Vault is slow when creating a sub-folder in a folder with 1000 other folders

Issue:

You need to create a new folder and Vault pauses as if it locks up or stops responding.

Shutting the Vault client down in Task Manager after it appears to have stopped responding works and the new folder was created successfully. Why does Vault appear to lock up? Is the number of sub-folders causing this?

Causes:

There are about a thousand sub-folders in the folder that seem to freeze when adding one more folder.

Existing Autodesk technical articles here and here agree that "There is no limitation in the number of files/folders inside one folder. " "But for performance reasons...(we) recommend 500-1000 files per folder" and by extension, no more than 1000 sub-folders per folder.

Solution:

Since Vault performs many lookup operations for the properties in the columns displayed in the vault grid, those properties that require real-time lookup will add to the delay as all files in the current folder are processed.

While there is no software limit on the number of files or sub-folders in a given folder, there will be, however, a practical limit based on performance and responsiveness.  

You will know when you have reached that practical limit due to the unacceptable delay for the grid to populate. The limit may vary among workstations.

The following factors and others can help reduce the delay if the number of sub-folders in the current folder cannot be reduced.

• Reduce the number of columns shown, especially those with runtime-computed properties such as State Glyph, Category Glyph, Vault Status, Property Compliance and Has Markup, for example.
• Consider reducing the paging limit listed in the ADMS Console (Vault Server component) in Tools  > Administration > Advanced Settings tab > Paging limit, so that fewer files are listed on one page. Notice the note from that dialog box below: ' Setting a smaller page size will improve server performance.'

• If the local antivirus real-time scanner is slowing down performance as it scans files that will be displayed in the grid, then consider excluding from scanning, the common filetypes that Vault transfers and displays, using the list of file extensions and processes in this article:

• With more RAM, faster network speeds and faster SSD hard drives, the practical limit may be higher, but the trade-off is available resources versus the acceptable delay.

About the Author

Sr. Technical Support Specialist, Manufacturing<br><br>Bob Felton has been supporting Autodesk products for over 25 years including core AutoCAD, P&ID, Plant 3D, AutoCAD for Mac, AutoCAD Mechanical, and Vault. His background is in graphics with an Applied Sciences degree and ten years manufacturing experience drafting, as well as technical illustration, image editing, and even patent drafting.

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