SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional is a powerful tool that helps define, organize and publish product design data. It guides the design process directly in 3D, which helps streamline product development, cut cycle time, reduce errors and support industry standards.
By leveraging a secure vault, you can extend access to your design environment and associated files to all participants from engineering through manufacturing, both locally and remotely. Everyone involved in your projects can share information and collaborate on designs while automatically protecting intellectual property with access and revision control functionality.
The right hardware setup plays a critical role in supporting this collaborative environment. There are four key parts of your PDM Pro infrastructure to consider. Here are our recommendations for each part:
Please Note: If your PDM Professional team has fewer than 20 concurrent users, you can combine the resources of the Application/Database and Archive server into a single host, if preferred.
SOLIDWORKS PDM Pro Application/Database Server
The SOLIDWORKS PDM Pro Application/Database Server is the central component of the system and stores all of the file metadata and transactional details for all files accessed in PDM by all users. Technical requirements for this hardware are:
- SOLIDWORKS PDM Pro 2020 or 2021
- Windows Server 2016 or 2019
- MS SQL Server Std 2014 (SP3) or 2016 or 2017
- >= 32 GB RAM
- >= Quad Core CPU
- >= 100 GB disc space for O/S + application + db application + databases (SSD/Flash recommended)
SOLIDWORKS PDM Pro Archive (File) Server
SOLIDWORKS PDM Pro also requires an Archive Server to store all versions of all files managed in PDM. Files are not stored in the database itself. Tech specs for this machine are:
- SOLIDWORKS PDM Pro 2020 or 2021
- Windows Server 2016 or 2019
- >= 16GB RAM
- >= Quad Core CPU
- >= 500 GB disc space
Replicated Archive (File) Server
Geographically distributed PDM Professional environments require a Replicated Archive (File) Server. The hardware requirements for this machine are:
- Physical or virtual on local LAN
- Local NTFS File System (NAS not supported)
- Same disc space as main archive
Networking Hardware
The final component is the networking hardware that connects are the parts of your engineering data environment. For this equipment we recommend:
- A professional grade router
- Client to App Server Latency of <=125 ms
SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional is the perfect tool for helping you define, organize and publish product design data with ease.
If you are interested in learning more about how PDM Professional can help streamline your business, check out our PDM Video & Resource Library below or contact a representative today!
Editor's Note: This post was originally published in Oct 2019 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
Written by The Alignex Team
The Alignex Team of application engineers combined their depth of experience and industry knowledge to bring you the contents of this article.