PDMWorks on ANY machine except the one with Solidworks on it!!!!

I thought I could find my way round most things or know someone who could
find a way, but this has myself and everyone I know stuck! I can not get
into the vault, if the vault is not on the same pc but is on a Windows
network machine or a Novell network server.

I even tried just two xppro machines networked though a network hub. With
Solidworks 2003 sp4 , client addin, standalone client, vault admin, on
machine1 and the vault (with vault admin) installed on the machine2.
I can get into the vault from machine2, but can't get into the vault from
machine1.
On machine2 I have shared the Pdmworks folder and every folder in it, I have
even tried sharing the root directory!
I tried adding the path in the machine1 registry, still no luck!
Why could they not include a browse option for the vault location(opps
tooooo easy that one!)??

AHHHHHH! what a piece of crap software! And yes, by the way, I have asked my
Var!

No comment as they are trying very hard on my behalf, It is solidworks USA
who are very sloooow.
The Pdmworks help section is also utter utter rubbish, not as good as the
solidworks help section.
Please come to your own conclusion on that comment!

I brought this on Monday 15th September, it is now Friday 19th September and
I still don't have a working pdmworks.
Oh well another expensive mug mat, it will go with the free AOL disks I keep
getting, but is worth a lot less!
Oh! by the way, I almost forgot to ask, with all my frustration, can anyone
help??

 

How is anyone going to be able to help you since you have already
determined that the software is "a piece of crap" and less valuable than
an AOL trial disk? Enjoy your new mug mat, and good luck.


....



On the other hand, hypothetically speaking of course, if it turned out
to be user error instead of crappy software, here are some things an
inept user might have done to screw it up. You really haven't given any
useful details that would point out exactly what your mistake was (such
as what happens when you can't access the vault, an error number,
message or something).

- firewall up between two machines
- incompatible versions on server and client (client cannot be later
version than server)
- server service is not running
- didn't install with admin privileges
- manually changed file structure in vault
- don't know the default admin login or password
- not entering the name or IP of the server correctly on login
- vault not installed correctly

Can you ping between machines? Can you run the vault admin on the
server? What happens when you try to sign in from the client machine?
You know that when you login from the client you have to enter the name
of the server in the login window, right (don't use "localhost")? Did
you check to see the pdmService.exe process is running on the server?

PDMWorks is the easiest to install PDM product I have ever worked with.
It's really very simple, and if done correctly, it works every time.

Out of curiosity, how did you install the PDMW vault on the Novell
server

You already know of course that sharing the pdmworks vault folders has
absolutely no effect and is actually a bad idea.

The reason they do not include a browse to vault option is that you
shouldn't do that. You should "never" browse to the vault. Dealing
with the vault directly can cause the kind of problems you are seeing
now and others.

Your VAR might not be responding because you are either overlooking
something very simple or have done something really stupid to screw
things up. I apologize for being so direct, but in the end it's more
helpful than just agreeing with you.

Have you considered paying someone who knows what they're doing to do
some implementation work for you?

I suppose it would also be dumb of me to ask if you got any training.

Anyway, good luck.

matt.

 

I have installed the vault on a Samba server running on Linux. But the vault
service still has to run on a Windows machine which makes the operation
somewhat inefficient. I have played around with getting the vault server to
run in Wine so that everything is on the Linux box. This is a hack and is
not supported by SW so your milage may vary.

matt wrote:

 

Paul,

Do you have anything to quantify the "somewhat inefficiency" or is it just
a guess? I've been told by someone I trust that setting the server service
and the vault data on two different machines doesn't double the network
traffic by sending the data from the vault to the server to the client.
I'm working on getting a Linux box up so I can play with testing this sort
of thing (main constraint is time, i've got the box and the OS).

Did you do this just to see if you could or for some other purpose like
disk space, or backup?

I was mainly asking the question because someone who can't sign into the
vault is probably going to have some difficulty making a trans-OS
installation work, or an incorrect trans-OS install may be the source of
his not being able to connect.

Thanks for the input.

matt.

 

Hi, thanks for the direct approach I prefer that.
I think that as I pay £995 a year for the subscription and the help line, I
shouldn't have to pay anyone any more money.
Would you?
But here is the info you wanted, I think you are right, I have made a stupid
mistake somewhere, but I only followed the information given to me by my
VAR. We actually done the installation over the phone step by step!

Ok, lets take the simple configuration first.

Machine1:- brand new machine with brand new install of XP Pro
Brand new install of solidworks office pro
Selected install of solidworks client, stand alone client and vault admin
using the default installation directories

Computer name is "cad1"

Workgroup =WORKGROUP

IP address 192.168.0.1

I have set ([HKLM] |software\DesignSource\PDMWorks\server\ - root Path =
\\cad2\


Machine2:-brand new machine with brand new install of XP Pro
Selected install of vault admin and the vault using the default installation
directories

Computer name "cad2"

Workgroup =WORKGROUP

IP address 192.168.0.2

Hub between the two PC's 100Mb Netgear

From Machine2, using
user name :- pdmwadmin
password :- pdmwadmin
computer name :- localhost
I can get into the vault with no problems

From Machine1, using
user name :- pdmwadmin
password :- pdmwadmin
computer name :- cad2

or using
From Machine1, using
user name :- pdmwadmin
password :- pdmwadmin
computer name :- \\cad2\

or using
From Machine1, using
user name :- pdmwadmin
password :- pdmwadmin
computer name :- \\cad2\PDMWorks

or using
user name :- pdmwadmin
password :- pdmwadmin
computer name :- 192.168.0.2
I get an error 40

I then mapped Machine's C: drive, as drive P: on Machine1

I then set ([HKLM] |software\DesignSource\PDMWorks\server\ - root Path =
\\P:\cad2\PDMWorks

From Machine1, using
user name :- pdmwadmin
password :- pdmwadmin
computer name :- \\P:\cad2

or using
From Machine1, using
user name :- pdmwadmin
password :- pdmwadmin
computer name :- \\P:\cad2\PDMWorks

or using
From Machine1, using
user name :- pdmwadmin
password :- pdmwadmin
computer name :- localhost

I get the login screen
Then an error saying"can not find user names"

I have tried sharing the whole C: drive on Machine2 and then even the
individual folders
I can see the pdmworks directory on Machine2 from Machine1, I can even see
the files in the folder.
That's it so far, except one last thing, d/clicking on the vault exe file I
get a message saying" insufficient permissions"
Phew! that was a lot of remembering!

 

Hi, thanks for the direct approach I prefer that.
I think that as I pay £995 a year for the subscription and the help line, I
shouldn't have to pay anyone any more money.
Would you?
But here is the info you wanted, I think you are right, I have made a stupid
mistake somewhere, but I only followed the information given to me by my
VAR. We actually done the installation over the phone step by step!

Ok, lets take the simple configuration first.

Machine1:- brand new machine with brand new install of XP Pro
Brand new install of solidworks office pro
Selected install of solidworks client, stand alone client and vault admin
using the default installation directories

Computer name is "cad1"

Workgroup =WORKGROUP

IP address 192.168.0.1

I have set ([HKLM] |software\DesignSource\PDMWorks\server\ - root Path =
\\cad2\


Machine2:-brand new machine with brand new install of XP Pro
Selected install of vault admin and the vault using the default installation
directories

Computer name "cad2"

Workgroup =WORKGROUP

IP address 192.168.0.2

Hub between the two PC's 100Mb Netgear

From Machine2, using
user name :- pdmwadmin
password :- pdmwadmin
computer name :- localhost
I can get into the vault with no problems

From Machine1, using
user name :- pdmwadmin
password :- pdmwadmin
computer name :- cad2

or using
From Machine1, using
user name :- pdmwadmin
password :- pdmwadmin
computer name :- \\cad2\

or using
From Machine1, using
user name :- pdmwadmin
password :- pdmwadmin
computer name :- \\cad2\PDMWorks

or using
user name :- pdmwadmin
password :- pdmwadmin
computer name :- 192.168.0.2
I get an error 40

I then mapped Machine's C: drive, as drive P: on Machine1

I then set ([HKLM] |software\DesignSource\PDMWorks\server\ - root Path =
\\P:\cad2\PDMWorks

From Machine1, using
user name :- pdmwadmin
password :- pdmwadmin
computer name :- \\P:\cad2

or using
From Machine1, using
user name :- pdmwadmin
password :- pdmwadmin
computer name :- \\P:\cad2\PDMWorks

or using
From Machine1, using
user name :- pdmwadmin
password :- pdmwadmin
computer name :- localhost

I get the login screen
Then an error saying"can not find user names"

I have tried sharing the whole C: drive on Machine2 and then even the
individual folders
I can see the pdmworks directory on Machine2 from Machine1, I can even see
the files in the folder.
That's it so far, except one last thing, d/clicking on the vault exe file I
get a message saying" insufficient permissions"
Phew! that was a lot of remembering!

 

Sometimes it makes sense to call in an expert. If you can't get it up and
running and are thinking of using the installation disk for a mug mat, then
the purchase price was wasted. Most of the time, though, a professional
implementer helps you integrate the tool into your process without you
needing to learn from experience or worse yet mistakes.

Did I mention that the "expert" is not always at your local VAR?

This is the first useful clue. Who told you to do that? It's a misguided
hack. You only get the \server\ path in the registry if you have the vault
server installed on that machine. First check to see if the vault is
running or installed on your machine. Check the Task Manager of Cad1 for a
process called pdmwService.exe. Then do a search of your hard drive for
that name. The vault data and executables should be installed on Cad2, not
on Cad1.

This may well be the source of your problem, and if so, both I and your VAR
owe you an apology. To correct it? I hesitate to tell you to delete
anything from the registry, but... just rename the \server\ path to
\serverX\, or if you find that the vault (data and executables) was
installed on the client machine (a common error), then just uninstall the
vault.

Out of curiosity, which version of SW/PDMW are you using? The install for
PDMW 2004 is much better than 2003. There are also a few new functions in
04 that you may find useful.

Don't do that. All it needs is the computer NAME, ie - cad2.

Don't do that.

Ok, another clue. Error 40 means "Network Unknown". I'm gonna guess that
happens because of the bogus unc path in the \server\ entry in the registry
that I mentioned above.

no, no, no.

Don't do that.

Aaayyeeee! Don't do that.

This is telling you that it can't find a portion of the vault install on
the cad1 machine, which is kind of a good thing. It means you don't have a
functional vault on the client machine.

AAAHHHHH! No, no, no. Don't map or share the vault data folder. ALL
access to the vault should happen through the pdmwService.exe server
application. Users should definitely not have access to the vault folders.
They don't need it. Even the administrator shouldn't browse the vault
unless you need to recover something from a "latest" folder or you're going
to back it up, or... unless you ask someone who knows more about PDMW than
your VAR first.

In a production install, no one should be able to see these folders except
the administrator of the vault from the server machine.

Anyway, get rid of that \server\ entry in the registry and let us know if
it works.

Good luck.

matt.

 

Matt,

Like you I am short on time to putter. When I had NT on my main machine it
was working. When I switched to XP recently I couldn't get it setup. Don't
know if it is XP or if I forgot some tweak that I had to do on the NT box.
There seemed to be a slowdown compared to running native. I attributed it
to the fact that PDMWorks does do a lot of writing to the vault in the
creation and upkeep of the "database". Do I have quantifiable numbers, no.
The files are small. The other problem is that during the vault install
there are two times it asks for a directory to install the vault in. I can
never keep straight which is which.

The last I played with it was to try to get the PDM service to run under
Wine. I know of at least one fair sized user who serves files on Samba and
would find this arrangement attractive. Wine should be able to run the
service, but I am on the front of the learning curve on it. There are
always the virtual machine approaches. Just load up an old copy of NT to
run the server and off you go.

 

Yeah, that's been a problem. They've improved that in SW04.
There is now a separate install for client and server, and the
server distinguishes between VaultData and Vault.

If you have any success with Wine, please announce here. I
haven't had any questions about that yet, mostly just Novell.
It's probably just a matter of time until someone hits me up for
Linux.

Thanks for the info.

Matt.