Topic: Help with Permissions or Networking issues, Please.

[CECE_CAD]

Ok, I need some help with either I.T. or Permissions.  I have admin permissions and my I.T. guy is telling me that nothing has changed. 

All CAD files are networked and on a locked drive.  Making changes used to not be an issue but now for some reason it is.  When I make changes to the CAD files they become invalid.  I still can open the file and save to the drive with out any problem.  I have two accounts that have admin settings and this happens with both accounts.  Some times if I create a new file to replace the one that I want to edit it will work fine.  When the file becomes invalid I have to do a previous version to get the file to work again.

The only thing that I can think to be a major change in our network is our new cisco phone system.  Now I’m not sure if this is just a coincidence, but it seems to have started around then..

Also about that, the cisco phone system.  To me is seems that the switches aren’t configured correctly.  I’m not I.T. so I can’t really say anything.  I have noticed that we have a lot of network communication spikes as I like to call them.  It’s just when we have a split second of communication lose.  The reason I notice is because some of my people will be in a drawing working and it will go read only when it happens.  That and everyone calls me when it something little happens to the network. 

Well sorry about the cisco rant I know this isn’t a cisco forum, but my main concern is with the files becoming invalid.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks!

[quamper]

Well one this is in the wrong forum.. but regardless..

When you say the file becomes "invalid" what exactly do you mean by that? Do you get some sort of error message? Is the drawing gone? etc?

people will be in a drawing working and it will go read only when it happens.

I can't say that I've ever seen a drawing go to read-only while it's currently open and I work solely off of a networked file server. Is this Autocad or a different Autodesk product since I'm only familiar with Autocad, I thought it only checks read-only status when it's opening and if the file gets opened in read-only it won't change to a full access unless reopened.

That said I don't think your phone system would be causing problems like that. It's more likely that an antivirus app on the server is messing with the temp files while you are working. Even that might be a stretch.

To me is seems that the switches aren’t configured correctly

Ideally the traffic should be completely segregated by VLAN's. You really don't want your traffic mixing in your lan more for the sake of the SIP traffic's QOS than the standard lan traffic. But that's not required, just recommended. Alot of it depends on the size of your network, hardware, # of users etc. It's hard to say more without capturing traffic data and looking at it. Your vendor that sold you the CISCO stuff should have done that previous to installation.

[hendie]

drawings turning read only while open was a known issue with older versions.
It occurs because of the synchronisation of actions carried out during a save. Basically it's down to a fast PC / slow server combination

[MP]

In addition to what's already been floated try setting the system variable ISAVEPERCENT to 0.

(setvar "isavepercent" 0)

[quamper]

drawings turning read only while open was a known issue with older versions.
It occurs because of the synchronisation of actions carried out during a save. Basically it's down to a fast PC / slow server combination

Oh wow I didn't know that was that before Autocad 2000/2002?

Since thats the case.. there might also be some miss matched port settings.. sometimes forcing the network cards on a server to 100mbps rather than Auto and the same on the switch can make a huge difference on some switches. Same thing with PC's.

It's not a fun thing to have to manage but for some reason some switches implement auto-negotiation badly.

You can also try this http://www.netchain.com/netcps/ to make sure your server is transfer data at the speeds you're expecting. Thats not going to do anything for "spikes" in traffic. For that you really need to have something like ethereal sitting there for awhile to get a good idea of traffic patterns over an hour or two hour period.

[hendie]

...
Oh wow I didn't know that was that before Autocad 2000/2002?

I don't know if it was version specific but I used to experience it regularly when I was using R2000
I work through an EDMS now so anything I'm working on is done locally so I don't know if it's still an issue with later versions

[quamper]

I guess I've always had a good network so I've never run into that problem before

[CECE_CAD]

Sorry for posting in the wrong section and thanks for still taking the time to read the post.  When I mean the file is invalid, that is the error that AutoCAD gives me..  it reports "File Invalid" at the command line.  

I will look into the other things you guys mentioned and let you know what I find out.  

[quamper]

Just to rule this out are you sure that no one else has worked on those files with a newer version of Autocad? That is one of the reasons for the "File Invalid" error.

[CECE_CAD]

Besides myself, I work with 2008 and Arch2008.  They both save as 2007 and I don’t do anything special in Arch2008 just use it to remove AEC blocks.  Ok, something I just thought of.  I’m always using Arch2008 with our project files that are located on a different network drive and they never come up invalid.  ( just wanted to put that out there)

[quamper]

Besides myself, I work with 2008 and Arch2008.  They both save as 2007 and I don’t do anything special in Arch2008 just use it to remove AEC blocks.  Ok, something I just thought of.  I’m always using Arch2008 with our project files that are located on a different network drive and they never come up invalid.  ( just wanted to put that out there)

By different network drive do you mean a different server altogether or just a different mapped drive to the same server? And you're the only one this is happening to correct?

[CECE_CAD]

Same server, different mapped drive.

[CECE_CAD]

So, like I said I’m not much of I.T at all.  What I do know about the system is what I picked up from fixing along the line of working with it.  I want to say that most of our stations are set to 100full for duplex speed, but I do know that some of the stations freak out and become drastically slow and have to be switched to Auto.  Just another thing I wanted to put out there.

[quamper]

Same server, different mapped drive.

I would try to get your IT guy just as a test exclude one particular folder from your server's anti-virus scanner where you are getting the invalid drawings showing up as a start.

[CECE_CAD]

I talked with I.T. and he is telling me that he doesn’t run the real-time monitor.  Now I’m not sure what this means besides the fact that It doesn’t run during the day.  I will let you know what happens when we exclude the folders. 

To make things even stranger, if I was to create a new file and call it something different then i don't have that invalid issue.  That is a pain because then I have to change my lisp also.  Go figure.. To me that is not normal…? :ugly: