Very slow tools: View Attributes and Color Table

Using AECOsim 08.11.09.866, GB dataset. 

I configured my workspaces on network shares ( following closely the -invaluable- Marc Thomas method, ABD Quickconfig here

http://communities.bentley.com/other/old_site_member_blogs/peer_blogs/b/marc_thomass_blog/archive/2015/07/20/aecosim-building-designer-ss6-quickconfig )

First: I had to migrate my UPF file locally for each users, otherwise ABD is inusable... there are some posts on this subject)

Two; I still notice serious bottleneck when i try to open the Color Table or the View Attributes... .5 to 10 seconds delay minimum). 

I feel that ABD with workspace on network shares ( wich is absolutely mandatory) is too too slow for production purpose.

Moving UPF file was a good start but there are so many files (cfg, ucf, dgnlib, cells, dataset, datagroup,....) and most of them must stay on a network shares.

Did someone here manage to make it work nicely ? (we have good machines, good network, some others software work great across the network).

Regards,

Chris

Parents
  • Hi Chris

    We are totally agree with you.

    We have changed all our machines, i7 4GHz 32MB RAM, server, switch and LAN wires in order to use ABD faster and and the result is not good. I have to say MS flyes with this new configuration.

    Finally we have also decided not have anything about the dataset or datagroup in the server. Every day we copy into all computers hard drives the changes we made or the new things we add and the result is not better.

    We ask the same question "Did someone here manage to make it work nicely ?"


    Regards

  • Thank you Borja,
    I hope someone at Bentley will read and hear this.

    By the way how did you nincely move UPF file locally?
    I tried to relocate only the .UPF file (with MS_USERPREF variable) but it messed some tools. I suppose it not so simple, there plenty other files...

    Chris
  • Hi Chris

    All our users settings are in the server. They work fine. The only problem is if ABD crahses you must re-generate the user folder everytime because the user file is broken.

    Regards
  • Hi Christophe,

    To move the UPF the configuration in ZZ_ABD_SS6_CompanyConfig.cfg needs to be modified.

    The statement in line 18 checks that the folder defined by the statement $(parentdevdir(_USTN_SITE))Users/$(USERNAME)/ exists.

    If it exists, then line 19 defines _USTN_USER to use that location.

    To change this to a location in an individual windows user profile on the local drive (without using Windows Roaming Profiles which is good solution when in use on a network) just modify both instances of the $(parentdevdir(_USTN_SITE))Users/$(USERNAME)/ statement.

    To use C:\Users\<username>\Bentley\ (which will contain the prefs subfolder and all prefs files), replace

    $(parentdevdir(_USTN_SITE))Users/$(USERNAME)/

    with

    C:/Users/<username>/Bentley/

    Then create the C:\Users\<username>\Bentley\ folder for each user manually or with a batch file, whichever suits available time/expertise.

    Copy the contnets of the QuickConfig UserTemplate folder into each of the new user folders.

    To reduce the number of preference files we create (which might improve performance?) take a look at Site Standards - Consistent User Docking and Panel Preferences and add the recommended lines to your standards.cfg.

    I suspect the slow perfomance of colour tables is a symptom of general latency.

    • What speed is your network running at?
    • If it is a small network how is it connected?

    Regards

    Marc

  • Thank you Marc for your feedback.

    I moved UPF locally with MS_USERPREF=C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Bentley\AECOsimBuildingDesigner\UserName.upf
    I suppose using _USTN_USER is better and move all preferences files ?

    For the color table i solved the problem with
    MS_DEFCTBL = $(_USTN_SITE)Tables/couleurs-agence.tbl
    MS_COLORBOOK_LIBRARIES =
    (= only our standard colorbook, no other libraries. Quite a radical solution i guess)

    The Attribute View slowness is more problematic :9s to open the window
    I investigate with Sysinternals Process Monitor: it is 9s of multiple reading of
    \\Diskstation\aecosim\Workspace\SS6\Dataset_Company\dgnlib\DrawingSeed_Architectural.dgnlib

    Our network is a 100MB peer-to-peer.
    Sure it could be better but we have no probem with our Microstations licenses.

    regards,

    Christophe
  • Hi Christophe,

    ABD is more demanding of the network so I strongly reccommend increasing the speed (everything else will benefit too!). Connection all your PC's via a cheap 8 or 16-port unmanaged network switch, for example the HP J9559A, will make a huge difference (I only mention that example as I have used similar units for small networks in the past). Get a 16 port switch and you can connect any network printers via the switch too which makes connecting to them simpler than if they are shared from a particular PC. If you spend a little more you can get an entry level managed switch which could be helpful in the future (trunking ports to give more bandwidth to a server for instance).

    What kind of device are your shared files stored on?

    Moving all of the preference files is better, they need to be in one place.

    Read Site Standards - Colour Tables for the background to MS_DEFCTBL, it is not an absolute control for the colour table.

    Excluding the default colour book libraries isn't a problem. As long as you have the the colours you need in your own library you won't miss them. I guess you've figured out colour book creation, but in case you need to know more see MicroStation - Creating a Custom Colour Book

    View Attribute delay can be fixed by checking the configuration of BB_DG_ECSCHEMA_CACHE, for the background to this see ABD - BB_DG_ECSCHEMA_CACHE. This is another thing that could be affected by a slow network.

    Regards

    Marc

Reply
  • Hi Christophe,

    ABD is more demanding of the network so I strongly reccommend increasing the speed (everything else will benefit too!). Connection all your PC's via a cheap 8 or 16-port unmanaged network switch, for example the HP J9559A, will make a huge difference (I only mention that example as I have used similar units for small networks in the past). Get a 16 port switch and you can connect any network printers via the switch too which makes connecting to them simpler than if they are shared from a particular PC. If you spend a little more you can get an entry level managed switch which could be helpful in the future (trunking ports to give more bandwidth to a server for instance).

    What kind of device are your shared files stored on?

    Moving all of the preference files is better, they need to be in one place.

    Read Site Standards - Colour Tables for the background to MS_DEFCTBL, it is not an absolute control for the colour table.

    Excluding the default colour book libraries isn't a problem. As long as you have the the colours you need in your own library you won't miss them. I guess you've figured out colour book creation, but in case you need to know more see MicroStation - Creating a Custom Colour Book

    View Attribute delay can be fixed by checking the configuration of BB_DG_ECSCHEMA_CACHE, for the background to this see ABD - BB_DG_ECSCHEMA_CACHE. This is another thing that could be affected by a slow network.

    Regards

    Marc

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