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

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

Please be aware:  If you have Clarity with Revit Server, the Clarity Host install will need to be done off hours when no one is accessing the models.  If you have Clarity with just file based and or 360 projects, then you can do the install at any time.

While the upgrade is not as easy as our “patching” updates, it’s not too hard. These are “setup.exe” installations, and if you follow the instructions below, you are unlikely to run into any issues.

If you don't feel comfortable doing the upgrade yourself and would like to have us assist you

Issue

Error when trying to add a 360 project and prerequisites have already been done.

There are no BIM360 - Unified Projects found

Resolution

Check the following files on the host

• C:\Program Files\IMAGINiT Technologies\Clarity Monitoring Service\ClarityMonitoringService.exe.config
• C:\inetpub\wwwroot\CentralAdministrator\Web.config

  <system.net>

    <defaultProxy>

      <proxy bypassonlocal="True" usesystemdefault="False"/>

    </defaultProxy>

  </system.net>

Change the highlighted text above to “True”, and then restart the monitoring service.

Log Errors

Monitoring INFO [3] 2021-10-20 16:34:44,513 BIM360CachedProjects - Starting 1/1 token scan. Token Details: (1, OAUTHNAME (Primary)) INFO [3] 2021-10-20 16:34:44,528 BIM360Api - Initialize in-memory access token from database storage. (Token expired.) ERROR [3] 2021-10-20 16:35:05,579 OAuthTokenDataAccess

For certain types of tasks, addins are required.

We recommend only installing the addins needed for tasks. 

Some Autodesk addins install automatically with the software, but others are a separate install.  If they are not on this list, please do not install them as they may interfere with the Clarity software.

Please also be aware that some addins can cause ownership issues when processing tasks.

Additionally, some addins are build specific and may vary by Clarity version.  Please refer to the information below.

Revit Addins

Additionally, you will need to install the necessary add ins per version as needed for

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

Please make sure you have your Authorization code prior to starting the upgrade. 

ANNUAL LICENSES

If you have annual licenses let us know the activation count needs to be reset.  Please provide your current authcode which can be found in the IMAGINiT.lic file on the task server in this folder:  C:\Program Files\IMAGINiT Technologies\Clarity Task Server for Revit\License

Email us that information at Support@rand.com

INSTALL PROCESS

1. On the task servers log in as the designated Clarity account.
2. Make sure the new version of Revit is already installed, including addins needed for tasks.
   1. Revit 2023-24 only supported OS is Windows 10 or

Most customers using Clarity, also have projects in 360, so your account administrator should have received an email from Autodesk stating that the Issues Version 1.0 will no longer be supported.

The example below is how the email starts.

Subject:  Action Required: BIM 360 Issues v.1.0 API Shutdown – FINAL ALERT

These integrations will not function properly after August 15

Dear BIM 360 Account Administrator,

The deprecation deadline for the BIM 360 Issues version 1.0 API has been extended to August 15, 2023. After August 15, the BIM 360 Issues version 1.0 API will no longer be available.

We noticed

Prerequisite

.NET 6.0 Runtime installed

Download Link

Make sure the service is set to Log On as the Clarity Service account.

Issue:

The Journaling service won’t stay running even though the dotnet 6 is installed.

Solution:

We need to make a configuration change to the appsettings.json file in this folder on the host:  C:\Program Files\IMAGINiT Technologies\Clarity Journal Service

Process

Make a backup of the appsettings.json file and change the extension to .orig

Modify the .json file in Notepad.

Add the line below, (highlighted in green in the screen shot) after the password but before the “

;TrustServerCertificate=True

If you get

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 Sat in New Status

1.     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...

There are certain types of errors that will kill a Revit task.  Previously it was necessary to manually modify a config file.

In Clarity 2025, you can now just make the configuration changes in the Clarity task tray.

Make sure you log onto the task server as the designated Clarity account

Error Handling Overrides

• Open the Clarity task tray
• On the Revit tab

On the Revit tab, under Revit Error Handling Option, there are a few options, if you want to make selections you will want to set it to specified.

• None
  • No overrides
• Detached Only
  • This would only apply

For those who are security-minded, there are some nuances to understand about the BIM360 Security Model, when used with Clarity or with any BIM360-enabled tool.

In the older BIM360 Teams-based approach, Clarity used what is called "Three-legged-Oauth" to connect to A360/BIM360. This meant that we requested access, and you supplied a user whose credentials would be used to access A360/BIM360. The Clarity server at your facility could see ONLY the hubs/projects that the designated user was able to see. 

In the new BIM360, Autodesk created an additional step - an application-based permission for Clarity. BIM360 administrators must enable access to

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 and extract the following into a folder on the machine or on your network… For example C:\Clarity\Updates

Host

• http://s3.amazonaws.com/IMAGINiTSoftware/Updates/ClarityHost2023.zip

Task Servers

• http://s3.amazonaws.com/IMAGINiTSoftware/Updates/ClarityTask2023.zip

Updater Files

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

The Clarity Windows Task Server will process tasks that don’t require opening Revit. 

Some of the setup is inside of the Clarity Revit Task Tray, but since this runs as a service by default, the rest happens in the properties of the service itself.

Settings in the Clarity Task Tray for Revit

To limit the Windows tasks run on the task server, open the Clarity task tray, select the Server and Edit, go to the Tasks tab, expand Windows and Uncheck any tasks you don’t want processed on this task server.

Settings for the Service

Open the Services panel and select the

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

As you begin to have projects that you want to migrate from older versions of Revit to BIM360, Clarity now (in 2019.1.6) has some updates that can help you with this process.

For example: 

- Need to upgrade from C4R/Revit 2018 to BIM360/Revit 2019? We can help with that!

- Migrate from one BIM360 hub/project to another

Using Clarity for the Migration Process

In most cases, these processes take several steps:

1. Getting the models out - either using the PublishRevitModel, or A360Download to pull files out of where they are currently residing, into a local UNC path on disk.

There are cleanup options in the Clarity task tray, which if checked will try to run once a day about 24 hours after the task tray was started last. Note: We cannot do the cleanup if Revit is running, so if tasks are always running, the cleanup may not occur. There could also be permission issues with deleting things as well at times.

So, if you want to clean up things manually, I have listed the locations below where you can regain some drive space.

You may also want to consider using the Windows Task Scheduler to clean things up.

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

Since Clarity 2020, it's been possible to specify worksets on a given task. If you've run the RevitDBExport task, then you could see the worksets to choose from on the "Basic" tab.

Starting in Clarity 2021, it is also possible to specify worksets with BIM360 projects (in this case you must have run the RevitDBExport task at least once).

You can use these workset settings to:

• Improve performance by not opening all worksets
• Control visibility

On the "Advanced" tab, it's also possible to specify wildcards - as well as negative wildcards (such as "don't show anything that includes the word

Issue

If you are unable to send diagnostics from the Clarity web portal completed task id, sometimes clearing the content of the logs folder will resolve the issue.

Process

• Log onto the task server as the designated Clarity account
• Exit the Clarity task tray, by right clicking on the Clarity icon and select Exit
• Open Services and Stop the Clarity Windows Task Server Service
• From File Explorer browse to the logs folder for your version of Clarity
• Example: C:\ProgramData\IMAGINiT Technologies\Clarity Task Server 2024\Logs
  • You can zip the logs folder if you want an archive copy or need to send them