Maximizing SolidWorks Performance (MSWP-12-#10)

Network Storage and Anti virus

Network Storage

One of the principle benefits of working with SolidWorks is the ability to share data and have multiple people working on an assembly at the same time.  This type of cooperative environment requires network storage of the data.  Using this data across a network can greatly damage productivity when compared with using the same data locally.  There are many factors involved that would contribute to performance in this comparison so results will differ greatly based on speed of the local hard drives, the network, the sever, and the server's hard drives.  However, it is fair to say that working with files from the local hard drive will be significantly faster than going over the network.  This is one of many factors that make utilization of Enterprise PDM imperative for so many companies.

Our testing showed a 16% performance degradation from our baseline when operating over the network.  This loss in performance can be greater or less depending on the configuration or your network, number of user on your network, hard drive type on the server and client machines.

Anti-Virus Scanning

When accessing files over a network it is common that they are being scanned for viruses either by the client, or the server, or both.  This scanning does have an impact on SolidWorks performance.  Exploring alternative means of scanning for external threats (or making exceptions for SolidWorks extensions in scanning) can have a big impact on performance if operating in a shared network environment.

When virus scanning was active on the server only, our benchmark ran 13% slower than when working over the network without scanning.  When virus scanning was active on both the server and the client, our benchmark ran 18% slower than when working over the network without scanning.

Overall if we add both of these tests together to have our files stored on the network and we have antivirus scanning going on both the server and client machines our macro ran in 6:52:00 if we compare this to our test baseline which had a runtime of 5:01:35 that is a performance loss of 1:25:35 or 26.8%.

Please check back to the CATI blog as we will continue posting our series of articles that goes further into the details of each of our tests. All of these articles will be stored in the category of Maximizing SolidWorks Performance and links to each with their release date are listed below:

• Maximize SolidWorks Performance White Paper (7/2/12)


• MSWP-12-#1 Introduction (7/9/12)


• MSWP-12-#2 Windows Visual and User Settings (7/12/12)


• MSWP-12-#3 SolidWorks Options Set to Optimal (7/17/12)


• MSWP-12-#4 Graphics Cards (7/19/12)


• MSWP-12-#5 Turn Off SolidWorks Add-Ins (7/24/12)


• MSWP-12-#6 Processor Clock Speed (7/26/12)


• MSWP-12-#7 Reducing SolidWorks Mates and Rigid Subassemblies (7/31/12)


• MSWP-12-#8 Number of Processor Cores (8/2/12)


• MSWP-12-#9 SolidWorks Graphic Settings (8/7/12)


• MSWP-12-#10 Network Storage and Anti-Virus (8/9/12)


• MSWP-12-#11 Level of Detail (8/14/12)


• MSWP-12-#12 RAM and SWAP File (8/16/12)


• MSWP-12-#13 Hard Drives (8/21/12)


• MSWP-12-#14 Lightweight and Large Assembly Mode (8/23/12)


• MSWP-12-#15 Optimal Configuration and Conclusion (8/28/12)

Thanks,

Josh Altergott, CATI Support Manager

Adrian Fanjoy, CATI Technical Services Director