AVAIL Host in Cloud (HiC)

Using AVAIL Host in Cloud

The purpose of Host in Cloud (HiC) mode for AVAIL channels is to extend AVAIL content access for authorized users, anywhere users have an internet connection, even if they lose connection to the otherwise requisite corporate network, while traveling, for example, or from home.

How it works:

With AVAIL Host in Cloud (HiC) enabled, content storage remains the same as with non-HiC channels. With either HIC or non-HiC, you store content the same way, on your network or cloud drives. What's different is only the way content is presented to AVAIL consumers. 

AVAIL consumers are presented, only, with a Cloud View of channels that are set to Host in Cloud (HiC) mode.

AVAIL Publishers, on the other hand, see both the cloud and local sides of each HiC channel and can alternate between cloud and local views with the “Edit Local” or “View Cloud” blue toggle button:

Publishers also see a "Publish Changes" button, the cloud symbol with the blue dot.

Host in Cloud mirrors the local view of the Channel into the cloud view by storing copies of the Channel’s content on AVAIL’s AWS cloud server.

After initiating HiC for a channel, thereafter, channel content additions, modifications, and removals, which are made only in the local view of the channel, are queued for Publish to Cloud, at the publisher's discretion. 

Clicking Publish to Cloud opens a dialog that: 

• Lists the accumulated changes to the channel’s content, and 
• Prompts the publisher to Publish Changes. 
• Doing so will synchronize local and cloud again, making the Cloud View of the Channel match the Publisher-managed Local View.

In the Cloud View of a HiC channel, drag and drop into Revit and other apps is supported as always, but now with a "click to download" overlay text on each piece of content. Multi-select is supported for downloading many at once when needed. 

Downloaded content is stored in a hidden folder on the user's machine. When content is updated in AVAIL, the item stored in the local download cache is obsolete, and AVAIL will display the Click to Download text again.

Also, bulk load from palettes supports the same, but transparently. It loads palleted content into Revit on demand without prompting the user to download first to a local cache from the HiC Channels.