PDMWorks Workgroup Installation Instructions

Introduction

This guide describes how to install the PDMWorks® application. Different sections serve different installation types:

A PDMWorks system is illustrated as follows:
 

NOTES:

  • A computer can contain only one Vault.

  • The Vault directory cannot be a hidden or read-only directory.

  • A Vault must include the Advanced Server to accept the Web Portal or Triggers.

  • A license for PDMWorks API is included with the licenses of SolidWorks Add-in clients, Standalone clients, and the Advanced Server. Check-in APIs require client licenses.

  • Clients and the VaultAdmin, API, and Web Portal can be installed on the same computer as the Vault, or on different computers.

Section 1: Registration Codes and License Keys

Before you install SolidWorks® Office Professional, SolidWorks Office Premium, or PDMWorks, read the following:

  • If you are a SolidWorks Subscription Service customer, your PDMWorks license key or SolidWorks Office Professional or SolidWorks Office Premium registration code automatically updates during the install.

  • If you are not a SolidWorks Subscription Service customer, or if you are a Subscription Service customer and you install features that are not included with your Subscription Service, you need a new PDMWorks license key or a new SolidWorks Office Professional or SolidWorks Office Premium registration code.

Section 2: For System Administrators

NOTES:

  • When you install a PDMWorks client, you must run pdmwclient.exe on each computer. This executable can be on a shared drive. The PDMWorks Vault (or Vault with Advanced Server), Web Portal, API Client, and VaultAdmin are not installed on each client computer.

  • As a client/server application, PDMWorks performance depends on a robust network.

  • PDMWorks must be able to install as a Windows service, so other applications cannot be allowed to block or filter the service. For example, if anti-spyware tools such as Microsoft AntiSpyware display an alert requiring approval during the installation process, click Allow so the PDMWorks Server is installed as a Windows Service.  

  • If you install PDMWorks on a Windows XP system with Service Pack 2, a Windows 2003 server with Service Pack 1, or a computer with an active firewall, you must enable PDMWorks ports as exceptions in the firewall setup. Typically, the ports are 20000 (VaultAdmin), 30000 (Data), 40000 (Request), and 80 (Web Portal). See the Windows online help for Security Center.To install the PDMWorks Vault and the Web Portal concurrently, use the Custom option in the Setup Type dialog box.

  • When you install PDMWorks clients, the eDrawings viewer is also installed. The eDrawings Publishers are available when you do a full eDrawings installation.

  • When you update the PDMWorks Vault, the next time the clients start up, users have the option to update the clients.

  • If your users maintain a large number of documents, performance is improved if you create more projects or subprojects instead of keeping the documents in a smaller number of projects.  

  • It is not necessary to install the PDMWorks Server to install a client API. The client API is installed during the PDMWorks Client installation.

  • The duplex setting for servers and their corresponding ports should be the same; for example, both could be 100MB Full, or both could be Auto.

To install the PDMWorks Vault or Vault with Advanced Server:

  1. Double-click the file you downloaded from the web, pdmwserver.exe, or insert Disk1 into the CD drive.

  2. Follow the on-screen instructions until you get to the Setup Type dialog box.

  3. In the Setup Type dialog box, select Vault. If you purchased the Vault with Advanced Server, also select Advanced Server. The default installation folder for the Vault is C:\VaultData. If your existing Vault is in a different location, (for example, C:\pdmworks), click Change to browse to the Vault folder.

  4. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

  5. At the end of the installation, select Launch PDMWorks Client Install to install PDMWorks clients. Follow the instructions in Section 3 to install the PDMWorks clients.

To install the VaultAdmin:

    The VaultAdmin is part of the PDMWorks client installation. Select Complete or Custom in the Setup Type dialog box.

    See Section 3 for more details on the client installation.

To log in to the VaultAdmin:

    When installation is complete, log in to the VaultAdmin. Use the following information to log in:

    • Name: pdmwadmin

    • Password: pdmwadmin

    • Vault computer: The host name of the computer where the Vault is installed. If you run the VaultAdmin on the computer where the Vault is installed, type localhost.

To install the Web Portal or API Client:

    NOTE: You must have the Vault with Advanced Server to use the Web Portal. A license for PDMWorks API is included in licenses for SolidWorks Add-in clients, Standalone clients, and Vaults with the Advanced Server.

  1. Double-click the file you downloaded from the web, pdmwserver.exe, or insert Disk1 into the CD drive.

  2. Follow the on-screen instructions until you get to the Setup Type dialog box.

  3. In the Setup Type dialog box, select Custom.

  4. In the Custom Setup dialog box, select Web Portal or API. The default installation folder is displayed under Install to. Click Change to specify a different folder.

  5. Click Next and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

To update the PDMWorks server:

  1. Double-click the file you downloaded from the web, pdmwserver.exe, or insert Disk1 into the CD drive.

  2. Follow the on-screen instructions until you get to the Upgrade Installation dialog box. The installer detects a previous installation and prepares to upgrade.

  3. Click Next to upgrade, then follow the on-screen instructions to complete the upgrade.

    NOTE: To modify a PDMWorks installation, in Windows, click Start, Settings, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs. Select PDMWorks Server, click Change, and follow the on-screen instructions. You can add or remove components of the software.

Web Portal Clients

Users access the Web Portal by typing the following URL into the address field of Internet Explorer:

    http://<Web_Portal_computer_name>/pdmweb/

The PDMWorks software automatically sets up a virtual directory during installation using Microsoft® Internet Information Services (IIS).

NOTES:

  • You must install Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) on computers before installing the PDMWorks Web Portal. See Microsoft documentation for installation instructions.  

  • The Web Site Content Directory is the Web Portal installation folder. By default, this is C:\Program Files\PDMWorksServer\WebPortal.

  • You cannot use underscore characters in the name of the machine that hosts the Web Portal.

  • If you install Web Portal on Windows XP Service Pack 2, you must enable a port in the Windows Firewall. See NOTES at the beginning of Section 2.  

To configure the Web Portal to connect to a different vault location:

    When you installed the Web Portal, you were asked for the name of the computer on which the Vault runs.

    NOTE: The Web Portal can only point to a single Vault at any time.

    There are two ways to configure the Web Portal so that it connects to a different Vault location:

    • Update the registry path:

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DesignSource\PDM/Works\WebPortal\Vault Computer
      Change the Vault Computer value to the computer to which the Vault was relocated.

    • Reinstall the Web Portal. In the Vault Computer Name dialog box, type the computer name to which the Vault was relocated.

Setting up Mime Types for Document Downloading

By default, the Web Portal sends Open Document requests with the generic mime type "application/octet-stream." Microsoft Internet Explorer then opens the requested document with the supplied file extension.

To map additional mime types:

    Create additional string values under the registry sub-key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DesignSource\PDM/Works\WebPortal\Mime Types in the form:

    "ext" = "mime type" for example, "dxf" = "image/vnd.dxf"

    NOTE: You must manually create this registry sub-key before you add the values.

To turn off mime type mappings:

    Change the following registry value to 0 (zero):

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DesignSource\PDM/Works\WebPortal\Use Custom MIME Types

    NOTE: You do not have to restart the web server for this setting to take effect.

SolidWorks Toolbox Documents

SolidWorks Toolbox documents are common hardware components that usually do not require revision control and are not checked in to the PDMWorks Vault. See the PDMWorks online help for details about configuring SolidWorks Toolbox and other standard libraries.

Section 3: For Typical PDMWorks Users

NOTES:

  • If you installed SolidWorks Office Professional, the PDMWorks clients are already installed.

  • When you install PDMWorks, the eDrawings viewer is also installed. The eDrawings Publishers are available when you do a full eDrawings installation.

  • To install a PDMWorks client, run pdmwclient.exe on each computer. This executable can be on a shared drive.

To install the PDMWorks clients:

  1. Double-click the file you downloaded from the web, pdmwclient.exe, or insert Disk1 into the CD drive.

  2. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

    NOTE: If you want to install only the Standalone Client, in the Setup Type dialog box, select Custom.

To install the Standalone Client for AutoCAD users:

NOTE: You must have AutoCAD Release 14 or later installed on your computer to install the Standalone Client for AutoCAD users.

  1. Double-click the file you downloaded from the web, pdmwclient.exe, or insert Disk1 into the CD drive.

  2. Follow the on-screen instructions until you get to the Setup Type dialog box.

  3. In the Setup Type dialog box, select Custom, then click Next.

  4. In the Custom Setup dialog box, set Standalone Client to This feature, and all sub-features, will be installed on local hard drive.

  5. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

To update the PDMWorks clients:

    The PDMWorks clients (Standalone Client and SolidWorks Client) detect when the Vault has been updated. You do not need to download a service pack to update clients. See the PDMWorks online help for instructions on updating clients.

To log in to the clients:

    Contact your system administrator for login information.

To connect to the PDMWorks Web Portal:

    Contact your system administrator for the URL to connect to the Web Portal.

Section 4: Silent Installation

You can install PDMWorks clients and server using the SolidWorks Administrative Director. First create an administrative image of PDMWorks, then write a batch file to install the applications.

To create an Administrative Image:

  1. In Windows, click Start, Run.

  2. Type cmd, then click OK.

  3. Place Disk 3 of SolidWorks in the CD drive, or download pdmwclient.exe, then type:

msiexec /a "D:\pdmwclient\PDMWorks Clients.msi"

NOTE: D is the CD drive or the path to the downloaded executable. Alternatively, you can type msiexec /a and drag PDMWorks Clients.msi from a Windows Explorer window into the command prompt window.

  1. Follow the steps of the PDMWorks client installer, specifying a location for storing the Administrative Image that is created, then click Finish.

  2. Make the folder with the PDMWorks Clients.msi image a shared folder and note the UNC path name.

To start a silent installation (without the display of a user interface or dialog boxes), use the /i and /qn options of the msiexec.exe command. Set the global properties for those installation options that you want to be different from the default values.

Silent installations are typically used for scripted mass installation of many clients. Enter a command in the form (all on one line):

    msiexec /i "<Msi_path>"
    INSTALLDIR="<    path-and-folder>"
    ADDLOCAL=VaultAdmin,Client,Standalone,AutoCADR2004Addin
    LICENSE_CLIENT="    xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx"
    LICENSE_SA="    xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx"
    /qn

The server is usually a one-time installation handled through the graphical interface.

NOTES:

  • PDMWorks determines the language automatically.

  • If you specify AdvancedServer in ADDLOCAL, you must also specify Vault.

  • The VAULTDATA parameter works only when no previous version of the PDMWorks server is installed on the VAULTNAME computer. It does not reset the name of a Vault folder, nor does it install a second Vault.

  • PDMWorks does not require license keys to be entered during this procedure. You can enter license keys at runtime. Keycodes from previous installations are not converted.

  • If you specify AutoCAD, AutoCAD must be installed on your system. PDMWorks locates the appropriate version of AutoCAD. You can specify more than one version of AutoCAD (AutoCADR14Addin, AutoCADR2000Addin,  AutoCADR2004Addin, AutoCADR2005Addin, or AutoCADR2006Addin).

  • If you specify WebPortal in ADDLOCAL, you must also specify VAULTNAME.

  • See Microsoft's reference on Windows Installer for a complete list of options.