Issue

Projects are showing as Stale in Clarity

Cause/Things to Check

• Autodesk Health
  • Were there Autodesk outages that may have affected things?
    • https://health.autodesk.com/

• In Clarity

  • Is the Clarity Monitoring Service still running?
    • Stop/Start the service to rescan everything
      • Server tab, Central Host
  • Is the Oauth for that project still valid?
    • Server tab, Settings, Oauth
    • Select Check to see what Hubs/Projects you can see with that Oauth 
      • https://imaginit.helprace.com/i484-clarity-how-to-reset-the-360-oauth-credentials
  • Edit the project and go to the Project Type tab, Edit and re-select the Oauth for the project to reset it.
    • Reset the Sub Folder.
      • It should at least be set to Project

General

The task server update is a patch to the existing version of the Clarity Task Server software.  Example 24.1.13

Always log onto the task server as the designated Clarity account.  For most that is the service account set up for Clarity, however, if you have switched to Autodesk SSO, you will sign in with those credentials.

Process

Exit the Clarity Task Tray

Open Services

Stop the Clarity Windows Task Server service

Running the Updater

Right click on the Update Clarity Task Server for Revit and Run as Administrator

If a Windows permission dialog comes up select Yes to allow.

In order for Clarity tasks to be processed on the Task Servers, the Task Servers must be logged in with the designated Clarity account at all times.

If the machine does automatic Windows update, we cannot automatically sign back in and this will cause tasks to time out until the task server is signed back in.

In addition to that, the Clarity Task tray must be running in order to process Revit tasks.

For Clarity Windows Task Server tasks, that service must be running.

The 360 Token for these tasks uses the credentials tied to the project in the Clarity

This change is Revit version specific!

If you are running into issues with the Revit DBExport task and want to skip certain categories, you can modify a config file to do that.

Process

This change is Revit version specific!

• You will need to log onto the task server as the designated Clarity account
• Exit the Clarity task tray
• Make a copy of the highlighted config file for the version of Revit you want to change C:\Program Files\IMAGINiT Technologies\Clarity Task Server for Revit\202#\Plugins\RevitDBExport.dll.config
• Change the extension from .config to .orig so we have a backup copy of the original settings
• Modify

The AdminWebservice logs, with the default settings will roll over at 100kb. If you have a large amount of data you have may roll over too quickly for us to find the information we need for diagnostics.

On the host machine go to the folder below and edit the Log4net.config as follows:

C:\inetpub\wwwroot\CentralWebservices

Change the value as shown below to increase the file size to 1mb.

<maximumFileSize value="1000000" />

You can also increase the quantity if you like.  

 You may get an error when trying to save the file, so Save As and make sure that the Save as Type

When troubleshooting issues in Clarity, diagnostics tell us where to look to resolve the issues.  The diagnostics come from different places depending on where the issue is occurring.

Diagnostics roll over pretty quickly, the more projects/tasks, the faster they roll over.  Please send in the diagnostics as close to time the issue occurred, or recreate the issue/rerun the task, then send in the diagnostics.

If you are unable to create a case when sending in diagnostics from the web portal you can email the manually gathered diagnostics to support@rand.com

Task Issues

• If a task runs, but doesn't complete, we need

Issue:

Port changes with new email sending library called MailKit.

Cause:

Customers were starting to run into occasional issues where we had problem sending email with TLS/SSL, and because it was related to a Microsoft Component for sending mail that they’ve deprecated. In Clarity 2022 we brought in a new email sending library called “MailKit”.

It turns out that Mailkit behaves a bit differently than the original Microsoft component.

- It basically ignores the “Use SSL” option you specify, and infers the setting from the port number. MailKit said: “You do not have a valid certificate for this mail server”.

Oauth Credentials

360 projects that are in Clarity require that the 360 Oauth identity be Valid so that we can see the Project and files.

This identity must be a member of each project you want to add to Clarity and also be assigned to the document management team.

Symptoms of an invalid Oauth

• Can’t add new 360 projects because they don’t show up on the list of available projects for the hub
• 360 Post actions will not work
• Projects are showing as stale
• Files not showing on the project home page or as task targets

Reauthenticating the Oauth

• Log

In order for tasks to run, the task servers must be online and logged in with the designated Clarity account at all times. 

For 360 projects, the Autodesk identity token must also be valid, both on the task server and in the Clarity web portal.

Task not Claimed

Task Timeout: Task sat in a 'New' status for too long, not moving! TASKSERVER3: TaskServerOffline: Task Server unresponsive to ping. Last checkin was 5/8/2024 1:36:10 TASKSERVER1(WIN): TaskDisabled: The UNIFIEDSYNC type task is not available on this task server.TASKSERVER2(WIN): Unknown: Not sure...

Or

: RevitStartupProblem: Possible Revit startup problem (Dialog box, licensing, etc)

If you have anti-virus installed on the task server, it can interfere with processing tasks.

This post is for task servers not installed on the host server.

Symptom

Clarity Task Tray disappearing or not running.  Lots of tasks fail with "The task has apparently died."

Anti Virus is removing the file or folders.

Resolution

Clarity Exclusions

Add exception for the following path

C:\Program Files\IMAGINiT Technologies\Clarity Task Server for Revit

Add exclusion for the following files

• ClarityTaskTray.exe
• Clarity.TaskServerWinService.exe
• LaunchTaskServer.exe
• IMAGINiT.Updater.exe
• Clarity.BIM360Utils.Delegate.exe
• Clarity.Task.Delegate.exe
• LicenseRequester.exe

Autodesk Exclusions

For a full list of exceptions please refer to the Autodesk link below.

https://www.autodesk.com/support/technical/article/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Are-there-antivirus-exclusions-I-can-implement-to-make-programs-run-better.html?msockid=37b62c7b126b64c91a12382f13396502

General

Updates are patches to the current version you have installed.  For example 24.1.5

You can see if an update is available from the Server tab, Central Host to the right of the Update Version value.

Update Process

Log onto the Host server as the Clarity service account (application pool identity)

Right click on the desktop icon Update Clarity Host, Run as Administrator

The updater dialog will come up to determine if the update is needed, if so it will start downloading the files needed to update.

When the update completes, it will indicate if it succeeded or failed.

If

There is a way to place the task back into the queue if it opens in one session of Revit with an exception, so that it can be tried again.

If you prefer the task fail, the setting will need to be False.  If you want the task to be put back into the queue, the value should be True.

There is not currently a configuration for a number of attempts, so it will continue until it times out if set to True.

This change is on a per Revit version basis!

Process

• Log onto the task server as the

The RandRevit database is where all the information for projects, tasks and more is housed, so having a current backup on hand is always a good idea.

Setting an Automated Backup in Settings

There is a configuration for this in Settings on the General tab to Backup the System Database.

The system will attempt, once per week, to make a backup of the RandRevit centralized database to the Backups folder defined in settings.

Manually Backing up the Database

Connecting to the database

RDP into the machine where the SQL Database is installed, if you are using the SQL database installed with Clarity it will

Prior to running a Revit Database Export, there is no defined data for the parameters.  Once the first model is run, it sets those values, so all other models with the same parameter name, must have the same types of data set in the parameter or you will get errors.

What that means is, if I look at the first example below BoxSize is expecting an integer, but in the model that it is running on now, it is formatted as a text parameter.  The data type must be the same in all models.

Error Examples

• An error occurred during export

The following Windows update (see things to check) causes the ClarityWebAppPool and the ClarityWebServicesAppPool to fail to stay running.

Symptoms

• When accessing the web portal you get a 503 error Service Unavailable
• Web app pools above will not stay started.

Things to Check

• Were any Windows Updates installed?
  • Update for Microsoft Windows (KB4601555)
    • May 11, 2021-KB4601555 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8 for Windows 10, version 1809 and Windows Server, version 2019 (microsoft.com)
  • Security Update for Microsoft Windows (KB5003243)
    • KB5003243: Servicing stack update for Windows 10, version 1809: May 11, 2021 (microsoft.com)

Event Logs

System Event Warning WAS

If you are unable to use the updater tool to automatically download and install the updates due to network restrictions, you can download them and run them manually.

DOWNLOADS

First you will need to download the following into a folder on the machine or on your network… For example C:\Clarity\Updates

Host

• http://s3.amazonaws.com/IMAGINiTSoftware/Updates/ClarityHost2024.zip

Task Servers

• http://s3.amazonaws.com/IMAGINiTSoftware/Updates/ClarityTask2024.zip

Updater Files

Download the updater files from the links below and place them in the same folder as the content above.  For this it will just bring up a web page with that text so just right click on the page and save as to

Issue

If you tried to kill a task in the current tasks queue, or it shows that it has been in progress longer than expected, it's likely that Revit is unresponsive or has crashed.

The task will eventually clear itself out of the list of current tasks, since only the task server can notice that the Revit.exe process is no longer running and mark it as "presumed dead".  

The problem is, this could take some time, so if you want to hurry things along a bit you can try the process below.

Resolution

• Log onto the Task Server as the designated

Issue:

If you get an alert like this, that means that the Autodesk identity on the task server is no longer logged in.

ClarityRevitTaskServer: BIM360 Token Gone Bad TASKSERVER02

The Autodesk BIM360 Token on TASKSERVER02 has recently gone bad! 

This is the Revit/AutoCAD sign-in, which is used to keep Autodesk products running in a batch mode. Clarity tasks will attempt to continue, but will likely be impacted!

• Time Since the Last Change: 12.3 hours
• # of times it successfully refreshed before failing: 0
• Application that (we believe) made the last change: AdSSO.exe v13.7.7.1807
• Desktop Connector Version: 16.5.0.2083
• Autodesk AdSSO Version:

It may be necessary to increase the amount of time we wait before trying to send files to post action.  The default wait time is 30 seconds.

Increasing the wait time may be needed if you are seeing errors like this on tasks during post action:

The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process: UNKNOWN APPLICATION (NONE FOUND)"

To make this configuration change we will need to add a line to the ClarityRevitTaskServer.dll.config file located in the following folder:

C:\Program Files\IMAGINiT Technologies\Clarity Task Server for Revit

Process

• Log onto the task server as the

How does Daylight Savings Time affect Clarity?

For 2 hours per year (at least in the US) there are some odd Clarity issues. 

When Time Springs Forward

In the springtime, the clocks jump nearly instantly from 2am to 3am the night of Daylight savings time:

• Any tasks set for 2:00 "might" run (small chance)
• Any tasks set for 2:15, 2:30 or 2:45 will not run

When Time Falls Back

In the fall, the clocks jump from 3am back to 2am on the night of Daylight Savings Time:

• Any tasks set to 2:00 am, 2:15, 2:30, 2:45 or 3am may get