MineSight Data Security System Synchronization

nsure whether or not your MineSight 3-D (MS3D) object or model is the latest official one for your planning and decision making? Not sure who has an MS3D object open? Do you experience object file corruption? Is the daily or weekly task of manually copying files across the network reducing your efficiency? Does your network MS3D Project slow to a crawl on start up or when trying to apply changes? If you answered yes to any one of these questions, then a site implementation of MineSight Data Security System and Synchronization (DSS/Synch) will solve your problem(s). This product consists of two parts: the DSS allows you to manage access to MS3D project resource files; Synch is a collection of software and techniques that provides fast access to data stored on a network.

The DSS provides confidence that your Figure 1. Overview of the DSS Data Hub mines data is managed safely and efficientlyfrom small sites to large multiThese practices often lead to sluggish MS3D performance, user environments. The DSS controls user access and unnecessary bandwidth consumption, and a high risk of data loss. permissions to all MS3D objects (project resource files) within the DSS HUB (Figure 1). Every MS3D We cannot stress enough, the DANGER of multiple instances object loaded to the centralized hub has a unique of MS3D simultaneously accessing a project. Multiple reference identifier. This enables the DSS to control instances of accessing data will likely result in file corruption. and monitor objects that are checked out (Borrowed), The combination of DSS/Synch increases the performance of objects that are checked in (Submitted), and all user MS3D and the reliability of secure, archived official data. authorities on the managed data objects. Synch allows MS3D projects to be accessed on local workstations rather than across your network. It provides full mirroring or synchronization of projects, either to the DSS Hub or any other location on your network, for sharing or archival purposes. You are not alone when it comes to sharing data or even complete projects across your site. In fact, it is a very common practice to share local directories or drives, to store MS3D projects on network file servers, and to copy large files manually trying to keep the model up-to-date.
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DSS Overview
The DSS Manager (Figure 2) is the department administrators tool to manage the DSS. Within the DSS Manager, you create and manage users and their privileges to access objects by classes, file structure, registration of historic or new files, and other system parameters. A MineSight Specialist will create your initial database or DSS Hub. Subsequently, you can either connect to an existing DSS database or create a new database via the DSS Manager.

The DSS Hub

Upon successfully connecting to the database, six additional tabs will be displayed. The Data Structure tab is used to manage the Class/Type/ Status/Category available to the DSS. User permissions are based on the Class designation which is the uppermost level of classification. The Class, along with other classifications, is added via a right-click menu (Figure 3).

Managing User Authorities

Managing user permissions (changing or adding additional users) no longer requires a Work Request to your IT department. The DSS Manager Users tab controls the names and privileges of MS3D DSS users (Figure 4). Adding users with Microsoft Windows Authentication makes use of the Active Directory Group created at the onset of the DSS setup. You can see from the example in Figure 4, we decided it wasnt a good idea for our friend Monty to have delete access to the Layout Objects.
Figure 2. The DSS Manager

Synch Overview
Synch provides three main benefits: 1) Fast access to projects loaded on a network. 2) Reliable, automated data management. 3) Quick implementation of backup/recovery. Synch utilizes Unison, a file synchronization tool for Unix and Microsoft Windows developed by the University of Pennsylvania. The tool can be downloaded from their web site and the configuration parameters set up by Mintec, Inc. personnel. Mintec does not redistribute this software, but has determined the best approach to use in setting up and utilizing Unison in the MineSight environment. Synch uses a specific configuration of the Unison parameters file customized for MineSight. It allows two replicas of a collection of files and directories to be stored on different hosts (or different disks on the same host). Each replica can be modified separately and then updated by propagating the changes to each replica. Due to IT restrictions, some sites have the burden of working on projects over the network. Large projects can take in excess of 15 minutes to start in MS3D. Additionally, sites with large block models can take a long time to update. When using Synch, you no longer have to access your project over the network, but can work on a replica
Figure 3. Adding a Class to a Folder

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on your local workstation. This significantly improves start up and access time as we will show in some examples below. There is a common need for multiple users to have access to the latest official version of project data. Using Unison in the familiar Star Topology (Figure 5), a large model only needs to be fully copied to a workstation one time. After that, daily updates to the replicas only reflect any changes that were made from the Master. This results in reliable, fast, lightweight performance hits on the network and ensures all users have the necessary information to make valuable business decisions. In Table 1, on the following page, are some performance comparisons using a 3.5 GB project working over the network and working locally with DSS/Synch. Times are given in minutes and seconds. As mentioned, the main advantage of using Synch is that you can work locally on your model and merge the changes into the master copy on the network. Copying an entire model to the network can be painful. As tested on the project above, it took 13:38 minutes. Using Synch, the first time is similar but subsequent updating only occurs for actual changes to the model. Thus, instead of manually copying the entire model to a shared destination or multiple workstations, Synch updates the model in a fraction of the time. Synch also provides safe and efficient replication. It can be automated at startup, logoff, or shutdown, and can also be run manually at your convenience. Not only can it be set up to backup MS3D files, it can backup any other set of directories or files defined in either a centralized location or multiple destinations. While the use of DSS improves the security of MS3D and its official objects, it also provides a centralized area for site IT departments to do daily backups. Additional use of Synch techniques allows easy backup and centralization of all other data/settings from local MS3D projects. DSS/Synch were recently implemented at a large client site. Their old configuration employed the working on projects over the network architecture. Of course, an immediate improvement in MS3D performance working with a local project and MS3D objects hosted on the DSS Hub was noticed. At the same time, a backup strategy using Synch was implemented. Their local projects were replicated to a central file server so that the site IT could easily execute their backup/recovery plan on the file server rather than on 20+ engineering workstations. Fortunately, we had begun implementation on Monday, as on Tuesday one of
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Figure 4. Managing User permissions

Figure 5. Star Topology

the workstation operating systems took an unfortunate turn of events. We were able to reinstall MineSight and recover the synchronized project directory so that the client did not lose one item from their local project.

Figure 6. An unfortunate turn of events for workstation op. systems

Action
Open project in MS3D Changing model range Update grade in one block

Elapsed time (MM:SS)

Over Network 04:05 22:00 13:25 DSS/Synch 00:06 00:30 00:01

Improvement
97.6% 97.7% 99.9%

Table 1. Comparison of project access times: Network vs. DSS/Synch

C O N C L U S I O N

he use of the DSS/Synch allows operations with many users to access a centralized, common data set and maintain this data with proven database security management. This combination also enables you to meet the various

requirements placed upon your backup and recovery plans. Authenticated users in your respective departments cannot only maintain (modify, replicate, and update) their own data, but can view all other data from other depart ments. This greatly aids the planning process, and guaran tees that everyone is viewing the most up-to-date data. If your site would benefit from the implementation of DSS/Synch, please contact Mintec to request more detailed information. This will be your first step in determining a site implementation and pricing.

TEL: 520.795.3891

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