08.11.09.459
I created cascading standards support environment on my PC for testing (cascading = a standard CAD file server enviroment that supports load of corporate standards, overriden by client site standards, then project standards and user standards).
Open time for a c:\temp\test.dgn (400Kb file with no references) with all enviroment resources on various locally mapped drives (drives mapped to c: for testing) resulted in open time of less then 14seconds.
Moving enviroment to the network files servers () resulted in 65 seconds to open or change files on c:\temp\.
It has taken me a few days to figure out what the culprit is MS_DGNLIBLIST load is the issue. I created four 30K (empty) .dgnlib files to hold the dimstyles, text styles etc. They were added to the enviromment via a statement like:
MS_DGNLIBLIST > $(CORP_STDS)/DGNLIB/*.dgnlib
Without files in the DGNLIB folder, open time of c:\temp\test.dgn with network-based config and resource files was about 14 seconds.
Adding the four empty files = 65 seconds
With style definitions defined in the four files = 65seconds
Note file servers are 3400 km away, but have been used successfully with out of the box Mstn for opening large project files with references (up to a 1GB of 3D models) without abnormal performance loss.
Of course this all goes away if ProjectWise Managed Workspaces are used, but I do not have that option.
Does anyone have a work-around for this issue?
Thanks
Another interesting note ... not so long ago, the environment was static after MicroStation was opened. Not true anymore.
Adding a 30K dgnlib containing a menu adds 15 seconds to the file change time and loads the menu file. So presumably all dgnlibs are reloaded every time users change files, so users could note changes made to their dim, text, level resources as they change files - no Mstn restart required!
More stats on file change vs number of 30K DGNLIBs in the network folder:
Files | Time for change files on c:\temp
5|55
4|51
3|44
2|30
1|18
0|5
Bentley promotes use of DGNLIBs for configuration of resources for seeds, line styles, text styles, dimension styles, dynamic view definitions and much more. It is logical for administrators to use separate .DGNLIB files for each type of resource, but clearly there is a substantial penalty to be considered for the number of files to load if you keep your resources on a remote server. It is not unusual for users to change files 30 times a day ... that 30minutes lost production a day per user if you load DGNLIBs for each resource type separately.
When I change the environment to use a local copy of the DGNLIBS (instead of the network version) and leave the rest of the environment on the remote server, I get the following stats:
5|5
0|3
So ... I am off to write VBA to run on open and duplicate (and or verify existing) DGNLIB files on C: from the network folder, then modify the config var to use them from C: if they change files.
Hope that helps someone out there :)
Another similar degradation of MicroStation launch speed (just to open the Mstn Mgr - not open a file) results from specifying a user interface on the network drive.
This is an empty folder with the name of the interface you want to be displayed in the Mstn Mgr. The simple existance of the UI-named network folder changes the Mstn Mgr "launch" time from 10 seconds to 42 seconds and file open (on c:) from 14 to 52 seconds