model size reporting less than zero

[ksobon]

@dbaldacchino how is it possible for the model size to be less than 0?

I followed your advice and set the model size to be calculated from (fileSize - supportFileSize). If the above graph is not a glitch in the system then we are getting support files that are bigger than the actual file size reported by revit server. Ideas?

[dbaldacchino]

It's an alternative reality hahaha :D No idea how that is even possible. My understanding is that the model size less the support file size is equal to the (realistic) model size. Here's a link where I captured some reference info. on this topic. https://hub.hok.com/buildingsmart/Technical/Revit%20Server%20Support.aspx

Based on a developer response (if you read through the above link starting from "Support Files - Size Implications"), it didn't appear that support files were lumped into the total for Model Size, but from my digging that didn't seem to be the case, especially when looking at the size of a local model.

[ksobon]

@dbaldacchino reading through this:

This temporary area is a folder beneath Users_Temp. Thus, if the support files size is more than a few MB large, it is likely that someone's SWC has failed. It is normal to see this value periodically increase, but in general it should also reduce. If the support file size remains high but is generally static, it is possible that someone attempted to SWC, left files behind, and never tried again for that model. Growth in the supported file size, or a supported file size that is variable but generally large, could be symptomatic of a problem with network reliability, because this will generally indicate that SWCs are failing to succeed somewhat regularly. If the growth is attributable to a specific user (or certain users) it could indicate that those users have developed the habit of terminating Revit in the middle of an operation. This should be discouraged.

It states that if the support file size grows, which it clearly did in our case, it might be symptomatic of an issue with synch to central, or network connectivity. Could that be?

@MPritchy did you hear anything from the LGA team, that they could not synch their models to central? Repeated failures could have caused the issue that we are seeing with the reported file size.

[dbaldacchino]

@ksobon yes it is symptomatic of sync failures, but those could happen due to a lot of reasons. For example a model crashing while doing so because it is too darn big. Or a connection issue (unlikely but can happen), or a server goes offline while a sync is happening, etc. That's why we want to keep an eye on those support file sizes and it seems the only way to get rid of that is to re-save over the central. Even Clarity has an automated message that goes out when the support file sizes hit a certain percentage of the model size.

[ksobon]

Should this be something that we want to incorporate into MC? Check if support file size is >X% of the model size, and send out an email to someone.

@dbaldacchino @gschleusner

In case that you all say yes, then the question would be:

• who's the person that this message is sent to, and how do I know that?
• should there be any action taken with the user? is there anything that can be done in these cases?

[dbaldacchino]

I vote yes. Clarity has this notification built in and is based on the size of such files (default is 100MB). I think we should use a percentage instead of a fixed number. We can start with 20% as the initial threshold (20% of the realistic file size....total model size as reported by Revit Server less support files). We can change from there if needed.

[ksobon]

@dbaldacchino so you say yes, but what about my questions?

[dbaldacchino]

Email should go to the DTM in the region. If you'd like not have to manage that, we can use FME to send the notification like we are doing now with the Open Central model. You'd just make a call to a specific work-space and it'll take care of sending the notification. Does that work for you?

As to the last question, the DTM will take care of the issue togethre with the team. I can tailor and modify the notification and provide links etc. to the issue in question and what can be done to resolve.