Design access from a corp. network

[MikeM]

Greetings Irricad Team & Users,
Question for you folks..I currently save all my design files to a local hard drive at work, which makes things a little difficult due to the fact that almost daily I have to take work home. So I upload any design work I might need to access to a USB drive and download it to my home computer once I get home. Not the greatest way to go about things as often I find I need to access a design that I did not bring with me.

Corporate I.T. has suggested I put my designs on their Network drive and access the file through a VPN connection remotely that way. Everything non Irricad related is currently accessed this way without a hitch.
The problem I have with Irricad itself is while it does everything fine design-wise on the network, it does take about 2 minutes to save or open a file while on the network. This holds true whether I am working from home or at my office. Which is waaay too long, I would end up wasting an hour a day just waiting on that hourglass..really slows down my groove!

Surely dozens of Irricad users work off a network. Is there something I am potentially missing?
Sorry I do not have much info on the network itself (though I probably could get any relevant info).
I thought perhaps I invest in a solid state drive with a Sata connection and just take ALL my work
wherever I go?

Thanks much for your time,

Mike

[jovivier]

Mike,

IRRICAD can definitely be successfully accessed from a network. For example, on our internal network (Windows Active Directory), a large design (combined files = 18MB) took 5 seconds to open from a network drive.

I think that we would probably need details of your network to be of more help but here are some questions and comments:-

1. Are you running IRRICAD Pro Version 11.12?

2. Is IRRICAD installed locally both on your office computer and your home computer?

3. A good test would be to copy a complete design (i.e. all files) from the network to your hard drive. Then open the same design, in Irricad, from the network and compare the times. If it takes approximately the same time then the problem is simply a network speed issue.

4. Where is your Component Database located? On the network or on your hard drive?

5. Are there any obvious slow points during the opening process (E.g. does the File|Open dialog take a long time to load for instance? Is there any indication on the Irricad status bar to show what is happening?)

Rgrds,
Jo

[MikeM]

1. Are you running IRRICAD Pro Version 11.12?
Yes

2. Is IRRICAD installed locally both on your office computer and your home computer?
Yes and both are 11.12

3. A good test would be to copy a complete design (i.e. all files) from the network to your hard drive. Then open the same design, in Irricad, from the network and compare the times. If it takes approximately the same time then the problem is simply a network speed issue.
On the network it takes 2.07 minutes
Locally it takes 3 seconds (same design)


4. Where is your Component Database located? On the network or on your hard drive?
Hard Drive

5. Are there any obvious slow points during the opening process (E.g. does the File|Open dialog take a long time to load for instance? Is there any indication on the Irricad status bar to show what is happening?)
My network server is located offsite about 160 miles away, with a 1.3-1.5 mbps speed so that's likely the majority of the problem.

I will get in touch and see what my I.T. says about the particulars of the network.

Thanks for the quick response.

Mike

[Kosi Kalogerinis]

I may be missing something here, but we find it slow working on ANY files remotely via a VPN, including the larger MS Office documents. Irricad and any larger files again would struggle further. When we work remotely here, we copy the Irricad job folder from our server via the vpn and copy it on to our computer. Then when we complete it we re upload back to the server again via the vpn. Internet speed and consistency of the connection is the limiting factor and it is not even close to the reliability of working onsite from the internal network server.

Maybe our internet connection is Australia is still not up to scratch.

[Kosi Kalogerinis]

My network server is located offsite about 160 miles away, with a 1.3-1.5 mbps speed so that's likely the majority of the problem
Mike

Just read this bit again. Yep that's definitely your problem. Very slow internet speed. What's your internet speed at home? If it is even slower, then that's your limit.

[jovivier]

Hi Mike,

Yes it sounds like an internet speed issue. Though to confirm can you please let us know:

1. The time it takes to copy a complete design from the network to your hard drive (all files associated with the same design).

2. Open the same design on the network (e.g. with IRRICAD open, select File|Open and browse for the design on the network).

Regards,

Jo