Data Storage: Vault or Not

With Autodesk Civil 3D, you have a choice of data storage mechanisms.

Autodesk Vault provides a secure and comprehensive data management solution, but requires formal database management and usage procedures. In most cases, it also requires a dedicated server.

You may want a simpler system. If so, you can store your projects in folders, and manage them in your own way. You must also establish procedures to ensure that data is not unintentionally deleted or changed. These procedures can be quite easy and safe for a small design team in which people have no need for shared access to many drawings and in which they keep in touch with each other’s activities.

For larger teams with a lot of design objects shared across many drawings, Vault may provide a better solution. To really settle this question, you need to understand your data referencing strategy and object relationships within a typical project.

To get acquainted with Vault, you can install it on a networked server or your own computer, experiment with using it, and review the documentation. You probably want to use Vault if you are interested in any of these features:

• Secure document locks and version control
• Assignment of user roles and file access permissions down to the level of folders within projects
• Automated data backup and restore operations
• Project labeling and archiving mechanism
• Management of data at multiple geographic sites within a single database structure

For more information, see How Do I Install Autodesk Vault? in the installation Help.