Cracking the Vault

How Much Memory Should I Allocate to the SQL AUTODESKVAULT Instance?

This question occassionally crops up from partners and customers.

The amount of memory needed is often directly linked to the amount of data needed in the cache to achieve high cache hit ratios.

Its not possible to have too much memory for SQL Server, but there must be some left over for the Operating System. So as a general rule of thumb is to have 90% of memory for SQL and leave 10% for the OS to handle general processing.

(The above suggestion assumes that SQL is running on a dedicated server with no other applications such as IIS or another SQL instance is running.)

 

Useful SQL Performance Counters (Source)

• SQL Server: Buffer Manager: Free List Stalls/sec
• SQL Server: Buffer manager: Lazy Writes/Sec
• SQL Server Buffer Manager: Checkpoint Pages/sec
• SQL Server Buffer Manager: Page Life Expectancy
• SQL Server Buffer Manager: Page Lookups/Sec
• SQL Server Buffer Manager: Page Reads/sec
• SQL Server Buffer Manager: Page Writes/ Sec
• SQL Server Buffer Manager: Readahead/sec
• Memory: Free System Page Table Entries

 

Questionable SQL Perforamnce Counters

SQL Server: Buffer Manager: Buffer Cache Hit Ratio

Vault Server (IIS) often down? Restart your IIS regularly

You maybe encounter random problems where Vault is unavailable after some specific actions like checking in a file, copy design etc.

Error messages are for example:
- error 0
- The underlying connection was closed: A connection that was expected to be kept alive was closed by the server.

The consequence is usually that IIS is down and needs to be restarted.

Often the problem is caused by various workflows in the Vault in combination and/or IIS getting out of memory.

We made the experience on different customers that the amount of errors (IIS "crashes") can be reduced if you regularly restart your IIS.

As best practice you could restart the IIS after the daily backup has been finished.

Finding Files where DWF(x) Preview does not exist or is not up to date

You maybe want to find out all files where the DWF(x) preview needs to be updated.

You can use the system property "Visualization Attachment" to find all files which has no preview or the preview nee:

You can even then select all files in the search result and perform an "Update View" - "Queued Update" ("Update Locally" works only on a single file).

One note: the search results are only true with the current version of each file.

Custom Filestore ignored when Creating New Vault with a Configu File

This is more a warning of a new issue in Vault 2013.

Situation: you want to create a new Vault with an existing config file and a cusotmized File Location (Filestore):

Result is that the new Vault is created with the Config File but the File Location is still the default one:

Solution is to move the Filestore after the creation of the Vault to the expected location via RMB on the Vault "Move File Store":

Replication - Restore To The Same Computer Names

No doubt, all readers of this blog will be aware of the Backup and Restore Autodesk Vault document, that should be used to back up a replicated environment. Of particular interest is the line...

“Restore Process

A restore should be perform on a computer with the same name as the original computer.”

 

This has caveat has raised some interest from customers wishing to validate their backups in a test system. However, this restriction is enforced by Microsoft SQL Server and can be referenced to this statement.

"Replication supports restoring replicated databases to the same server and database from which the backup was created. If you restore a backup of a replicated database to another server or database, replication settings cannot be preserved. In this case, you must recreate all publications and subscriptions after backups are restored." Source: MS Article 151152

Vault Server 2013 Installation issues

This is more a reminder:

On specific configurations on your Server machine there might problems to install Vault Server2013.
Typical error in Vault Server 2013 is for example is the precheck error: ASPX file failed to run at URL: 'http://localhost/TestASP/TestASPNet.aspx"

Other exmaples could be installation is hanging your you get an error 29001 during installation etc.

It is not always easy to solve the problems because the errors often have different causes.

If you want to solve the issue directly you could go to a long journey to research Microsoft articles and forums. Also this usually requires a deeper knowledge of IIS and/or .NET.

We made the experience that the most efficient way to get back on track is to uninstall the existing Vault Server installation (from a previous version) if existing (of course with a valid backup) and uninstall all components which Vault Server 2013 is using.

A list of components which Vault Server 2013 uses you can find on this TS18562673

Expand all Levels in Vault Browser of Inventor

Situation: You are working on a bigger assembly in Inventor and if you look at the Vault Browser you don´t see all levels of the assembly structure expanded:

To expand all levels you need to mark the top level assembly in your browser and press the * button of your numeric keyboard area:

Now you see all levels expanded:

Background: Vault just adapted the windows functionality to expand all subfolders of a marked folder with the * button

Autodesk Vault Idea Exchange

It’s our mission to make Autodesk Vault the world’s best Data Management solution. But we can’t do it without you. 

Do you have a great idea for a new feature or enhancement you’d like to see in Autodesk Vault? Share your wish list directly with the Autodesk Vault Development Team, and let us turn your ideas into reality.

The Autodesk Idea Exchange is a forum dedicated to improving Autodesk Vault software by sharing product improvement ideas directly with the developers. The Vault Team is listening. If you’ve got a great idea, we’ll consider it for inclusion in our development plan.

Post your ideas, see what your peers are thinking, and give kudos to the ideas you like the best. The more kudos your idea receives, the better the chance of it making it into the product. At the Idea Exchange, you can even track the status of ideas as they grow from initial concept to ultimate release!

Share your ideas now at the Autodesk Vault Idea Exchange.

Improving SQL Merge Replication Performance in Connected Workgroup Environments.

In a SQL Replicated environment (Connected Workgroups) it is necessary to run regular SQL Maintenance plans on each site to keep the database healthy and optimized for performance. This should be done from one Vault Server in each workgroup. Autodesk has observed significant performance benefits specifically in the merge replication by using the ADMS Console defragmenting tool immediately prior to running a SQL maintenance plan.

So on all SQL Servers, stop the SQL Server Agent.

The SQLAgent$AUTODESKVAULT service can be stopped by a command line:

SC stop SQLAgent$AUTODESKVAULT

The ADMS Console defragment command can be run via

A) the User Interface

B) a windows CMD line by running a batch command as follows:-

Connectivity.ADMSConsole.exe -Odefragmentvault –NVaultDB -VUAdministrator -VPadmin -S

Connectivity.ADMSConsole.exe -Odefragmentlibrary –NCustom_Library -VUAdministrator -VPadmin –S

(If you run a custom SQL Maintenance Plan you can the above lines before or after your existing defragmenting batch scripts.)

If the command is run via the User Interface or without the –S switch, the following message will appear requiring user input

“This operation cannot be performed if the vault is unlocked and available to users. Would you like to lock this vault now? Selecting ‘No’ will abort the operation.”

This message will remain on the screen until Yes or No is clicked. Similarly if you run the command whilst the ADMSConsole is open you will see this message.

Run the ADMS Console defragmentation to see how long it takes. It will vary from one time to another dependent on user activity since the previous ADMS Console defragmentation. One example may be… if it takes 1 hour to process an ADMS Console defragmentation on all databases, double it, then use that time to schedule it before running the SQL Maintenance plan.

An example could be, the following.

The Administrator responsible for running SQL Maintenance on each database, has configured a SQL Maintenance plan to run at mid-day on each Saturday. Testing has revealed that defragmenting all the Vault and Library databases takes 5 hours. Allowing for fluctuations in user activity, since the previous defragmentation, (in the near future) they choose to run the ADMSConsole defragmentation 10 hours prior to the scheduled SQL Maintenance plan.

	Defrag	SQL Maintenance
1 Vault Site Server in Workgroup1	Run Weekly on Saturday @ 0200	Run Weekly on Saturday @ midday
1 Vault Site Server in Workgroup2	Run Weekly on Saturday @ 0200	Run Weekly on Saturday @ midday
1 Vault Site Server in Workgroup3	Run Weekly on Saturday @ 0200	Run Weekly on Saturday @ midday

Note:

                The ADMS defragmentation only needs to be run from 1 Vault Site server in each Connected Workgroup.

 

Once the Defragment has finished, restart the SQLAgent$AUTODESKVAULT service with this command

sc start SQLAgent$AUTODESKVAULT

Vault Upgrade Documentation is Now Available

Autodesk has recently released detailed documentation on how to Upgrade Autodesk Vault on the Vault Wiki.

There is also a downloadable version posted at the bottom of the above mentioned page.