Revit support with network file servers (NAS) or cloud storage solutions

Autodesk Support

Jun 27, 2024

Products and versions covered

Issue:

Revit interoperability with network (NAS / SAN) and cloud file storage.

Causes:

With new file storage options emerging and older ones becoming more readily available, it is important to understand how Revit can work with the various file storage solutions.

Solution:

Revit is designed to work with and support Microsoft Windows & the Windows file system.

If a technology seeks to emulate either Windows or the file system to the extent that this technology can successfully emulate Windows networking protocols, then it should work with Revit.

However, if it fails to emulate Windows properly or introduces restrictions that aren’t in Windows, then that is the responsibility of the technology that’s doing the emulation.

Latency: File based worksharing in Revit was designed for use in a local area network (LAN). When the latency (ping time) increases beyond what would normally be seen on a LAN (0-2ms) timeouts, operation failures, and central model corruption are more likely to occur. If usage of a wide area network (WAN) / Internet / VPN connection is needed, look into using Revit Server Enterprise, or Cloud based worksharing.

Before investing in a storage solution:

Check with the vendor to confirm that it can fully support SMB and Windows networking protocols.
Check on the technical support offered by the vendor for troubleshooting problems with SMB/Application interactions.

If issues arise with an existing storage solution:

To rule out the storage solution as being related to the issue, test the Revit models on a Windows file server, and confirm if the same behavior occurs.
- If the issue does not occur on a Windows file server, then work with the storage solution vendor to troubleshoot further.
- If the issue does occur on a Windows file server, then you have ruled out the storage solution as being related to the issue at hand, and further research on the cause can exclude the storage device from search keywords.