Local Creo installation versus network installation.

[ProFeature]

Hi All,

We have a classroom with 41 workstations. Which is better: a local Creo installation for each class or a network installation?

Our licenses are FLEXnet

Thanks!

[BenLoosli]

From an administrative standpoint, a network install is easier. 

Just set the Start In in the shortcut for each workstation to a local location.

Performance difference is minimal, maybe a few seconds longer at start up, which is done only once.

[ProFeature]

Thank you @BenLoosli 

I did not mention in the topic that we intended to install Creo 10.

Questions:

1. Does the performance difference depend on the speed of our network?
2. If the difference is only a few seconds, why is this not considered best practice in organizations?
3. Is there a minimum number of installations for which one installation method is preferred over another?

Thanks

[Chris3]

Its not widely used because large corporations don't always have great LAN networks and or they span multiple sites / countries. There can also be issues if a lot of users are pulling from the same server all at once. There is only so much I/O that the server hard drive can put out.

Lastly because its not a local install, a few dropped bits on the network can cause the program to crash.

[ProFeature]

Hi @Chris3 ,

What is "great LAN networks"? What tests should we perform?

We currently have a single class, and the users are casual. The advantage I see is that Creo can be updated without affecting the users or changing anything in the classroom computer settings.

[Chris3]

Great LAN network means that you don't have old network switches and or don't have to jump through multiple network hubs to get to the users. The case that you are describing sounds ideal as long as your network switches are modern. You probably only have one switch to transfer through.

In my companies case for instance, we have remote users. So the network install would reside on a server which then would have to travel through multiple internal network switches including a VPN server leaving the company with competing network traffic (people streaming music for instance) and then probably 4-5 additional network servers outside the company before reaching the remote user with whatever internet package they have (which may further reduce bandwidth). In that scenario, performance can suffer because the CAD traffic would compete with other internet traffic.

[BenLoosli]

A lot depends on the company infrastructure. I have done both over the years.

With 250+ workstations running Creo (Wildifre, at the time), it takes a lot of organization and time to do individual installs of the latest version of software. You also run into issues of data sharing. Manufacturing had to be updated first so they were on the latest version and could read the files that engineering was then creating in the new version.

With a single installation, which I do now, I have a batch command file that I can just update a few lines in and the users are now running the latest version installed on the network. We do run fiber to each desk so speed is not an issue for us. We also have some workstations are rack mounted in a server room running remote desktop connection boxes.

[ProFeature]

How can we determine whether the current network's speed is adequate?

Is the installation done according to this article? Article - CS115373 - How to install Creo Parametric on a network drive

[Chris3]

The best thing to do is to just test. Your network configuration is going to be different than anyone else's here. You want to install a network install and then have multiple users open it up at the same time.

[BenLoosli]

One nice thing about Creo is that it does not use the Windows registry for anything. I do the installation on one of my Windchill servers and then just copy the whole installation folder structure over to the network shared location. Update the parametric.bat file for the new location and I'm good to go.

[Feature]

I read the interesting correspondence as well as the PTC article, and I would like to receive additional information and best practices for workstation settings that are unclear to me. I use a diagram to clarify.

If I have workstations as shown in the diagram (blue). Do I install Creo from one of them on a network drive (green)? After installation, do we simply run parametric.exe from all workstations connected to the network drive with no additional installation?

[TomU]

To prevent having to change a bunch of stuff, I would temporarily configure my local workstation to have a mapped drive back to my local hard drive with the exact same drive letter that the user's eventual mapped drive would be.  Then I would install and configure Creo to that drive letter.  Once finished, I'd copy it up to the network location and switch my mapped drive back to it.  Since I wanted the mapped network drive to be read only for everyone, including me, this was the easiest way for me to install to the same drive letter and not have to manually modify anything after the fact.

[achirila]

Hi @ProFeature 

It looks like you have some responses from some community members. If any of these replies helped you solve your question please mark the appropriate reply as the Accepted Solution. 

Of course, if you have more to share on your issue, please let the Community know so other community members can continue to help you.

[ProFeature]

Hi @achirila 

There is no single answer to my question...

I believe that the discussions and experiences of the users who have written here are extremely important.

[SweetPeasHub]

When my university used Creo (~2005) they pushed a common windows disk image with the latest configuration to all the lab machines at the start of each semester. My current company uses deployment software to automatically deploy installations and updates to machines, and I hope to add Creo to this soon. Silent installation of Creo can be done by including certain files from a master computer. PTC has help articles covering silent installation. I am not a fan of the network installation method. I would have the silent installation files ready and instruct on the first day for each student to install it on their lab machine. That is pretty much the approach here, we have each user get 24hr administrators rights and install/upgrade their own Creo with a detailed work instruction/check list. That is a great way to initiate someone to the startup / working directory, config files, and launch options. Our users can launch based on the Creo license Tiers, like Tier1, Tier2. etc.