Internet Speed requirements

RE: Internet Speed requirements

Jayson Perry — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 14:40:09 GMT

Hi Lucilia,

In addition to what others have suggested, you might look into connecting your machine to your network router with an ethernet cable.
No matter what your internet speeds are, having a hard-wired internet connection should be faster and more reliable than regular WiFi internet.

Also, some suggestions were made by another user in this forum thread. You might check this out.
https://communities.bentley.com/products/microstation/f/microstation-forum/156166/microstation-connect---tips-to-speed-up-pefromance

HTH,
Jayson

RE: Internet Speed requirements

Kevin van Haaren — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 16:13:58 GMT

There are 2 sets of files you have to be concerned with: Your dgn file and references plus your configuration files (dgnlibs, etc...)

We've found (especially for ORD and OBM which have far larger configurations than MicroStation) that having the workspace local for remote users works best. Having the dgns local also helps.

There are some scenarios where either very large attachments (raster images) or a lot of reference files (sometimes accidental via poor Nest Depth settings) can cause slowdowns over a network. Turning off unneeded raster images & references can be a big help here.

VPNs can make an issue worse by increasing latency of a connection becasue of the extra encryption layer.

Basically you should be able to make a 100Mbps connection work, but you may need to adjust your workflow & configuration, and I would recommend looking at developing a system for synchronizing your configuration from a network location to a local location for users to use while disconnected from the network.

Overall ProjectWise with a managed workspace is the best solution. But isn't free, and is not a drop in solution. It takes time to get setup and configured. ProjectWise copies all files locally so you have to put up with that initial download time but once they are local and MicroStation is open everything is straight from the fastest connection -- your hard drive. Managed workspaces do the same thing for the configuration files.

RE: Internet Speed requirements

MaryB — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 13:25:19 GMT

ProjectWise Managed Workspace requires the purchase of additional software, the training of people on that software, the training of the person who will be setting up and maintaining that software, and the time required to set up and troubleshoot that software, not to mention the production (billable) time lost by the person learning how to set up the software. This is a very pricey suggestion. I am not going to be able to "sell" this idea for a department of a dozen people.

ProjectWise is not "plug and play". I've worked with enough firms who do use ProjectWise to have seen how important it is that it be set up correctly (standards, permissions, etc.) and how frustrating it is when something isn't right.

Oto - Is this OneDrive, or something else? How does that work with my office network? I don't have the authority to change how the entire office stores project information, and it's all on the network. Also, how does that prevent someone else from downloading the same file to their share, working on it and saving it back up? Sneaker net problems - If more than one person works on the file, one person's work gets lost. I've seen that too many times. The minute a file is copied from the main server to anywhere else, that leaves the server copy open to being changed by someone else.

How does this work out if your Windows profile gets corrupted? It doesn't happen often, but it is a possibility. They had to create a new one for me just last week.

I am a MicroStation guy. I am not an IT guy. Our IT guys are NOT MicroStation guys.
Time to learn something else new...

RE: Internet Speed requirements

Oto — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 12:41:19 GMT

[quote userid="2436" url="~/products/microstation/f/microstation-forum/240604/internet-speed-requirements/749856"]How does your VPN workaround function if the CAD Standards/Workspace/Worksets are over the same network as the project files?[/quote]

You would set your workspace to Bentley share folder which is located at "%userprofile%\share". Then any changes which admin does to Workspace automatically get synchronized to local computers. Point _USTN_CUSTOM_CONFIGURATION variable to this folder.

Also work with DGN files in share folder so they get synchronized and then can be copied later to some project delivery folder. This way you would get mini-Projectwise and managed workspaces. One unique feature of Projectwise is spatial indexing so I do consider anything named Projectwise without spatial indexing as true Projectwise and will not call "Bentley share" as "Projecwise share". It is bad marketing same like trying to call margarine as butter.

RE: Internet Speed requirements

Yongan.Fu — Thu, 19 Jan 2023 01:39:56 GMT

[quote userid="2436" url="~/products/microstation/f/microstation-forum/240604/internet-speed-requirements/749856"]

How does your VPN workaround function if the CAD Standards/Workspace/Worksets are over the same network as the project files?

We use Networked workspaces so that all our computers have access to the same standards, without the need to maintain every client workspace on every single computer. This also paths and redirects all of our configuration variables and project resources to our network location. I do not believe this is an unusual setup...

[/quote]

For this complex case, ProjectWise Managed Workspace is recommended. Using VPN to access your company's PW is almost same as you work in Office. Just speed is a little bit slow depending on your internet speed.

RE: Internet Speed requirements

Lorys — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 22:33:19 GMT

[quote userid="2175" url="~/products/microstation/f/microstation-forum/240604/internet-speed-requirements/749794"]If you directly access the files on your company's shared server through VPN, it is the worst case. MicroStation constantly save changes to DGN file. So in this case, MicroStation has to heavily use Internet and the DGN file is easily destroyed when the Internet is unstable.[/quote]

isnt that in essence what I said is the worst case for speed and latency, the real business world requires cybersecurity we have no option but to use vpn and internet when working from home by remote which for most of us is the new normal working from home at least 3days a week and 2 day in the actual office work place...download all the files work on them and put them back is still not very efficient and ultra slow transfers when send uploads....but you got to do what you have to do....right?

RE: Internet Speed requirements

Oto — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 15:28:30 GMT

It is also possible to use Bentley Share which synchronize drawing across all computers which is tuned better for DGN files than Google, Dropbox or Onedrive.

Projectwise is great but should be more available.

RE: Internet Speed requirements

MaryB — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 14:53:48 GMT

How does your VPN workaround function if the CAD Standards/Workspace/Worksets are over the same network as the project files?

How would copying the drawing files locally work with VPN network standards?

Or are you saying that everything has to be local?

Back to the old sneaker network - you'd copy your files onto a floppy disk, take the disk to your computer, work on your drawings, and walk them back over to copy onto the storage computer...Is that really what we've gone back to?

Not everyone has ProjectWise. There is a lot of overhead in setting it up properly and maintaining it. Smaller companies can't afford that, and if you don't actually do project sharing outside of your own small department, the payback is limited.

RE: Internet Speed requirements

Oto — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 11:29:47 GMT

Do a speedtest.net test and post the report link here.

Internet speed is not most important when working remotely as also the latency is important. Mobile internet feels slow in this regard even if speed is high.

Also what is meant by working remotely? How do you connect to workplace?

RE: Internet Speed requirements

Yongan.Fu — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 07:25:12 GMT

If you directly access the files on your company's shared server through VPN, it is the worst case. MicroStation constantly save changes to DGN file. So in this case, MicroStation has to heavily use Internet and the DGN file is easily destroyed when the Internet is unstable.

If this is your case, I recommend below workflow:

Copy files from your company's shared server to your local hard disk (Download)
Open local DGN files in MicroStation
Close MicroStation after you finish your work
Copy local files to company's shared server (Upload)

ProjectWise performed the above steps transparently. So if your company is using ProjectWise, please ignore above recommend. You can simply directly access files on the ProjectWise server through VPN.

RE: Internet Speed requirements

Lorys — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 03:39:08 GMT

I found the upload speed is also important if your working remote off company network and vpns as microstation is constantly trying to write back to files ... I changed my provider and plan used to be 150mbps down and 50 up and fibre to curb and worked great then went to new provider with 250 down and fibre to house but up went to 20 mbps and i noticed how slow microstation became...and I was working in pwise too..and some stuff company server other times and it did slow performance...also the laptop and wifi modem made big difference too... my new laptop very fast wifi connection.. but old work laptopn del was much slower connection same network, same wifi

RE: Internet Speed requirements

Yongan.Fu — Wed, 18 Jan 2023 01:28:31 GMT

Are you using MicroStation with ProjectWise? If not, MicroStation itself almost doesn't need internet except CONNECTION Client. 100Mbs speed is enough.