Vault Replication – Single site? Multi-Site? File Store only?
Confused at what your options are when it comes to Autodesk Vault and this magical word “replication”?
If you have 1 site where users access your CAD and office data you have no need for replication, that doesn’t mean you need Vault Professional as it still offers a plethora of other amazing features.
If you have more than 1 site, be it in the same country or even the other side of the world, Autodesk Vault gives you the opportunity to make life a whole lot easier when it comes to file sharing, speed and control over documents.
But do you need to purchase multiple licences of Microsoft SQL? There are a couple of factors you need to take into account when deciding on what sort of replication you need, First thing is what sort of internet connection to you have? is it fast or are you running ADSL? if your internet connection is slower than a wet week, then what we would call full SQL replication is most likely needed. if you have a pretty good internet connection and your running broadband then its possible you could use file store only replication. There are a lot of other factors such as network reliability, network latency, bandwidth, number of remote sites, number of users, number and size of files. The Data management team here at Cadgroup would love to chat to you about your options.
What is File Store only replication?
File store only replication means that there will only be 1 instance of Microsoft SQL Database and this is normally held on the publisher server. The Meta-data inside the SQL will not be replicated from site to site so whenever a user queries the database the query will be sent back to the publisher server, but the actual CAD/Office files will be replicated so instead of opening up a file from a server in a different part of the world, you will have a local copy on your server.
File Store replication relates to the transfer of the actual files from site to site either on demand or on a schedule. The file transfer schedule is configured by the Vault administrator in the ADMS Console and most companies will set this to run once a day prior to backup on the main site outside of working hours. You could of course set this up to run every hour or more in rapidly changing and highly collaborative design environments but typically having the latest files on site at the start of each day is sufficient and users can always transfer a file “on demand” if they need it immediately.
What is Full SQL Replication
Full SQL replication means that as well as the file store being replicated from the Publisher server to the subscriber you will need an instance of SQL at each site and then the full Database is replicated from site to site, meaning when you query the database you will only be sending information from your local PC to your local server.
This is only scratching the surface when it comes to replicating your engineering data to your remote offices, if you wish to explore further options please do not hesitate to give Cadgroup a call and speak to one of our Data Management team.
