paths, this includes iparts and _iparts (proxy folder). A final suggestion: Check in the appended project file through Vault Explorer. Remember to have all users Get Latest Version of the Inventor Project file to see all paths. Using the Single Project Method, all Inventor users need to do is have a C:\Work, the Designs.ipj active, and access to the Vault. Automatic Publishing of DWF Files with Autodesk Vault Design Web Format (DWF) is a compressed, secure format that is used to publish 2D and 3D CAD data. Using the Autodesk DWF format and viewer, you can share accurate visual representations of Autodesk Inventor model files with customers, vendors, marketing, and others who don't have Autodesk Inventor installed. When you use DWF attachments with models and drawings in the Vault, the DWF files are automatically updated every time the file version changes in the Vault. This ensures that the viewable image (the DWF file) is always up to date with the latest version of the file in the Vault. 1. Open Inventor and lauch the project editor and expand the Vault Options section. Note: You may need to check out the ipj from the Vault. 2. Edit the Publish folder field. Enter C:\Publish as a path for DWF files to be sent to. Typically this would be a common network share where users with DWF Viewer or DWF Composer would browse to see the latest versions of DWF files. 3. Open ARBOR ASSEMBLY.idw. For this example you use an Autodesk Inventor drawing file, but the same steps can be used for parts (.ipt), and assemblies (.iam.) 25

26 4. Go to File>Publish and save the DWF to the same folder as the.idw. It is a good practice to keep the DWF adjacent to the host or parent file. 5. Open Vault Explorer. Right click the Arbor Press folder and select Add Files. 6. Select the published DWF file and click OK. 7. Next you need to establish a link between the.idw and the DWF file. Right-click the ARBOR ASSEMBLY.idw and select Attachments. 8. In the Attachments dialog box, click the Attach button and locate the DWF. Click Insert and click OK to accept changes and exit the dialog box. 9. Highlight ARBOR ASSEMBLY.idw and click the Uses tab in the version history window. Expand Manual Attachments and note the DWF is now a child component to the drawing file. 26

27 10. The goal here is to modify the idw, save, and check back into Vault. This action will generate a new updated DWF within Vault and send a copy out to the Publish folder you declared earlier (C:\Publish). 11. Back in Inventor, go to File>Open from Vault and select the ARBOR ASSEMBLY.idw. Create a second sheet and place 2 views of the Arbor Assembly. Save the drawing. 12. Check the ARBOR ASSEMBLY.idw into Vault. Open DWF Viewer or DWF Composer and browse to C:\Publish. 13. Open the ARBOR ASSEMBLY.dwf and note that it reflects the latest version of the Inventor drawing file in Vault. 27

28 Frequently Asked Questions How does Recursive Searching and Unique File Names help with Autodesk Vault? Recursive searching with Inventor 9 and Vault allows the flexibility to restructure files in Vault folders without visiting the Resolve Link dialog box. In the Project editor, expand Options and verify Using Unique File Names =Yes. Depending on where your ipj is in relation to the files you are restructuring, Inventor will search all editable project locations to find the file based on name. Note that this does not apply to files in Library search paths. This flexibility allows you to drag and move files within Vault, without the penalty of the resolve link dialog box. Before retrieving the assembly again from Vault, be sure to clean out the workspace copies of the components to ensure the assembly finds the correct file. Remember that upon Open From Vault, the assemblies will want to be saved and will version forward as the internal paths to parts have changed. Why use more than one vault? For companies that are contractors for many other companies it may be useful to create a separate vault for each of the companies with which you work. This allows you to keep templates, standards, and project information separate and secure. Another good reason for multiple vaults would be to support different departments within your group. If you have multiple teams that work on completely separate projects, and don t need to share data, multiple vaults may help out. If you work with very large data sets you might want to create separate vaults to reduce the bloat to a single database. This can be done in extreme situations. One of the best reasons is to provide training areas where users can feel free to play around with a vault and not break the corporate vault. It is even possible to create a new vault for each user that accesses the vault. What is the Down Side of Multiple Vaults? The biggest thing to remember when working with multiple vaults is that the data is completely separate and can never be merged together. The only way to get two or more vaults combined is to remove data from one vault and manually add it to the other, resolving any conflicts that may occur. How do I prepare my files for Vault? When working with Inventor design, the general rule of Garbage in, Garbage out applies. It is important to have your datasets in their best condition before you either add them to the vault or check them back in after modification. Some of the following tips will help ensure that your designs are as stable as possible. At a bare minimum, before assemblies are added to the vault or checked back into the vault a Full Update should be done if needed. In addition to a Full Update, a Rebuild All will provide better, more consistent results. This should be run on any file that you are actually editing and checking into the vault. A Full Update will also uncover errors in the model that will potentially lead to sick states that will cause the vault to prompt the file to be checked out for what appears to be no 28

29 reason. Fixing these errors will allow you to resolve these errors and get the model back to normal. When a new release of Autodesk Inventor comes out, the files typically need to be migrated to the latest release. The best thing to do in this case is to run the Autodesk Inventor Migration Utility on your entire data set using the following settings: Total Rebuild = TRUE Skip Migrated Files = FALSE Using these settings will help make sure all of the models are saved in a clean state according to the new release. The Vault Server Requirements Installation of Vault 3 Server requires Internet Information Services (IIS) to be installed. In the case of both client and server being installed on a PC for testing, classroom, or demonstration purposes, you may elect to perform a minimal install of IIS: 1. Access Control Panel from the Start menu 2. Select Add or Remove Programs 3. Select Add/Remove Windows Components 4. In the Windows Components Wizard, choose Internet Information Services, and then click the details button. 29

30 5. From the Internet Information Services (IIS) dialog box, verify the following boxes are unchecked: File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Service FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions SMPT Service 6. Verify the following components are checked: Common Files Documentation Internet Information Services Snap-In World Wide Web Service (this component will be modified as well) 7. Select World Wide Web Service from the component list and click the details button. 8. From the World Wide Web Service dialog box, verify the following components are unchecked: Printers virtual directory Remote Desktop Web Connection Scripts virtual directory World Wide Web Service should remain checked. 9. Click the OK button to affirm these changes and the IIS installation will begin. The source CD may be needed for the install of IIS. Additional recommendation: Check the Windows Update website following IIS installation for any security patches or hot fixes. 30

31 Supported Operating Systems Autodesk Vault 3 Server and Client can be installed on the following operating systems: Component Service Packs Vault Server Vault Clients Microsoft Windows 2000 Sp3+ Yes Yes Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP3+ Yes No Microsoft Windows XP Home SP1 No Yes Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP1 Yes Yes Microsoft Windows Server 2003 SP0 Yes No Hardware Requirements Component Vault Server Vault Explorer Inventor Plug-In ACAD ARX Minimum Processor Memory Storage Intel Pentium or AMD Athlon 1 GHz 256 MB 2 GB free Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon MB 500 MB free Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon MB 500 MB free Intel III or AMD Athlon 500 MHz 256 MB 500 MB free Recommended Processor Memory Storage Intel Pentium 4, Intel Xeon, or AMD Athlon, or 1.8 GHz or better 512+ MB 60+ GB free Intel Pentium III, Intel Pentium 4, Intel Xeon, or AMD Athlon 1 GHz or better 512 MB 500+ MB free Intel Pentium III, Intel Pentium 4, Intel Xeon, or AMD Athlon 1 GHz or better 512+ MB 500+ MB free Intel Pentium III, Intel Pentium 4, Intel Xeon, or AMD Athlon 1 GHz or better 512+ MB 500+ MB free Preferred Processor Memory Storage Intel Pentium 4, Intel Xeon, or AMD Athlon 1.8 GHz or 1 GB 120+ GB free and Intel Pentium 4, Intel Xeon, or AMD Athlon 1.8 GHz or better 1 GB 500+ MB free Intel Pentium 4, Intel Xeon, or AMD Athlon 1.8 GHz or better GB 500+ MB free Intel Pentium 4, Intel Xeon, or AMD Athlon 1.8 GHz or better 1 GB 500+ MB free 31

32 MSDE Autodesk Vault ships ready to use with a scaled down version of Microsoft s award winning SQL server 2000 called Microsoft Desktop Engine, or MSDE for short. MSDE works as a core part of the vault, storing all of the metadata for the files contained within the vault. This metadata can be anything from properties that were indexed from the files to the parent child relationships between Autodesk Inventor assemblies and parts. MSDE dos not place constraints on the number of connected users. Rather, is employs a concurrency governor to provide a gradual limit for the scalability of the server. The concurrency governor watches the active operations being processed by the server and places slight delays before reading and writing data. If your company has many users in a high transaction environment, it may be time to consider an upgrade to full SQL. The number of Vault users capable of being supported by MSDE ultimately depends on your company s usage patterns. The concurrency governor can be monitored to determine the frequency of use. MSDE also has a limitation that allows you to store 2GB of metadata. It is important to note that the 2GB limit doesn t relate to the actual file size associated with the vault, but only the text that was indexed from those files. In a typical environment the 2GB limit can translate to well over 100,000 versions of files stored in the vault. Vault File Store Figure 11 - Vault File Store on Server The File Store is the third component of the vault server. The file store holds all of the actual files associated with your vault. Files are not actually stored in the SQL Server tables but rather requested from the file store as needed. Under most circumstances the File Store is located at C:\Vault\vaultFileStore for all vaults on the server; however, with a utility called MoveStore.exe located in the installation directory, you can move the file store to another location. Moving the File Store will allow you to either relocate the File Store to a different folder or disk on the same computer or to relocate it to a completely different machine. 32

33 The File Store organizes files in a manner that is most efficient for the vault and is not typically usable outside of the vault. However it is important to note that the files in the file store are not encrypted in any way. The files are stored in a series of segregated folders that represent the unique order in which the files were added to the vault. Each folder that is created for a file will end up holding the entire version history of a file. The corresponding folders are then separated by 3 significant digits that to keep the number of folder and files per level to 1000 objects (per level). Keeping the system broken apart like this allows the vault to continue to perform well even when the File Store grows to very large file counts. Vault Manager Autodesk Vault Manager is installed with the Vault server portion. In Vault 3, the Vault manager is a snap-in that runs within the Microsoft Management Console. You use Vault Manager to create and remove vaults, and to detach and reattach databases. When Autodesk Vault is installed, a single default vault is created, called Vault. You also use Vault Manager to assign roles to vault users. Roles determine the level of permission of a Vault user. There are three permission levels that can be assigned: Administrator, Editor, and Consumer. The Users folder within Vault Manager dialog box list all users for the Vault. Administrator - Has full control on the server for back up, changing permissions, and unconditional deletion of data Editor - Has add and delete permission within Vault Explorer. This is the typical setting for CAD users. Consumer - Can view data but cannot make changes. This role is perfect for search-viewprint privileges. The Client - Server Environement In a typical situation, more than one user will be working with the vault. In this case you should consider the different ways you could install the vault. Install the Server on a dedicated machine, where each of the Autodesk Inventor users connects to this server. Install the server on one of the user s machines, with that computer acting as both a client and the server for the vault. Both situations are acceptable for smaller groups. The latter configuration is recommended for only a few users, up to five. Microsoft SQL Server, as a major component of the Vault Server, will require quite a bit of the host computer s resources to run. In fact, SQL Server is tuned out-ofthe-box to consume as much of the computer s available memory as it can. Given this, it is recommended that you run on a dedicated machine if possible. If you do choose to run the server on a machine that is acting as a workstation as well, either install it on the fastest machine out of the group, or the one that gets the least amount of use. Backup / Restore The first and most important thing to do is make sure that you are properly backing up your vault. Because there is no special encryption for the files used by the Vault, you can back up and restore the databases and Filestore data using normal backup procedures. Two utilities, 33

34 VaultMaintenance.exe and VaultMaintenanceUI.exe, are located in the Server folder of the Autodesk Vault installation folder. These utilities automate the backup and restore process by locating the databases and Filestore for all Vaults, including the master Vault. The restore option restores the files to either default or user-specified locations. Backup up the Vault The Vault MaintenanceUI utility will back up all of the necessary data required to restore the entire vault. Since the vault consists of both the SQL Server component as well as the File Store, both of them have to be perfectly in sync with each other in order to be accurate. The backup utility will ensure they are backed up at the same time. There is an option to use a command line interface to backup and restore the vault. Backup operations tend to happen at regular intervals and tend to be done when people are typically not around to execute the commands. This vault utility is driven by a command line interface, and allows you to schedule or script the process in a way that will happen automatically at a given time. There are many scenarios where you might want to do this, the two major ones that come to mind are to use the Windows Task Scheduler and a script to run before a tape backup runs. The backup utility can also be used to facilitate many different operations, other than simply disaster recover such as moving the vault to another machine and backing up the vault before uninstalling and re-installing the latest version of the vault. Restoring Data Should you ever have to restore your vault, the VaultMaintenanceUI utility can be used to restore the entire Vault to a new server or directory. This is done by launching the VaultMaintenanceUI and browsing to the folder that was created by the utility. Moving the Vault File Store, Database Often times, the default install locations of Vault are limited in space and need to be relocated to different drives or servers. Before attempting this, create a folder called Backup, then run VaultMaintenacneUI.exe to generate a complete backup of your Vault. To move the databases independently of the file store: 1. Make sure users are logged out of Vault. 2. Create a folder in Windows Explorer on the new drive called Vault_DBs (or something descriptive, so you know not to delete it). 3. Open Vault Manager and browse to the Vault you want to move. 4. Right click and Detach (NOT Delete). Close Vault Manager. 5. In Windows Explorer, browse to the default install location for SQL databases: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT\Data. 6. Move the.mdf and.ldf files to the new VaultDBs folder. 7. Open Vault Manager and right-click the Vault list on the right side and select Attach Vault. You will be prompted for the location of the.mdf,.ldf, and the filestore. 8. Browse and select, then click OK. Vault Manager will confirm the new Vault has been attached. 34

35 Additional Help and Resources Check out the AOTC Vault 3 Essentials courseware for detailed class on Autodesk Vault. For more support related information, look to the Autodesk Vault newsgroup. This is monitored this on a daily basis and the participants are more than willing to answer your questions. Useful Links Autodesk Autodesk Support Autodesk Vault News Group My brian.schanen@masterg.com 35