Having a nightmare with rendering to Network, can anyone help?

[Matt Sugden]

Hi there, I've having some trouble getting my network stable, while I'm rendering with Backburner and I wonder if anyone could make some suggests that might help my troubleshooting.

 

I currently have one main PC which hosts all my folders and files, setup with UNC paths, it is the monitor and manager pc, as well as a server. Then I have a further 4 pcs which all act as servers.

 

The problems I am having are very intermittent and subsequently very hard to pin down. But the essence of the issues seems to be network permission related. Being unable to find, open files, read and write to files etc. the problem is that it isn't just one pc, they are all doing it intermittently. I have attached a file showing some of the errors coming up in backburner.

 

I recently upgraded my main PC to xp pro and set all permissions to full access, which I hoped would work, but it doesn't seem to have made a difference. And these problems, do seem to be getting worse when I use all 5 pcs. Rather than just 4.

 

I also wonder if I am putting too much burden on my main PC or perhaps my network? could this be the case? All the pcs are pretty good spec dual cores with at least 2-3 gig in them, and I believe the LAN cards are all 1 gig, through a main dedicated switch.

 

Has anyone been through something like this? if so could you please advise me, I working on an ambitious project and I still have upwards of 5000 frames to render, which it seems I'm going to have to archive off and render individually if I can't sort this out.

 

Cheers

[voltaire_ira]

I had the same issues before. based on the image you attached, the paths are in your "my documents". Is the permissions on that folder allow full access? Why not try moving all resources to shared partitioned drive, for example drive d: (if available) then set all permissions to "allow full access".

make sure also to allow read/write. Its also that you "my documents" folder is set to "private".

 

then use resource collector in max to repath all your materials and resources to the new specified folder.

here's how:

1. go to utilities panel

2. look for resource collector by clicking "more" button"

3. set the new output path to your new shared folder (make sure the paths are UNC)

4. then click "update"

all your material paths will be updated to the new specified folder.

 

im not sure about xref's, i think you have to repath them manually.maybe archive the scene file first. same also with photometric paths.

 

XPpro allows a maximum of 10 simultaneous cpu's to access. but since you have 5 dualcore pc's, i think you're within the limit. I'm not sure though if xppro considers each core as 1 cpu or each physical cpus as 1 cpu.

 

before i did an animation using xppro as my server. my render slaves are dual opteron dual cores. I can have 4 slaves connect.but once i add the 5th, i get the same error as u have.sometimes i can connect up to 6 slaves, but i think its because the rendertimes per each frame varies per computer, the slaves dont access all at the same time.so what i do is start first 4 and suspend 2 then start the 2 after a couple of frames at midrender..something like that.

 

its better to setup a fileserver using a server OS like windows server. bit more expensive especially with CALs (Client Access Licenses) per client computer that you have to purchase if you have more than 5 computers.

 

I am looking into Linux as a file server but havent got the time to research more on it.

 

goodluck..hope this helps.

[Chasteen]

XP Pro allows 10 simultaneous connections as I understand it. I do not believe it is related to cpu's or cores. What this means is one render slave could consume multiple connections (i.e. one for an xref, one for a bitmap, and possibly more for additional bitmaps). It is depends on how many separate paths you have defined for a scene's various resources.

 

All these different paths not only use up your 10 simultaneous connections quickly they also create a lot of unnecessary network traffic. I've solved this problem several ways over the years, but I think short of using server software the best solution is to copy your maps directory to each render slaves hard drive. Then all your bitmap paths could be something like C:\maps. This will eliminate the majority of your connections, lower network traffic, and greatly speed up the responsiveness of your render slaves for both bb and DR.

[Tommy L]

'Unexpected exception' is usually the local render node running out of RAM.

The files that cannot be found are in 'my documents' location which is maybe not a good idea. you want your files in their own drive really.

The Tiff error may be that the Tiff is too big.

The Image Header problem on the jpeg is not something Im familiar with.

Im pretty sure al these problems are un-related, you'll have to address them one by one.

[voltaire_ira]

XP Pro allows 10 simultaneous connections as I understand it. I do not believe it is related to cpu's or cores. What this means is one render slave could consume multiple connections (i.e. one for an xref, one for a bitmap, and possibly more for additional bitmaps). It is depends on how many separate paths you have defined for a scene's various resources.

 

All these different paths not only use up your 10 simultaneous connections quickly they also create a lot of unnecessary network traffic.]

 

 

aahh..that may be the case!!thanks for the insight. When I placed all my resources on one location (maps, xrefs, vrmeshes, ies..) I could connect 6 slaves at the same time...could be more, i just dont remember.