FAQ about repository sharing

[jwknecht]

FAQ about repository sharing

Here is a summary of answers that I received from Albre Tech Support in regards to sharing repositories over the internet and LAN.

Q1: Regarding using files on an Alibre Server repository, or sharing local repositories: What are the considerations in regards to upload speeds of my internet connection? Will it benefit to have faster uploads? If so, why?

A1: For the server repositories, having a faster upload speed will allow you to save large files faster, but it will not affect the opening of files. For sharing local repositories, the upload speed will allow other users to access your files more quickly because you will be able to send more data to them over a shorter period of time.

Q2: How much download and how much upload speeds do the Alibre Servers have? If the Alibre Server download and upload is not faster than the clients' slowest speed, does it then become the bottleneck when two clients are sharing local repositories?

A2: Our servers have a 3-4 mb upload speed and a 1-2 mb download speed. However this will not affect the sharing of your local repositories. When you share local repositories the data is not sent through our server, only the permissions. This will affect the speed that you can download and upload to our server repository though.

Q3: If you are sharing local repositories, and both of the computers are on the same LAN, will the sharing still go over the internet?

A3: As long as you are not behind a firewall, the actual transfer of files is through the local network. Internet access is still required for permissions and establishing a connection, but the actual transfer is local. However if you run through a firewall, the file transfer will go entirely through our servers.

 

[jwknecht]

Note: Answer to the 3rd question surprised me. I expected that Alibre would share the files over the internet rather than the LAN. I can't see how this works, but I am not an IT professional. If there is someone that can explain how this works, please post a response.

 

[WoodWorks]

I contacted Alibre support with pretty much the same content as my post https://www.alibre.com/forums/viewtopic ... 2047#22047, and want to share the response.

The answer being that I "need to have ports 80 and 443 open on your firewall in order to share repositories".

I have requested a little more clarification, but my interpretation being that if I open these two ports 80 and 443 in my firewall software (F-Secure) on each computer, that my two Alibre licenses/computers will connect peer to peer with each other and not have the traffic routed thru the server.

I have opened these two ports with both TCP & UDP in both directions (and requested more information as to which/both would be required).

Not being familiar with packet tracking software though, I have little way to tell if this really works other than the apparent speed of communication.

 

[jwknecht]

I never recieved that response about the ports, and I made sure that I took my questions to several sources at Alibre.

Who gave you the response about the port settings?

I am not saying that it is not correct. I have no way of knowing. It may be that they found a way to make it work, and never bothered to tell those of us that have been asking.

Perhaps Alibre Tech Support will respond to this thread and give us clarification?????