Render Farm and Network Traffic

[Redav]

Would a small render farm stress a network alot? Obviously when a job gets sent there's potentially hundreds of MB's of data being sent to many machines so there's a test for the network but after that, is there much?

 

I mean, I'd have thought it would have pretty much been a case of writing (in our case) 400 - 600kb size jpeg's every 1-2 mins per machine plus random pings to each server to maintain the connection and we've got 10 - 20 machines available.

 

I ask because everyone's been quick to blame me for slowing up the network but if the farm is outputting say 10 small files a minute then that doesn't sound like much traffic to me. What am I missing? No one whinges when I submit a job to the farm, no one notices that there's been well over a GB sent.

 

Yes I understand that multiple file I/O can have a bigger impact upon the network than a single file 100 times the size but surely 10 files per minute of create / open / file / close is nothing compared to the coupla hundred other users opening, saving, copying, moving and printing (our file server also does print )?

[mtutaj]

do you guys have a hub or a switch in the network. and are the 3d files heading to the same file storage box as the rest of the non 3d files are?

[Redav]

Yeah, several hubs and switches. It's a several hundred workstation network spread across 4 floors and two buildings. Up until yesterday the rendered output was heading to the same server as the 3D files, just different folders.

 

Could it just be the fact that there's hundreds or thousands of files in the same folder?

[mtutaj]

I highly doubt that 10-20 workstations of traffic cause the problem. the render servers don't send continous traffic, only when the files are done. and when new files are being loaded. From my experiences, its usually the people streaming youtube, and other online music sources that tie up the network pretty quick. The only other idea that I have is, is the file server your sending files to dedicated to just 3d? Otherwise the last thing, could be that if your systems are located all over the place, and the links between the hub are not done correctly, then yes you could be tieing up the network. Sorry for my rambling, but try to find out if all your stations are plugged into the same switch, If not, try to find out how many they have to go thru.

[Redav]

I highly doubt that 10-20 workstations of traffic cause the problem. the render servers don't send continous traffic, only when the files are done. and when new files are being loaded.

Yeah, that's exactly what I'd have thought. Besides, 10 - 20 machines is a small number and a small percentage of the machines on the network.

 

From my experiences, its usually the people streaming youtube, and other online music sources that tie up the network pretty quick.

Fortunately almost all of that stuff is blocked.

 

The only other idea that I have is, is the file server your sending files to dedicated to just 3d?

Well, they seem to think I've created enough issues to move me to a seperate server which is used by other people in the same boat.

 

Sorry for my rambling, but try to find out if all your stations are plugged into the same switch, If not, try to find out how many they have to go thru.

Nah, that's cool. You're ramblings sound better than the whinging I'm copping

 

We've got two or three switches per floor for about 50 - 60 users on this floor.