Tips for Using Vault in Digital Prototyping

Autodesk Vault is designed to help with your team-based manufacturing design process by easing your pain around the digital prototyping process, including:

• Helping your team find past revisions of digital prototypes;
• Avoiding premature or accidental use of the wrong drawings for production;
• Ensuring industry and company standards are adhered to;
• Alleviating the monotony when batch printing sets of drawings.

When creating, sharing and reusing digital prototyping information, the key for optimal results in  using Vault can come down to just a few basic strategies.

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If you’re not using Vault or would like to talk to an industry expert about using it more efficiently, contact Applied Software today.

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After the Vault server and clients are installed and your bulk data is loaded, try the following tips for using Vault in digital prototyping and discover how it can be your “pain reliever.”

• Unique Names

To manage files and avoid duplicate file names, turn on “Enforce Unique File Names” from the Vault client pull down menu: Tools -> Administration -> Vault Settings

• Standardized Uploads

Be sure “Disable Check In of Design Files” is selected. This prevents users from dragging and dropping CAD files into the Vault. To check new files into Vault and ensure that all data is uploaded, you can use Vault add-ins for client applications. As an example, you can add files to Vault using the Inventor Vault Add-in.

• Backups

This is a given. Administrators need to take the time to be prepared. A backup can be created and restored from the Autodesk Data Management Server (ADMS) console, which automates both processes. The ADMS tracks the number of days since the last backup, the number of incremental backups since the last full backup, and whether the server is eligible for an incremental restore. To automate the backup, create a batch file that can be executed on a schedule using Windows Task Scheduler. You can also script for log file creation and notification.

• Maintenance 

To optimize the SQL database for performance, an administrator should run a scheduled maintenance plan every week after-hours, when everyone is logged out. The maintenance will check database and transaction log files for optimal size, as well as inconsistencies in the database. If you have a connected workgroup environment, maintenance should be done on each SQL server. After running maintenance, confirm it was successful. A corrupted backup is useless. The Autodesk Knowledge Network has more information about maintenance plans.

• Disaster Recovery Plan

Plan for the worst-case scenario of data loss – ransomware, malware, etc. Document your plan so anyone can follow it if you’re not in the office when it’s needed. Keep your plan updated to stay ahead of changes to server environments. The Autodesk Knowledge Network has an article that lists different restore scenarios with suggested solutions. To stay familiar with the process of restoring, you should periodically practice restoring to a non-production Vault Server.

Vault can alleviate challenges of digital prototyping and eliminate the tedium of team-based design. Use these tips for optimal use to be sure you’re getting the best benefits from Vault.

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