Delta File Transfer (DFT)
ProjectWise includes file transfer technology that can significantly reduce the amount of time required to check out and check in ProjectWise documents. This technology, referred to as Delta File Transfer (DFT), optimizes file transfers by only transferring those parts of a file that have been modified. Because the performance of this feature is greatly dependent on an organization's network infrastructure, a benchmark tool has been provided with the ProjectWise Administrator installer that will allow the end-user to perform various file transfer tests to determine how much of a benefit DFT will provide.
If you are running this test against a new datasource, DFT is on by default. If you are running this test against a datasource that has been upgraded from a pre-V8i version, you must first enable the Delta File Transfer datasource setting.
After the test completes you have the option of saving the results for later review. There is also an option to submit your results to Bentley for analysis. We ask that you do so, so that we can tune the DFT feature to be more performant on our customer's real-world systems.
Run the Delta File Transfer Benchmark tool
- In Windows Explorer or in a command prompt, navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Bentley\ProjectWise\bin.
- Run the DFTBMWIZ.EXE application. A wizard opens to guide you through the process of running the application.
The application can be run in two modes, auto or manual.
The auto test will generate three files (small, medium, and large) in your workstation's temporary directory, and will use those files to gauge the performance of the DFT technology. The application will import these documents into a test folder in your datasource, check them out, make a predefined set of changes to the file data, and check the modified files back in. The application will then report the efficiency of the DFT operation, based on the predefined, scripted changes.
The manual test requires that you provide a set of files for the test. Two copies of each file must be provided: a baseline copy of the file, and a copy that contains a known set of changes.
This is so that you can gauge the performance of the DFT technology based on set of changes that you have personal control over.
The before and after copies of the file or files should be placed in separate directories.
After the test completes, various reports can be viewed to show the file transfer performance increase.