PDM, tool to copy the archives of a file and its reference tree

[bnemec]

Hello again,
I'm copying some of the archives from our production server to test server. The plan was to use the "Collect Support Information" utility from PDM Admin tool. I've tried it but the zip file only contains the top level file, none of the referenced files are included. I'm not finding an option to tell it to get the entire reference tree (and hopefully the drawing nodes to all of the referenced models) just like the File Reference Dialog does when Get Latest of an upper level drawing or assembly. Also, one of the folders I used it on creates a zip file that appears to be corrupt, it's several hundred MB in size but will not open.

I assume I'm doing something wrong as I cannot imagine people testing just a sample of their dataset manually copy the archives one file at a time. Also, seems odd to send a support packet of an assembly and not have all the referenced files.

Suggestions?

[JSculley]

From the Knowledge Base:
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For older versions, or if you need to collect archives for referenced files as well, you can use the attached tool to copy individual file vault archives for selected files in a vault. With a copy of the vault database and the copied archives, you can create a vault copy and reproduce issues relating to specific files without having to obtain the complete vault archive. The tool also includes referenced files automatically to obtain a full assembly or drawing data set.
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[mp3-250]

I was planning to test it sometime in the future, but it sounds like another tool like the FVUT: good on paper, incomplete and broken when you try to use it in real life applications.

[jcapriotti]

Never tested a sample only......I just rehost the test environment periodically from production. Takes an hour or two though.

[bnemec]

From the Knowledge Base:
===============================
For older versions, or if you need to collect archives for referenced files as well, you can use the attached tool to copy individual file vault archives for selected files in a vault. With a copy of the vault database and the copied archives, you can create a vault copy and reproduce issues relating to specific files without having to obtain the complete vault archive. The tool also includes referenced files automatically to obtain a full assembly or drawing data set.
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Thank you this is the tool I remember hearing about or seeing in a SWW session or something but I I didn't look hard enough for it. My searching just kept returning the method from the Admin Tool.

Thank you for the KB link. I've added this info to my PDM Admin info library.

[bnemec]

The tool is working except it misses some referenced files. After a bit of investigation comparing it's list to the Contains tab in vault view it's correlated to the configuration. If I select the Default config in the Contains tab options it matches what the archive tool is gathering. If I select "Do not show configurations" in the Contains tab options then the additional referenced files show up that are missed in the archive tool. Maybe this is expected behavior or is there a way I can ask the archive tool to include these other referenced files? So far all the missed files are .sldprt files referenced by another .sldprt file.

We don't have that many so I'm just getting those by running the tool again.