Cracking the Vault

Autodesk Vault 2013 Integration for MicroStation

After spending some time on the Autodesk Labs, the Autodesk Vault 2013 Integration for MicroStation is now available for download from the Autodesk Subscription Center under Downloads>Product Enhancements.

The MicroStation integration for Vault enables MicroStation V8i users to connect to Autodesk® Vault Collaboration AEC 2013 from within MicroStation, permitting MicroStation users the ability to manage their design data from within their design tool. Specifically, the integration provides users the ability to manage file versions via check in and check out, manage file references, manage title block attributes, batch plot, get Vault status, and dynamically create visualization files for sharing data with downstream non-CAD users. This integration also works with Vault Workgroup, Vault Collaboration, and Vault Professional.

There are components of this integration that reside on both the client and server machines, as well as the DWF publisher which resides on the Job Processing machine. Please refer to the administrative guide for more details on installation and use.

How Do I Open the Firewall Ports For SQL Server on Windows Server 2008

I found MS Knowledgebase Article ID 968872 useful in automating opening up the SQL Ports when configuring Connected Workgroups. It saved me a lot of mouse clicks! :-)

 

@echo =========  SQL Server Ports  ===================
@echo Enabling SQLServer default instance port 1433
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 1433 "SQLServer" 
@echo Enabling Dedicated Admin Connection port 1434
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 1434 "SQL Admin Connection" 
@echo Enabling conventional SQL Server Service Broker port 4022  
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 4022 "SQL Service Broker" 
@echo Enabling Transact-SQL Debugger/RPC port 135 
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 135 "SQL Debugger/RPC" 
@echo =========  Analysis Services Ports  ==============
@echo Enabling SSAS Default Instance port 2383
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 2383 "Analysis Services" 
@echo Enabling SQL Server Browser Service port 2382
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 2382 "SQL Browser" 
@echo =========  Misc Applications  ==============
@echo Enabling HTTP port 80 
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 80 "HTTP" 
@echo Enabling SSL port 443
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 443 "SSL" 
@echo Enabling port for SQL Server Browser Service's 'Browse' Button
netsh firewall set portopening UDP 1434 "SQL Browser" 
@echo Allowing multicast broadcast response on UDP (Browser Service Enumerations OK)
netsh firewall set multicastbroadcastresponse ENABLE 

Autodesk Vault 2013 Revit Integration Enhancement is now live.

This subscription extension provides enhancement to the Revit Integration for Vault Workgroup, Vault Collaboration, Vault Collaboration AEC and Vault Professional. These enhancements include functionality for better adding and managing Revit families, smarter "check-in" and "check-out" of Revit files using new Save to Vault and Open from Vault features, establishing linked files to Revit files within Vault, and downloading missing children. Additionally, the user experience is streamlined for working in a single file or worksharing environment.

You can download the "Autodesk Vault 2013 Revit Integration Enhancement" by logging into Subscription Center and clicking the Product Enhancements link.

Advanced Configuration Guide for Vault 2013 is Now Published

The ACG for Vault 2013 has been posted here.

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.

#23 Do... Setup Database Mail In A Connected Workgroup Environment

Autodesk have published a Best Practice in the Vault Wiki called "Monitoring SQL Replication"

"It is very important to monitor the replication environment.  SQL Server provides replication alerts and threshold settings that can be monitored and emailed to system administrators if an alert occurs or a threshold has been passed."

Cannot Delete Users From Vault - Rename and Disable Instead

A common request is the ability to delete users from the Vault once they have left the company. Vault, won't allow users to be deleted to retain historical information. Once a user has left the company the user can be disabled from within the User Management control within the Vault client itself or the ADMS Console. This prevents the user from accessing any Vault database.

A concern in larger implementations is that the User Management grid will become long and unmanageable.

One suggestion would be to

1. Untick the "Enable user"
2. Edit the User Name to be preceded by "zzz_"
3. Click OK
4. Click the User Name column header to sort Ascending Alphabetically.

 

 

Setting Up SQL Clustering With Vault Server

I recently saw a question asking how to set up SQL Clustering for the Vault Server using SQL Express.

The first point to make is that Clustering is not supported for SQL Express

(Source http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/product-info/compare.aspx)

Once the Cluster is configured (Using an edition of SQL that supports clustering) and the SQL AUTODESKVAULT instance has been pre-installed and configured as per the Advanced Configuration Guide, then you would install Vault Server using the Remote SQL option and point it to the clustered SQL instance.

Ultimately Vault does not know or care if the SQL Instance is clustered or not, it cannot tell the difference.

(Note, remote SQL is only supported in Vault Collaboration and Vault Professional)

Vault Install Error

When installing Vault Server you can sometimes see this error in the ADMS System Check Report.

"Accessing an http static file failed at URL http://localhost:80/TestASP/TestASPNetStatic.txt"

If you click the link in the dialogue box, there are a number of solutions. However you also need to make sure that IIS was installed correctly in the first place. So refer to the Advance Configuraiton Guide for all the roles that should be installed for Internet Information Services. Then re-try the Vault installation.

Error 1920. Service 'MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT'

When installing Vault Server, one of our partners reported this issue.

Error 1920. Service 'MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT' (MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT) failed to start. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services.

Now, time was short for this issue as this occured at a conference, so we did not have time to fully investigate. Nor did we search the web for more information. We made sure that the User Account Control was disabled as per the ACG.We checked that the Anti Virus was disabled and that the logged in user was an administrator.

We overcame this by manually installing SQL 2008 Express R2 as per the Advanced Configuration Guide. Then installed Vault Server. Because SQL was already installed, up and running, the Vault Server install was then successful.