Troubleshooting and Frequently Asked Questions

• An administrative lock is performed by an administrator using the Revit Server Administrator tool or Revit Server Lock Command-Line Utility to lock the server.
• A user lock refers to data or permission locks that are applied to a model by a team member in the Revit application to manage concurrent access to a central model. This type of lock may remain locked if a team member’s system closes unexpectedly or the network becomes unresponsive during a server-based transaction. In this scenario, the administrator needs to clear the lock.
• An element-level lock prevents multiple team members from changing the same element in a model at the same time. See Editing Workshared Projects.
  Note User and element-level locks are applied transparently by Revit, not by the user directly (unlike the administrative lock, which is explicitly applied.

They can continue working in their local files, creating new elements and editing elements that are already in their possession. However, they can not conduct any transaction that would change either the model's data state or permissions state. This includes borrowing other elements, synchronizing with central, or reload latest. Contact your administrator for assistance.

Team members must not use the same username in Revit while using Revit Server. The exception is when a team member is out of the office and another team member needs to relinquish the absent team member's permissions so that changes can be made to a model.

If you need to make this exception, immediately revert the username when finished, because model corruption and damage is possible if multiple team members attempt to access the model with the same username simultaneously.

Log files contain information about operations that have taken place on the server and can be used to diagnose various problems.

Logs folder location:

• Windows Server 2008 Installation (Server): C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Revit Server2013\Logs
• Windows 7 installation (Revit user machine): C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\RevitServerTool\Logs
• Windows XP Professional x64 installation (Revit user machine): C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\RevitServerTool\Logs

As shown above, log file locations differ depending on the operating system. On a server, the web services' and RevitServerTool's LOG/SVCLOG files are located in the Logs subfolder. On a Revit user's machine, the RevitServerTool's LOG/SVCLOG are located in the Logs subfolder.

The following log files are available:

• AdminService.log
• AutoSyncLog.log
• LocalService.log
• ModelService.log
• RevitServerTool.log (the full name is determined by the location of the Revit Server tool. For example, C:\tools\RevitServerToolCommand\RevitServerTool.exe would have a log file called RevitServerTool[C__tools_RevitServerToolCommand].log . If you have multiple instances of the tool on a machine, you can distinguish between the log files based on the install location.
• AdminRESTService.log

To open log files, use Notepad or another text editor. When seeking assistance, forward your log files to your IT personnel or to Autodesk Customer Support.

The diagnostic log file lists the name of each condition that is checked along with its information and test results. It includes the version of the operating system, its IIS information, the firewall, and any other related configuration information. Other log files are also created during installation.

See Shutting Down a Revit Server Host for Maintenance.

Yes, you can do this by changing the server's RSROLE2013 environment variable. See Changing the Role for an Instance of Revit Server.

See Migrating from File-Based Worksharing to Server-Based Worksharing.

If the connection to a Revit applciation workstation's assigned Revit Server Accelerator is lost, the application workstation will automatically connect directly to the Revit Server Host for the central model (although the user may have the option of connecting to the Host through a different Accelerator if one is available; see Managing the Revit Server Accelerator Connection). If the connection to a Revit Server Host is lost, you can continue to work on elements that you already own. However, you cannot access new elements or synchronize with the central model until the WAN connection is reestablished.

If you find that Revit is unable to connect to Revit Server (via the Manage Connection to Revit Server Accelerator dialog, in the case of a server with the accelerator role enabled, or via file navigation, in the case of a server with the host role enabled), do the following:

1. In your Windows Server manager, verify that all Revit Server role and role service prerequisites are properly installed.

2. In your IIS manager,verify that the Revit Server Application Pool is running.

3. Verify that your internet security applications (such as a firewall) are configured to allow Revit Server traffic to pass.

If you are still unsuccessful, in IIS Manager expand the Default Web Site and select the model service or the local service. Switch to content view, right click on any of the *.svc files, and select Browse. 

Your browser will be invoked, and if you see the error "Handler 'svc-Integrated' has a bad module 'ManagedPipelineHandle'" in its module list," you will need to repair your .NET installation through the control panel.

This condition is most frequently encountered when system prerequisites were not correctly configured prior to installing Revit Server. Following reboot, Revit Server will function correctly

If you attempt to use Revit Server and a VPN or equivalent to collaborate with other firms or across domains, your Accelerator may not be able to connect with the Revit Server Host if it cannot query the DNS server to resolve the Host name. If you experience this problem, you may be able to resolve it by adding the Host information into the Accelerator's DNS so that the DNS server can resolve the Host's IP address. Each Accelerator must be able to successfully query the DNS to access the name of the Host it is trying to connect to.

Yes, you can still work on a local file that was created as part of the Create New Local operation. In this case, you can only modify the elements that you have previously checked out, and you cannot synchronize with the central model until the connection is reestablished.

Do the following:

1. Notify all users to discontinue use of Revit Server.
2. Use Revit Server Administrator to apply an administrator level lock on the entire server to halt all activity in the Revit Server Network.
3. After the administrator lock is applied, log in to the server running the instance of Revit Server you wish to configure.
4. Launch IIS Manager and stop the Revit Server application pool.
5. (Recommended) Back up the Revit Server project and cache directories.
6. Uninstall Revit Server.
7. Copy the contents of the project and cache folders from the old working directories to the new working directories.

   Important: If you have uninstalled a host or central server, the entire contents of the projects folder (not only the *.rvt folders) must be copied to preserve the administrative lock state.

8. Reinstall Revit Server, making certain to configure it to use the new directories for project and/or cache folders.
9. Unlock the server.
10. Alert users that Revit Server has been restored for use.