| Rev # | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | August 2019 | Updated and revised for use by customers. Reset as document version 1.0. |
| 1.1 | May 2021 | Updated document – added new SOLIDWORKS PDM 2021 SP3 images, ‘IPv6’ information and ‘Work From Home’ section |
| 1.2 | May 2024 | Updated all legacy KB solutions to point to the current DS QA articles, added new SOLIDWORKS PDM 2024 SP1 images |
Note
All SolidPractices are written as guidelines. It is a strong recommendation to use these documents only after properly evaluating your requirements. Distribution of this document is limited to Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks employees, VARs and customers that are on active subscription. You may not post this document on blogs or any internal or external forums without prior written authorization from Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation.
This document was updated using version SOLIDWORKS PDM 2024 SP1. If you have questions or need assistance in understanding the content, please get in touch with your designated reseller.
Preface
The purpose of this SolidPractices document is to provide general guidance when preparing for and performing a SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional implementation in a multi-site environment. The SOLIDWORKS PDM Standard version is not suitable for use in a multi-site environment because it does not include either archive server or database replication features, and has workflow restrictions. Unless otherwise stated, references to SOLIDWORKS PDM in this document refer to the SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional version.
Use this document in combination with the instructions you find in the SOLIDWORKS PDM “Installation Guide”, “Administration Guide” and “Replication Guide” as well as other SolidPractices and DS Knowledge Base QA articles.
In the default SOLIDWORKS PDM installation, a PDF version of these guides is available in the following location:
C:\Program Files\SOLIDWORKS PDM\Lang[Language]
While this SolidPractices document focuses on the SOLIDWORKS PDM 2024 software version, this information also applies to older and future versions.
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Prerequisites for Multi-Site Implementations
Network Connectivity
SOLIDWORKS PDM uses the TCP/IP protocol to communicate with client and server systems. In a default installation, SOLIDWORKS PDM relies solely on system names to locate the servers on the network.
Consequently, all SOLIDWORKS PDM server and client systems must be able to connect to one another by using their respective system names.
Considerations:
Running a PING test on a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or an IP address is not a valid test to verify network readiness unless you configure SOLIDWORKS PDM to use only IP addresses. See the chapter “Configuring PDM to Communicate Using IP Addresses Only” in the “SOLIDWORKS PDM Installation Guide”.
In Windows® networks, the maximum length for a computer name is 15 characters (refer to the Microsoft® KB article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/909264). Therefore, be sure to verify that all SOLIDWORKS PDM clients and servers comply with this rule.
In a multi-site environment, there might be two or more separate network domains. In one domain, you could find the Microsoft SQL Server® installation and one archive server. The other domains may contain a remote archive server. For the servers to communicate with one another across a wide area network (WAN), a working virtual private networking (VPN) connection is a requirement between all sites. Each site should be able to resolve system names for remote servers to an IPv4 address. You can configure name resolution to an IP address by editing the hosts file on each server. SOLIDWORKS recommends this approach, where the hosts file for each server includes new lines with the IPv4 addresses and the system names of all remote servers with which the local server must communicate. The hosts file exists in the following folder:
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
To modify and save the system protected hosts file, you must open the file in a text editor (such as Notepad) as an administrator.
Effective with the release of SOLIDWORKS PDM 2018, SOLIDWORKS PDM supports networks that work exclusively on the IPv6 communication protocol.
If you encounter an issue with IPv6 when working over a WAN or VPN connection, it may be necessary to configure an IPv4 connection. See the DS KB article QA00000108796 “What causes a SOLIDWORKS® PDM client connection over a WAN or VPN to return the errors “The socket closed gracefully on the other end” or “The Archive Server connection receive operation timed out”?
This solution states that if the archive server is configured to communicate with both IPv6 and IPv4 and the server or WAN/VPN solution uses IPv6, you might see an error. Instead, consider configuring systems to communicate over IPv4.
Firewall Considerations
By default, SOLIDWORKS PDM uses ports 1433 and 3030 to transfer metadata and data between the client and server computers.
The following list describes examples of the types of communication to expect when using the SOLIDWORKS PDM default ports. It is possible to customize these ports according to the requirements of your network.
Client ⬄ Microsoft SQL Server over TCP port 1433. A client computer communicates with the SQL server constantly when performing operations in a vault such as browsing, opening and viewing.
Client ⬄ Archive server over TCP port 3030. Client computers communicate with an archive server when authenticating (logging in) and when sending or receiving files. An archive server also sends out broadcast refresh messages to authenticated clients. For example, automatically refreshing view listings when checking in, checking out or renaming files.
Archive server ⬄ Archive server over TCP port 3030. An archive server communicates with another archive server when replicating a file. The target archive server requests files from the source archive server. Archive files are always pulled from the source and not the other way around.
Archive server ⬄ Microsoft SQL Server over TCP port 1433. At specified times, and depending on the schemas defined in the vault, archive servers contact the SQL server to obtain a list of files to replicate, destroy, cold store and perform other tasks.
Consequently, you must configure the server firewalls appropriately so that:
TCP port 1433 is open on the firewall of the SQL server.
TCP port 3030 is open on all archive server firewalls.
If running SOLIDWORKS PDM Web2 Server, open TCP port 80 (or 443 if using HTTPS) on the firewall of the Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) web server.
Considerations:
Because both software and hardware firewalls might be in use, always ask your IT representative about any existing firewalls that may block traffic on TCP ports 1433 and 3030.
There is no need to configure client computer firewalls to add TCP port exclusions unless the firewalls block outgoing traffic on TCP ports 1433, 3030 and 80.
You can configure SQL Server to use named instances. In such cases, the default SQL TCP port may no longer be 1433 but another port, typically 1434.
Network Bandwidth and Latency
SOLIDWORKS PDM requires a minimum WAN bandwidth of 1 Mbit/sec. For latency times, SOLIDWORKS PDM becomes inoperable or unreliable if the latency time exceeds around 150 milliseconds.
It is possible to measure bandwidth in many ways. Therefore, it is best to ask your IT representative for assistance. If your IT representative does not have a tool to measure bandwidth, they might consider using utilities that are available free on the Internet, such as iperf or bwping.
On the other hand, it is much easier to measure latency time. From a Windows command prompt, run a ping command with the following syntax:
ping -4 –n 10 [server name]
Where [server name] is the name or IP address of the server. For example:
ping -4 –n 10 vmzhd001gbr
Testing SOLIDWORKS PDM System Connectivity
To verify the connectivity (typically between client and server) of the SWPDM system use the connectivity tool provided in DS KB article QA00000119794 “Is there a 'Connectivity Test Tool' for SOLIDWORKS® PDM to verify network communication between a client and server or between replicated servers to ensure the server and service ports are accessible?” This tool generates a log file that you can share with a VAR or with SOLIDWORKS Technical Support to assist with the diagnosis of any issues.
Installing Servers
When installing servers, consider these recommendations:
Install Microsoft SQL Server on a server computer that is not a domain controller.
Install the archive server and the SQL server on different computers. This is for performance and load balancing reasons.
Install the SQL server locally to the engineering site that has the greatest number of active users working in the vault. If using database replication, install the primary SQL server at this site.
Install the SQL server on a server computer that has access to a lot of RAM. SOLIDWORKS PDM supports only 64-bit server editions of the Windows Server® operating system and the Microsoft SQL Server database software.
Install the archive servers on server computers with a lot of available disk space and with fast input/output (IO) access to hard disk drives.
Installing Clients
When installing the SOLIDWORKS PDM client software, consider these recommendations:
Use an administrative image for the client software available on each replicated site to deploy SOLIDWORKS PDM clients from a central location. This can be done by using batch scripting or Active Directory® group policy to deploy the software. For detailed instructions, refer to the following chapters in the “SOLIDWORKS PDM Installation Guide”:
“Creating SOLIDWORKS PDM Client Administrative Image”
“Scripting a Silent Installation of SOLIDWORKS PDM”
“Deploying Clients Using Windows Active Directory”
Use the View Setup script to install local views. For more information, refer to the following sections in the “SOLIDWORKS PDM Installation Guide”:
“Creating a File Vault View Using the View Setup Wizard”
“Distributing the File Vault View Using Microsoft Windows Active Directory”
“Distributing File Vault Views in a WAN Environment”
Determine if client computers have any older installations of the SOLIDWORKS eDrawings® application. If older versions exist, uninstall them by using the Windows Add or remove programs feature.
SOLIDWORKS does not support the use of ghost image technology to deploy SOLIDWORKS PDM clients and vault views. This is because a vault view must be unique on each client installation. Using a ghost image prevents the essential uniqueness of each vault view.
Mixed Languages Setup
SOLIDWORKS PDM has no language-related restrictions when it comes to the installer. It is therefore possible to install one archive server on an English language version of Windows Server®, and another archive server on a German language version of Windows Server. The same is true with SOLIDWORKS PDM clients, for which the language of the operating system does not matter. Be aware that the SOLIDWORKS PDM database stores the date and time in UTC time. SOLIDWORKS converts and displays the time to the user in their local time by using the Windows Region & language settings.
For a working example about how to configure data cards in a multi-language SOLIDWORKS PDM system, see the DS KB article QA00000105343 “Is it possible to have a SOLIDWORKS® PDM file data card show up in a different language depending on the logged in user or group (i.e. localized cards)?”
Time Zones
There is no problem having client computers or server computers in different time zones, or switching them to another local time zone after the initial installation. Archive servers do not use the local server time to set dates on archive files. Instead, they use the date assigned by the SQL database of the file vault. The database stores the date with a generic UTC date format to handle vaults shared by clients and servers in different time zones.
The local archive server time is used only when triggering different schedules, such as replication, cold store and compression. A specific schedule starts based on the local server time.
SOLIDWORKS PDM users see dates according to the local time zone specified in the Windows Region & language settings.
Toolbox
When planning to use a new or old Toolbox integration provided with SOLIDWORKS PDM, it is a requirement to create a replication schema for the Toolbox root folder in the vault. For complete documentation about how to configure Toolbox with SOLIDWORKS PDM, refer to the SOLIDWORKS PDM Administration Guide.
Using Archive Server Replication
When working with remote sites, setting up archive server replication is not always the best choice. For example, if you only have one remote user that needs access to the vault over a WAN, then it may be sufficient to provide that user with VPN access to the LAN network, and use the offline work mode in SOLIDWORKS PDM. An alternative is to set up the SOLIDWORKS PDM Web2 server so that the user can connect to the vault by using the web client.
Archive replication makes the most sense when you have five or more users in remote sites, or a considerable amount of data that needs to flow back and forth on a regular basis.
Replication Schemas
The following image depicts the correct way to set up SOLIDWORKS PDM for replication across a WAN:
Engineers in the UK work in the vault from 8 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday local UK time.
Engineers in the USA work in the vault from 9 am to 6 pm Monday through Friday local Boston time.
The first question that comes to mind is what is the best time to schedule replication on each replicated site? The recommendation is to schedule replication to occur when no user is working in the vault. This ensures that the replication does not affect users because of a decrease in the available bandwidth. Running scheduled replication outside of business hours does not mean that users cannot replicate newer file versions from a remote archive server during regular business hours. On-demand replication is available for that purpose.
When setting up replication schedules, use the local time of the target archive server.
If a new replication schedule specifies that the source server is the UK archive server and the target server is the US archive server, then setting the schedule to 7 pm means that replication starts at 7 pm Boston time. This is a good time because no users are working in the vault. Therefore, all the bandwidth becomes available for file replication across the WAN.
Another possible replication schedule might specify that the source server is the US archive server and the target server is the UK archive server. Setting this schedule to midnight means that replication starts at midnight UK time (7 pm US time). Again, there are no or few user connections to the vault at this time.
Windows Logins
Because each replicated site likely exists in a different domain, Windows domain users local to one site are not visible to the other remote sites. Consequently, when connecting to the local archive server, it is normal for a red plus icon to appear next to the name of remote Windows domain users in the Users node of the SOLIDWORKS PDM Administration tool.
If there is a need for Windows users to be visible across domains, then it is possible to create trust relationships between the domains. For details about how to configure Microsoft Active Directory servers, consult your IT representative and refer to Microsoft documentation about “Domain Trusts”.
See also the DS KB article QA00000105787 “When I define the Windows® login type, how do I add users from other domains using the SOLIDWORKS® PDM Professional Archive Server configuration tool?”
Test Settings
Always use the Test function that is available in the Test Connections dialog box of your replicated vault. This provides an easy centralized location for testing replication connectivity settings. You can use the Priority options to balance the replication load between three or more servers. Server connections with a higher speed rating take priority over servers with a lower speed rating.
Disk Space Considerations
Determining how quickly a vault grows and planning for disk upgrades can be a difficult task. The DS KB article QA00000110413 “Is there a way to calculate the vault size growth of a SOLIDWORKS® PDM Professional vault in a given date range?” proposes using a T-SQL report query to help calculate vault growth knowing a date range by querying the version metadata in the database. With information about the recent growth, it is possible to forecast future growth to plan for vault storage increases.
Software Considerations
In more recent versions of SOLIDWORKS PDM replication has become more fault-tolerant when handling WAN scenarios where not all servers are available at all times.
Thus, if the first attempt to retrieve a file fails, the archive server uses a lookup table to select other servers from which to replicate the file. If each attempt to get the file fails, the archive server retries the operation.
By default, the replication retries twice before timing out. You can use a registry key to change the number of retries as detailed in the DS KB article QA00000122869 “In a SOLIDWORKS® PDM replicated environment, why is the value of the ‘RetriesCount’ registry key larger than 1?” Customers are encouraged to contact their VAR for assistance with this solution.
Using Database Replication
In a similar way to archive server replication, setting up database replication is not always the right choice when working with remote sites. The choice depends on how many users are working actively in the vault at the remote locations. Database replication is a good choice when a remote site supports 20 or more users. This helps to justify the necessary investment in the required SQL Server Enterprise software. At a remote location, a Secondary SQL server allows read-only access and directs all write operations to the Primary SQL server. All SOLIDWORKS PDM clients must be able to connect to the Primary SQL server. Therefore, for SOLIDWORKS PDM to be operational, the Primary SQL server must be running.
Database replication requires the SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional 2017 or later software running on the Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise edition. Customers must purchase and install the SQL Server Enterprise edition software and also acquire and install the SQL client access licenses (CALs). In addition, you must install the SQL Server Enterprise edition for all SQL servers in the PDM system.
SOLIDWORKS PDM database replication runs on Microsoft Always On availability groups (AOAG) at the SQL replication level. For more information about AOAG, consult the Microsoft documentation. SOLIDWORKS PDM requires that AOAG is operational before you can use the SOLIDWORKS PDM Administration tool to enable SOLIDWORKS PDM database replication for users and groups.
For more information about installing and configuring AOAG and SOLIDWORKS PDM database replication, refer to the DS KB article QA00000120772 “Using SOLIDWORKS® PDM 2017 or later, what are the recommendations to set up the Microsoft® SQL Server® Enterprise edition with ‘Always On availability groups’ (AOAG) for database replication?”
Site-Specific Rules
Depending on organizational requirements, it may be necessary to configure site-specific rules. You can establish site-specific rules for separate workflows, different rules for accessing files in the vault, or rules for different CAD systems, and still share projects and standard library parts across sites.
Site-Specific Workflows
The easiest way to configure SOLIDWORKS PDM to use different workflows for each site is to use a condition on a folder structure as shown in the following image:
variable value by creating site-specific SOLIDWORKS PDM templates, which you can configure to be visible only to a group or users that belong to the correct site.
Restricting Access to Files by Site
You can restrict access to files by site by creating site-specific groups and restricting folder permissions to a group.
For example, the following image depicts a case where the UK Site A Group can read file contents, add or rename a file or add or rename a folder for Project UK.
has no folder permissions for Project US.
option for a file.
Notifications
Similar to the way you can restrict file access to site-specific groups, you can also assign notifications to site-specific groups.
Slow System Behavior
Hardware Solution for WAN Optimization
To improve SOLIDWORKS PDM performance over a network, some SOLIDWORKS customers successfully use WAN optimization techniques to prioritize, accelerate, load balance or load share SOLIDWORKS PDM related network traffic alongside other network traffic. These techniques fall outside the scope of this document. For more information about this, consult your IT representative.
Network Adapters: Mismatched Duplex Settings
A common problem that affects network performance comes from mismatched duplex settings between client to server, server to client and server-to-server network adapters.
The recommendation is to try different duplex speed settings to determine which duplex speed is the best for transferring data across the network. You should never use half-duplex speed settings. Instead, try different full-duplex speeds and auto modes.
A simple way to measure this is as follows:
In the Device Manager section of the Windows Computer Management console, specify 100 Mbps Full Duplex as the network adapter duplex speed for Computer A as shown in the following image:
for Computer B.
Create a network share on Computer B.
Copy a large (30 MB+) SOLIDWORKS file from Computer A to the network share on Computer B.
Record how long it takes to complete the copy.
Repeat steps 1-5 using a different duplex speed (such as Auto Negotiation).
After recording the exact times for each full and auto duplex speed, compare the timings and determine which duplex speed specification provides the best optimization for data transfer between two computers.
Network Adapters: Checksum Offload
For most common network traffic, offloading checksum calculations to the network adapter hardware offers a significant performance advantage by reducing the number of CPU cycles required per byte. However, it is possible that offloading checksum calculations to the network adapter can cause severe slowness when working with the SOLIDWORKS PDM Add-in.
Only consider changing this specification if you experience unusually slow performance.
Network Bandwidth: Advanced Replication Settings
To minimize the number of files that replicate across the WAN, SOLIDWORKS PDM provides advanced archive server replication settings to help fine-tune bandwidth usage. The advanced settings provide the following options:
Replicate only the latest version of files
Replicate only files that have a revision
Replicate children
Replicate only files in a specific workflow state
option can be useful to force a scheduled replication to stop after a specific amount of time. A common scenario is to stop scheduled replication an hour before users begin their workday. This helps to ensure maximum availability of bandwidth.
SOLIDWORKS PDM Administration Settings
Several SOLIDWORKS PDM user settings can also help improve performance.
For check-in operations, turning off the Include drawings automatically when checking in the model option can reduce the amount of time it takes to display the Check In dialog box, because the database query does not have to include all the drawings. Deactivating the Look for drawings in the entire vault option lists only drawings that exist in the same folder.
option in the File Type Properties dialog box. This prevents SOLIDWORKS PDM from caching referenced files when previewing assembly or drawing files in the eDrawings window.
, Change State or Check In dialog boxes is the option This file type can have drawing nodes with the following extensions (see above image). This option is active by default for SOLIDWORKS assemblies and parts. Clearing the link to the slddrw file type prevents SOLIDWORKS PDM from displaying parent drawings in the reference tree display of the Get, Change State and Check In dialog boxes.
If this option is active, checking out a file used by a drawing displays the parent drawing in blue in the reference tree.
Explorer Get File Policy
If you experience slow operations when caching large assembly or drawing structure files in a vault view, it is possible to configure the SOLIDWORKS PDM Explorer Get File group policy to use fewer threads.
” in the “SOLIDWORKS PDM Installation Guide”.
You can apply this group policy client setting to SOLIDWORKS PDM clients in both replicated and non-replicated environments. If in a replicated environment, be aware that this setting does not effect on-demand replication, which is a single-thread operation by design.
SOLIDWORKS PDM Add-in
You can configure the SOLIDWORKS PDM Add-in for SOLIDWORKS to help with poor performance in remote locations.
As a first step, the remote users can choose to deactivate SOLIDWORKS PDM client Options that automatically update the tree in the extra tree pane as shown in the following image. Although this helps with the overall performance while working in SOLIDWORKS, users lose access to valuable functionality.
menu depicted in the previous image.
h) Data Card Variables
Using fewer card variables on your file data card definition results in less SQL traffic. This improves SOLIDWORKS PDM performance. Therefore, it is always best to consider how many card variables are necessary when setting up SOLIDWORKS PDM in a multi-site environment. It is also worth considering which data cards are in use at a remote location. It is possible to reduce SQL traffic by using a simpler data card for local work. Refer to the DS KB article QA00000118493 “Are there any suggestions or recommendations when designing SOLIDWORKS Enterprise PDM data cards?”
Additional Guidelines – Working From Home
Many users began working from home in early 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic and it is likely that this trend will continue in the future.
To help facilitate this, SOLIDWORKS Technical Support provides a number of guidelines to better enable working from home when using VPN to connect to their company network. To review these guidelines, refer to the DS KB article QA00000123656 “Are there any guidelines for working from home using the SOLIDWORKS® 3D CAD and SOLIDWORKS® PDM products?”
Post Sales and Support Considerations
Multi-site accounts require special considerations for the planning of on-going support. It is important that customers and VARs have a conversation during implementation planning to set the proper expectations. For customers that purchase a Universal license, the SOLIDWORKS VAR that deploys and configures the SOLIDWORKS PDM system is responsible for supporting that system. Some customers might receive support from a local SOLIDWORKS VAR, but they must contact the correct VAR for SOLIDWORKS PDM support issues and questions. Customers must also assign a single point of contact known as the Lead Administrator at the site that hosts the Primary servers.
For any local projects where a remote site has unique requirements (such as data migration), the recommendation is for the Lead Administrator to initiate such activity by engaging with the main VAR.
If necessary, your VAR can obtain assistance from the SOLIDWORKS Customer Success team to coordinate with the VAR responsible for the remote location.
Appendixes
File Version Upgrade Tool
When using the File Version Upgrade Tool, SOLIDWORKS recommends upgrading files on the site local to the Primary SQL server. Then, set up a replication schema to schedule replication of the converted SOLIDWORKS files to the remote sites.
Removing Already Replicated Archive Files on a Replicated Server in a Secure Environment
Scenario: A customer has a manufacturing division abroad and replication is in place for some of the projects between the two locations. After completing a project, there is a need to stop the replication of that specific project. Of course, this is no problem, but is it possible to remove the physical archive files for that project from the remote replicated archive server for security purposes?
Refer to the DS KB article QA00000114091 “Is it possible to remove already replicated SOLIDWORKS PDM archives from specific folders on a replicated server in a secure environment?” This solution provides a maintenance tool with documentation that allows the physical removal of archive files from a replicated archive server belonging to a specific project folder. This tool is not available as a download from the VRC. To request a copy of the tool, contact your VAR.Custom Add-ins
Add-ins replicate to all archive servers when you first add them to a vault. The add-ins then load to all workstations that have a local view. This means that custom add-ins become global to the replicated vault. There is no way to restrict add-in usage to one replicated site.
If an add-in contains T-SQL queries, you must ensure that these queries are optimized for use on the WAN. If an add-in is intended for use in production, always test that add-in in a replicated environment to ensure that the add-in does not create any unnecessary overhead. This might be less of a concern when using database replication. However, the add-in configuration would need to consider this and use the local SQL server.
For general recommendations, see the T-SQL optimization tips on the mssqltips.com website at http://www.mssqltips.com/sql-server-tip-category/23/t-sql/. It is a recommendation to use batch T-SQL queries whenever possible instead of running separate T-SQL queries.
Sandbox Testing
It can be difficult to create a sandbox for testing multi-site environments because of limited availability of hardware resources. Another limiting factor arises when the IT security requirements for an organization do not allow running a separate Windows Active Directory server.
However, it is possible to work around these limitations by using virtualization. The following DS KB articles provide information about how to implement a virtual sandbox environment that allows hosting one or more isolated Windows Active Directory servers. This type of virtual setup is valuable for testing SOLIDWORKS PDM upgrades in a real-life network environment where more than one Windows domain exists and replication testing is a requirement.
QA00000112842 “How is a self-contained Windows® domain with pfSense and VirtualBox set up for sandbox testing SOLIDWORKS® PDM?”
QA00000115831 “How can you emulate and measure what effects high (slow) network latency has on SOLIDWORKS® Enterprise PDM functionality using pfSense?”
Customers can obtain information about these solutions by contacting their VAR.
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