PDMWorks and VPN, also options?

[cwsink]

Hello,

We've got a couple users that connect via VPN, which we are discovering is a bad idea. What other options are there with PDMWorks Workgroup? Another PDM solution is out of the question, as well as other pricey solutions.

6 users on SW 2007sp1.1, LAN
2 users access via VPN
Vault on Windows Server 2003, sp2.0


Craig Sink
Mechanical Engineer
Force Design, Inc.

 

[cwsink]

I sent my first post too quick!...

I needed to elaborate further. I referenced thread559-135612 & thread559-144454 and realized that maybe the VPN is a bad idea. However, what inexpensive options are there and if none, how can we achieve maximum performance with this "unapproved" setup?

Thanks,

Craig Sink
Mechanical Engineer
Force Design, Inc.

 

[pdybeck]

Craig,

See my post in thread559-144454. Look into

http://www.riverbed.com/.

Pete

 

[dgowans]

Whate are you trying to do over the VPN? Working in SWX over a VPN is painful to say the least. I've never tried doing anything in PDMWorks over our VPN.

Could you possibly have the remote users log in via the VPN to retrieve the data they need from the vault and somehow get (e-mail, FTP) this data to their local system? Still a resource drain while in PDM, but this would allow them to work in SWX locally, provided their local systems have SWX available.

The other option would be to have a data coordinator in the office who could handle the data transfers. Again, this assumes that the remote users have SWX available on theire local workstations.

 

[fcsuper]

Well, Have you tried to use SolidWorks home license, but when you do need to log onto PDMWorks, logon on with VPN and then used PDMWorks Standalone. Once you have your files, exit both.
Just an idea.

 

[cwsink]

dgowans,

Basically, the users are checking data out from the vault, then checking back in when they are done. During the project, they are working on their local drive (which is the only way I know to use PDMWorks). The issue for us has been a crippling hit whenever they try to check something out. The entire local network gets bogged down. We'll probably just try to get by.

You mentioned FTP. Would there be a way to utilize our FTP site? I'm not an expert on this by any means, but somehow, the FTP allows large data transfers at a decent rate. Just thinking.

Thanks,

Craig Sink
Mechanical Engineer
Force Design, Inc.

 

[dgowans]

I'm not sure how your VPN is set up, but the way I access our network from a remote location is as follows:

1)Login to the VPN
2)Remote desktop login to my workstation. I have a desktop and am typically logging in from my own laptop at home. This allows me to virtually sit at my desk.

The way I would try to do what you want would be to do steps 1 & 2, then fire up PDMWorks to check out what I needed to the local PDM directory on my machine. I'd then zip up the files and put them on our corporate FTP site. I would then log out of the remote desktop session and the VPN.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

Then I'd access the FTP site from home and download the data so it's local. At this point I could just work (happily?) away and reverse the process when done.

I have no idea whether this would work for you. Quite honestly, I don't know whether it would work for me - I've never tried it with PDMWorks, although I have sent files to the FTP site while logged in remotely.

It's a cobbled together solution that may or may not be better than what you have now. I just thought I'd throw it out there....