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Revit Server: Support File Size

For those of you using Revit Server to house your central models, you already know that there is not an actual Revit model on the server, instead, there is a collection of data which makes up the model and support files that hold information related to synchronizing with the model.

Project Folder Contents

If you look at the Projects folder on the machine that you have Revit Server installed on, you will see something similar to below for the models.

Within the modelname.rvt folder you will see the following folders and files

 

The data directly related to the models geometry, and permissions associated to the file, is in the Data and Permissions subfolders.  

The sum of these folders is reported through the Model Size column.  The mirrored permissions folder is a read-only replica of the permissions folder. This is maintained to achieve better performance; we can have an unlimited number of reads (far more common than writes) without conflicting with a write.

Everything else counts towards the Support Files column.

Support File Bloat

One of the big contributors is the information saved to the Users_Temp folder. During a sync with central all of the users updates are saved to a temporary holding area until all of the information arrives.  If it arrives intact, it is then committed and sent to the central file. If the sync is successful, after it is sent to the model, the temporary information is then deleted and the users folders will be empty.

If the sync fails to receive all of the information, it will not forward it on to the model, so it stays in limbo so to speak, causing bloat in the file from failed syncs. This failure could be related to network latency issues, or it could be that a user killed Revit while it was still working on something.

You may notice that the support file size may briefly increase in size, but it should reduce again after the next successful sync with central which will clean out the temp folders.

Please be aware that if the support file size continues to be a problem, it should be investigated to verify that the issue is not being caused by a network stability issue, or a users Revit practices (i.e. a user had a failed operation and has not re-attempted the operation and SWC to clear out the temp folder).

To reduce the support file size, you will need to save up a new central file over the top of the existing model.

Maintaining the file

As we all know, heavy files are slower files, so maintaining the central files leanness is important.

I have included a blog link with instructions on how to perform maintenance on the central file for a Revit Server model.

Autodesk Article Reference

If maintenance alone does not resolve the issue, it will be necessary to follow the instructions in this Autodesk article:  Revit server support files get huge

 

Revit Server - No Project Security

Every once in a while I get asked about how to limit access to Projects on Revit Server.  Unfortunately there is no way to limit access to projects natively in Revit Server.  Autodesk has an article on this topic which you can access here.

If you are wanting Revit Server security along with a whole host of task automation options for Revit such as PDFs, DWG export, Navis exports, Data Sheets and Backup projects to name a few I would recommend you take a look at IMAGINiT Clarity

 

Note

There is a way to limit access to the Revit Server administrator if you would like to do that, the instruction can be seen at this Autodesk article.

Clarity How to Copy from One Project to Another

In the Clarity web portal go to the Project that you want to add to

In the upper right corner of the Project Home page select the pencil and from the dropdown select Copy From Project

Select the project you want to copy from…please make sure to be aware of what will happen if Tasks, Reports or Datasheets already exist to avoid any unwanted outcomes.



Select the items you want to copy over to your project, then select Start Copy.

Depending on what project you copy from the list may be different than what is shown below.

Clarity Task Error on Mapped Drives

Symptoms

If you are running Clarity tasks which require the links such as PDF, and the task is either failing or printing without the links because it can’t find the drive.

There are circumstances where the drive is mapped via a login script, so even though you can see the mapped drives connected through windows explorer, if you open Revit you will see that the mapped drives are disconnected.

Note

You can verify if Clarity has access to the drive by going to Tasks/Task Servers in the Clarity web portal.  Under Server Drives you can see what is available.

Resolution

There are two options for resolving this:

1. Explicitly map the drive on the task servers
2. Or add credentials for the network location on all task servers

Adding Credentials

Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Credential Manager

Add a windows credential

• Fill out the network location i.e. drivename
• Add the proper credentials (domain\username)
• Add password

Clarity: How to Make a Feature Request

Like all programs, the longer you work with them, there are things that would work better if it would just do this....whatever "this" might be.

Well, you have a way to submit your Feature Request directly from the Clarity Web portal.

Once you log into the portal you will notice a Feedback button on the top right...simply select that, fill out the dialog box and your request will be sent to our development team.

 

Batch Printing Issues Related to Recent Windows Security Updates

Recent windows security updates (8/10/16) have caused issues with the ability to batch print.

The security updates below that apply to your operating system will need to be uninstalled to resolve this issue.

o Security Update for Windows 10 Version 1511 for x64-based Systems (KB3172729)
    o The article below describes this KB as well as KB3176493(Windows 10).
    o http://www.infoworld.com/article/3107306/microsoft-windows/microsoft-admits-to-distributing-windows-printing-bugs-in-kb-3177725-and-kb-3176493.html
o Security Update for Windows 7 and 8.1 for x64-based Systems (KB3177725)

TO UNINSTALL THE UPDATES

Go to control panel > programs and features.
Click on View installed updates and uninstall the security update(s) listed above for you operating system.

The image below is from a Windows 7 machine.

 

Clarity PDF Not Printing All Views or Not Creating Zip File

If you are having issues with Clarity printing most, but not all PDF's, which makes it unable to create the zip file since it can't find all of the documents, this is likely due to the printer properties being set to spool.  

If you watch the task run on the task server you will see the print dialog open and waiting for a file name.

The printer properties should be set to Print directly to the printer as shown below.

    

You will likely see an error in the journal similar to the image below.

If the issue is not related to the spool setting it may be necessary to uninstall and reinstall the Clarity PDF software.

IMPORTANT NOTE

We have run into cases where other software, in the case I am referring to it was a billing software, that was overriding the setting and forcing it to spool even after it had been set to print directly.

 

Clarity PDF: Adding Sheet Sizes

The Clarity PDF driver may not have all of the paper sizes you need for tasks that your run on your task servers.  You can add additional paper sizes as needed using the process below.

Process

•  From the Start menu on the task server, select Devices and Printers.  Select the ClarityPDF printer, than select Print Server Properties

• On the forms tab, select Create a new form, Provide Form name, Form measurements, Save Form.  If you need to create more than one, repeat the process then OK 

• On the Clarity Server, you will need to restart the Clarity Task Server in order for the sizes you just added to show up as a page size option on the PDF task setup

 

Copying to Other Task Servers

If you have multiple task servers, you can update the sheet sizes on one and then export the registry keys to a file which you can then apply to other machines.

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Print\Forms

Clarity 2017 "Tasks" What's New

Clarity 2017 offers a number of improvements related to tasks.

Improved Task Server Management/Control/Visibility

Remotely manage (and kill) tasks in progress

• The delete key is now active for in progress tasks.

Remotely request task server diagnostics and Revit journals

• If a task fails to process you can now request diagnostics from the Clarity Admin portal.
• Select the failed task ID in completed tasks and at the bottom of the dialog select the Request button to send diagnostics to us.

Support for additional PDF drivers

• Clarity now supports the following pdf drivers
• Clarity PDF
• Adobe PDF
• Bluebeam PDF
• eDocPrinter PDF Pro

Support for multiple concurrent task server processes within the same windows session

Note: If processing multiple PDF tasks, only one pdf driver can be used for each session of Revit.

Improved Task Configuration UI

• In the task configuration, only applicable selections will be available.
  • For example, when you select no zip file, there will not be an option for naming the zip file.

Enhancements to Publish and DB Export tasks

    DB Export

       

    Publish Revit Model 

     

Support for task automation of Revit Server projects using the base version of Clarity

• If you only want to run Tasks, and you follow the project naming convention, you can run tasks on Revit Server projects.
  
• * Clarity Connect still required for Security, Cache Management, Maintenance, Locks, Health, etc

Additional enhancements

• Support for a common Project Artifacts folder UNC Path.
• Help links in task dialogs
• Tasks visible to regular user roles