Autodesk Vault Collaboration and Vault Professional allow the configuration of connected workgroups to impove the performance of Microsoft SQL for remote sites.
Replication is the process of copying data from one server to another server usually located in two different physical locations. This process allows the setup of a Vault environment which has two different locations. It is not necessary to download large CAD files across their Wide Area Network (WAN) connection. Before the added features of Connected Workgroups in Vault Collaboration and Vault Professional only the files were replicated.
The connected workgroup feature in Autodesk Vault Collaboration and Vault Professional supports the use of multiple database servers using Microsoft SQL Publisher/Subscriber technology. This technology allows the replication of the SQL database at multiple locations.
Opening ports in Windows Firewall
Copy the following line into a batch file to open the necessary ports.
@echo ========= SQL Server Ports ===================
@echo Enabling SQLServer default instance port 1433
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 1433 "SQLServer"
@echo Enabling Dedicated Admin Connection port 1434
netsh firewall set portopening TCP 1434 "SQL Admin Connection"
@echo Enabling port for SQL Server Browser Service's 'Browse' Button
netsh firewall set portopening UDP 1434 "SQL Browser"
@echo Enabling SQL Server Dynamic port
netsh firewall set portopening TCP <number> "SQL AUTODESKVAULT"
Vault Collaboration and Vault Professional allow replication of file stores from one site to another site. This is managed by one Microsoft SQL database. This configuration is known as a workgroup. The following illustration shows a typical workgroup configuration. All sites in a single workgroup share the same Microsoft SQL server.
To allow sites to have their own database server to increase SQL performance, Autodesk Vault Collaboration uses connected workgroups. The following illustration shows a workgroup with two different sites connected to a second workgroup with a single site.
The installation of a Connected Workgroup environment requires each component to be installed and configured in the correct order, as follows.
Autodesk Vault Collaboration or Vault Professional do not support connected workgroups on Microsoft SQL express. The full version of Microsoft SQL must be installed with a database instance named "AutodeskVault" before installing the Vault server. ) For more information, see Pre-Install Microsoft SQL.
After the Publishing server is set up and configured, you can set up the subscribing servers. When configuring the subscribing servers the publishing server installs the Vault server databases to the subscribing server over the network.
Perform all backup and restore operations from the publisher site. If it becomes necessary to restore a subscriber, remove that subscriber from the connected workgroup environment, rebuild the subscriber server, and add it back to the connected workgroup environment.
Autodesk Vault Collaboration or Vault Professional backs up the normal KVM and Vault databases, and the SQL master database, the msdb database, and the replication distribution database. The default name of the replication distribution database is AutodeskReplication.
Autodesk Vault Collaboration and Vault Professional do not allow you to restore a connected workgroup environment. The databases necessary for restoring a connected workgroup environment are backed up, and can be restored manually if necessary.
Use the Vault server console to create a backup of the Vault server at the publisher site.
To restore an Autodesk Vault Collaboration or Vault Professional environment using the backup and restore tools provided by the server console, the publishing server must be restored and all subscribers must be added as if they were never part of the environment.
The following rules apply when manually restoring the Autodesk Vault Collaboration or Vault Professional connected workgroup publisher while maintaining the existing subscribers:
Restore the databases in the following order: