Creo Options Modeler > References > Data Management > Managing Servers > Setting Up Windchill Servers > About Setting Up Your PDM System
  
About Setting Up Your PDM System
To connect to servers in Creo, you must register them using the File > Manage Session > Server management command and the Server Management dialog box.
When you run several Creo applications or their multiple sessions on your computer, registering servers in any one application or its session is valid for all other Creo applications and their sessions on your computer. You need not, therefore, register the same servers in each Creo application or session.
The list of registered servers is specific to your computer. Therefore, after you register servers in a Creo application or its session, the Server Management dialog box displays the same list of registered servers in all Creo applications and their sessions running on your computer. For example, if you begin a session of Creo Parametric or start another Creo application after you registered servers in Creo Parametric or a Creo application on your computer , the Server Management dialog box in the new session of Creo Parametric or the application you just started displays the same list of servers that you already registered in the previous session of Creo Parametric. However, the Creo applications and their sessions sharing a common server registration and the same server list on your computer may not share the same cache.
Registering a Windchill server requires specifying a server and workspace pair that uniquely defines the database for use. You can register multiple servers. However, only one Windchill server can be the primary server. To set up the default file location, you must designate the primary server. This is the active server for your everyday work, such as checking in, checking out, downloading, and saving files. Other registered servers are considered as secondary servers.
If you start another Creo application on your computer and designate a server that is not in the list of global servers as the primary server, the server you designated as the primary server in the previous Creo application is listed as a secondary server in the application you just started. You can change the primary server during your Creo session.
Using Workspaces on Windchill Servers
A workspace is a private area for managing your work. A workspace consists of a local cache directory and a folder in the user cabinet on the server. The workspace allows you to track and change multiple objects and perform basic data management operations from within the Creo user interface.
For each registered server, you must specify the active workspace. In addition to the active workspace, the server can contain inactive workspaces. When multiple Creo applications share the same server and workspace, the server and workspace are synchronized across all the applications. The server you register and the workspace you authenticate in any one application are valid across all other applications. The last activated workspace in an application or its session appears as the active workspace in all other Creo applications and their sessions that you subsequently start.
When several Creo applications and their sessions share a common server registration on your computer, you can independently perform the various server and workspace tasks in each application or its session. Activating a workspace in a Creo application or changing the primary server in a session of an application does not activate the same workspace in all other applications or automatically change the primary server in other sessions of Creo applications on your computer.
However, when Creo applications and their sessions on your computer share the same cache in addition to sharing a common server registration and the same server list, changing the status of servers and workspaces in any one application or its session also automatically changes the status of the servers and the workspaces in all other applications and their sessions. For example, when you change the primary server and the active workspace, lock and unlock workspaces, set offline and online servers and workspaces, and import or export workspaces in a Creo application or its session, the same tasks are also automatically performed in all other Creo applications and their sessions on your computer because they share the same cache folder.
You cannot, however, delete servers and workspaces, especially when the servers and workspaces you intend to delete in a Creo application or session are set as the primary servers and active workspaces in other Creo applications and their sessions on your computer.