Cracking the Vault

PDF:- Unable to view the file selected. Click the 'Open' button to view with an external viewer.

If you are running Vault in a 32-bit environment and trying to view PDF's you may see this message appear in the Preview pane.

 

"Unable to view the file selected. Click the 'Open' button to view with an external viewer."

The Vault preview mechanism is the same as used by Outlook 2007 and 2010. Both use a PDF preview handler which is controlled by Adobe themselves. A discussion on this topic can be found here.

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/759361?decorator=print&displayFullThread=true

Until Adobe fix this issue in 32 bit windows, the only workarounds are to either use a 64 bit OS or open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader itself.

How To... Troubleshoot AUTODESKVAULT SQL 2008 Installation Errors

If you see a message in the "Autodesk Vault <version> (Server) Setup.log"

2011/6/14:10:47:55 Administrator HOWDENFP1 Install ADMS System Check Succeeded 
2011/6/14:10:48:43 Administrator HOWDENFP1 Install Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express SP1 (AUTODESKVAULT) Failed Installation aborted, Result=1603

This is not an issue with the Vault installation per se, but with Microsoft SQL.

There are some really good tips on solving this yourself from Microsoft here....

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955396

And

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143702.aspx

Inventor 2011 SP2 Breaks Auto-Silent Login.

We have had reports from a couple of customers installing Inventor 2011 SP2, and using Windows Authentication, that it brings back the problem fixed by DL15651099. The issue was also reported on this blog here: Cracking the Vault

***UPDATE***

BEFORE READING THE REST OF THIS POST THERE IS AN UPDATE POSTED HERE

Inventor 2011 SP2 Break Auto-Silent Login

***END OF UPDATE***

 

DL15651099 should be slipstreamed Inventor 2011 SP2 but Autodesk is investigating the possibility of a Hotfix for Inventor 2011 SP2. The difficuilty for Autodesk is that we are unable to reproduce this internally. Its not therefore possible to begin a hotfix process.

We have been told that the issue is not reproducible if you install the Inventor 2011 SP2 + Vault 2012 Client Compatibility Patch.

Furthermore if you take the Connectivity.Proxies.WinAuth.dll from a machine with only Inventor 2011 SP1 (+DL15651099) system and replace the version installed by Inventor 2011 Update 2, it should avoid the issue.

If you right click on the "Connectivity.Proxies.WinAuth.dll" the version numbers should be as follows:-

Inventor 2011 Update 1 (+DL15651099) = 15.2.66.1

Inventor 2011 Update 2 = 15.2.66.260

 

How To....Edit Multiple Properties In Vault 2011 +

It is possible to edit a property for multiple files in one go using the new Edit Properties feature in Vault 2011.

 

See this movie to show you how it is done....

 

 

Navisworks 2012 Vault Addin Is Not Displayed

To display the Vault Add-in on the Navsiworks interface

1. Click the application button  Options.
2. In the Options Editor, expand the Tools node, and click Vault.
3. Select the Show in User Interface check box.
4. Click OK.
5. Restart the program. The Vault add-in is now available on the application menu and the ribbon.

This is taken from the Navisworks Help on Vault

 

 

File Locked! When Releasing A File

When releasing a file, the transition defined for the Lifecycle might be configured to "Synchronise properties and update view using Job Server" or just "Synchronise properties usnig Job Server".

If this is the case then it is possible that the job will fail depending on the user account being used to send it to the Job Queue. (The message displayed in the Job Queue would be "File Locked!")

In Vault x 2011 Update 2 or later, to workaround this, try adding the <Job Processor> User Account to the Security Tab with Read, modify permissions for Released. Then....

1. Go Tools>Administration>Vault Settings
2. Click Lifecycles
3. Select the Lifecycle Definition being used.
4. Click Edit
5. Under "Lifecycle Details", select Released.
6. On the Security Tab, select the "Everyone" user group and untick the Deny tick for Modify and Delete.

Autodesk Vault (2011 or later) and Virtualization

Autodesk fully supports all editions of Autodesk Vault 2011 and later in virtual environments.  Autodesk will investigate issues reported with the Autodesk Vault software running in virtual environments.  Where issues are confirmed to be unrelated to the virtualization software, Autodesk will support its software in a manner that is consistent with support provided when that software is not running in virtualization software. Autodesk may ask the customer to send a copy of the latest backup so that Autodesk can reproduce the potential issue.

If it is determined that either the virtualization software or the virtual environment is contributing to performance or other issues, Autodesk reserves the right to ask the customer to reproduce the potential issue on a physical machine outside of the virtualization software.

It is advised that you allocate the Autodesk Vault recommended system requirements or higher when configuring the virtual guest on which Autodesk Vault is installed.

Autodesk only supports Autodesk Vault and will not provide support for virtualization hardware or software.

Autodesk Vault 2011 and later were tested on VMware ESXi version 4.0.0 and VMware Workstation version 6.5.2.

For information on certified virtualization vendors and their respective solutions, see Microsoft’s products list at Server Virtualization Validation Program home page.

· Microsoft’s support policy for Microsoft software running in non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software can be found here.

· Microsoft’s support policy for Microsoft SQL Server products running in a hardware virtualization environment can be found here.

· “Virtualization Snapshots for Hyper-V or for any virtualization vendor are not supported to use with SQL Server in a virtual machine. It is possible that you may not encounter any problems when using snapshots and SQL Server, but Microsoft will not provide technical support to SQL Server customers for a virtual machine that was restored from a snapshot.”
Microsoft Article ID 956893

Renaming Parts Using Vaults Document Revision Management

The following workflow process demonstates how the Revision Management within Vault Workgroup 2011 works when renaming a child component that has been released.

 1) Here we have a simple Parent\Child relationship.

 

2) Assign Category = Engineering. Both files becomes RevA. A new file version is created. (v2)

Are Vault 2011 & 2010 Supported On Windows 7 SP1

No Autodesk Vault application is currently supported on Windows 7 SP1.

If an issue is encountered on Windows 7 Service Pack 1, it would be necessary to test to see if the issue also occurs on Windows 7 (no service pack).

The reason for this is that both Vault 2010 and Vault 2011 were both released before Windows 7 SP1 and no testing has currently been done.

Log File Configuration

Researching an earlier post, I noticed a handy little feature that I had forgotten about. I have seen a number of systems lately where the amount of Free Disk space had really become a problem. Although, not the root cause of the problems being investigated, in one case, we found that the space consumed by several years of ADMS Console and server logs had exceeded 8GB!

A feature in Vault Server 2011 and possibly 2010 as well, is the ability to "Limit the number of log file before they are recycled. Vault must be between 6 and 99"

 

Tools>Administration>Advanced Settings>Advanced Configuration settings>Settings.

 Under "Log File Configuration", is the ability to limit the

"Maximum number of console logs"

"Maximum number of server logs logs"

"Maximum number of emai logs"

 

I am sure this is a very popular feature, I just hadn't seen it for a while :-)