Configure Solid Edge Embedded Client to Map Teamcenter LOV and Associated LOV Description

In Teamcenter it is possible to create an interdependent LOV such that the LOV description is displayed alongside the LOV value:

 

Where such functionality would be useful is when you have a short LOV value but need to use a longer LOV description to help the end user decide if the LOV value is the correct value to be selected i.e. CAGE Codes being a perfect example of this.

Teamcenter Classes, Business Objects, Attributes and Properties Explained

For those of you new to Teamcenter concepts check out Scott Pigman’s excellent post explaining Teamcenter Classes, Business Objects, Attributes and Properties:

Classes and Business Objects and Attributes and Properties, Oh My! (2nd Ed.)

If you do anything Teamcenter related check out Scott’s blog, The PLM Dojo, for all kinds of good info on Teamcenter.

Installing Remote BLOB Storage (RBS) with SharePoint Foundation 2010 and Insight

When SharePoint was originally introduced all files saved to SharePoint were stored in the database as BLOBs. BLOBs are not necessarily ideal for a database if there are a lot of files stored or if the files stored have large file sizes. Unfortunately Insight data stored in SharePoint is typically of a larger file size and engineering groups typically generate a lot of these larger files. BLOBs bloat the size of the physical database files resulting in reduced database performance. Therefore Insight performance can be negatively impacted.

Thankfully Microsoft has recognized this and now provides Remote BLOB Storage (RBS) with SQL Server and SharePoint. RBS is a way to store the BLOB files outside of the database on the physical disk system itself. By moving the BLOB storage to the physical disk this in turn reduces the physical database size. Implementing RBS has the potential to improve your overall SharePoint and Insight performance.

Improving Windows 7 Performance with Disk Defragmentation

I recently received a whitepaper from Windows IT Pro/Diskeeper extolling the virtues of disk defragmentation to ensure maximum performance on Windows 7.  Used to be in the "good ol' days" of computing disk defragmentation was a housekeeping necessity to ensure maximum performance of the systems.  With the advent of faster workstations and larger hard drives some of the old housekeeping tasks we used to perform to maintain optimum performance have fallen by the wayside.  As this whitepaper clearly shows though disk defragmentation is still a necessary task to maintain your Windows performance.

Windows 7 has its own built in disk defragmentation.  It has always been well known that the Windows defragmenter has a lot of room for improvement.  Otherwise there wouldn’t be third-party defragmenters out there if the Microsoft tool was fully capable. 

   

The previously mentioned whitepaper goes on to discuss how much better the Diskeeper defragmenter is compared to the Windows offering, making statements about performance such as “While a single day of fragmentation resulted in read times that increased by 73% A week’s worth of work results in file read times that increased over 145%” and “A single day of fragmentation caused Word file read times to increase 144%, while a week’s worth of work increased that to 175%”.  Those kinds of numbers significantly add up to cause overall system performance degradation.

Now obviously with performance degradation numbers like that, if you are not running disk defragmentation on a regular basis you should be.  Even the meager Windows defragmenter is better than no defragmentation.  Or you could go out and purchase a third-party tool such as Diskeeper to maximum your defragmentation and performance improvement.  Or you could go check out the open source and free software solutions. 

The free software defragmenter I use is MyDefrag.  What I like about MyDefrag (other than the price) is that it offers several pre-built scripts for different levels of defragmentation including daily, weekly, monthly, flash and SSD optimization, etc.

   

What I particularly like those is that MyDefrag also provides a Windows screensaver so you can set your system to defrag whenever you leave your desk.

MyDefrag can be downloaded from http://www.mydefrag.com

So start defragmenting your disks today and see if your Windows 7 performance improves any.  I’m betting it does.  I’d be interested to hear your feedback on if running defrag improves your overall system performance.