how does one check who is using a file over a network?

T

THRESHIN

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 29, 2002
Messages
3,934
long story short i work at an engineering company and an annoying problem is people having the file open that you need to work with - all you can do is read only access. our cad software says nothing but 'file is read-only and changes will not be saved'

that just means someone else somewhere in the office has it open...we've got a good size design staff so sometimes it can waste a bit of time. but then so can hardware forums :D

so my question is this - is there any way or any software for checking what user has that file open over the network?
 
Ohhh I hate when that happens, luckily we have a small drafting department and I just say Hey Frank, Close my drawing, lol.
 
yea our drafting department is well over a dozen and that doesnt count the electrical drafters, project admins, etc. so irritating!
 
Windows 2000/2003

Computer Management -> Shared Folders -> Open Files
 
THRESHIN said:
yea our drafting department is well over a dozen and that doesnt count the electrical drafters, project admins, etc. so irritating!
Click to expand...

this is an xp network, sorry should have mentioned that
Click to expand...

It's time to grow into a real network. For my clients, I recommend anything over 6-8 workstations should be server based...
 
You could also ask about getting some sort of Version Control system set up. This way people can check out their own copies and you won't run into this issue.
 
THRESHIN said:
this is an xp network, sorry should have mentioned that
Click to expand...

Pretty sure it's in the same place in XP, it is in Vista, if you're sharing a folder out.

Still, what kind of company has over a dozen drafters and then other users that use the same files and shares and they don't have a server to put their stuff on that gets backed up?
 
ShareWatch works great, it just depends on how you are sharing.
 
ok guys i think i'm not being totally clear here - i'm a total dunce with networking.

we have a server based network here, we actually have 3 full servers i believe with regular backups onto data tapes. i am not the network admin here. our workstations have xp on them, what the server uses i don't know. i'm just wondering what i can do from my workstation.

we DO NOT use file sharing all our work runs from the server. its when accessing a file from the server i'm wondering if i can find out who has it in use.
 
archivalbackup said:
Do you have access to the server?
Click to expand...

i am not the network admin here
Click to expand...

This would lead me to believe no.

With that being said without access to the server the short answer to your question OP is no (or not very easily). If this is a constant problem you would want to take the suggestions above and use some sort of revision control product to check in and out drawings... probably a good idea to do that anyway regardless.
 
thanks trek, and yes you're correct in assuming that i don't have access to the server. our cad software has some half-assed revision control, its not a proper 'vault' setup as we call it though. i wish we could get something like that. its been talked about but the company doesn't want to put the money into it of course. all we have is that someone can set status such as 'in work' (meaning only that person can access it), released, in review, etc.

i'll have a chat with our admin, he's a really good guy so maybe we can cook something up.
 
additionally there are some good free software based revision control systems (such as subversion) which you may be able to implement with little or no cost.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top