Network rendering with Max 5.

[Woody]

Hi Guys,

 

We've got a few machines set up to network render, they're all using the Win 2000 operation system and are working fine. I am currently trying to add two more machines to the farm which are using Win XP Pro. can this cause a problem?

 

Everything seems to be working fine, the servers on these two machines are working and the manager seems to be picking them up. The problem I am having is that they're sitting Idle and not picking up any jobs from the manager. I thought it could be that the paths wer'nt configured correctly so I sorted that out and they're still not working?

 

Any Help Apreciated!

 

Cheers.

[Devin Johnston]

It's not a good idea to mix operating system when network rendering, it can cause all kinds of problems. I'm not sure what you can do unless you want to do a dual install on the machines that have windows xp.

[abicalho]

Did you upgrade your systems to Windows XP SP2? Did you unblock Server in the Firewall?

 

We have a very mixed network here at Discreet and I haven't seen any issues with it. Our manager runs in Win2K and we have many managers in 2K and XP, but the firewalls can be a problem.

 

Alexander

[Woody]

Thanks for the advice guys,

 

I'll take a closer look at the fire wall situation as its something I hadn't thought about.

[Christopher Nichols]

Yeah, I've done mixed CPU, mixed OS, all with no issue. The only think I could also think about is if you are using more then 10 computers. I may be wrong about this, but we always used to set up the manager with a version w2kserver or XPserver since I think you have a limit to 10 connections with win2k or XPpro. Correct me if I'm wrong Alex.

[abicalho]

The manager can sit in a workstation without problems. Ours here sits at a Win2K Pro, and serves up to 30 systems.

The problem is file sharing. Maps have to sit on a server, or have to be included in the Job.

 

Alexander

[quizzy]

Well, I had somewhat the same problems, and my solution:

 

- Be sure NOT to automatic detect the manager, but assign a name of the computer (or IP address if fixed) that runs the manager.

- First start the manager and then the servers.

 

This allways works for me in MAX5...

[jucaro]

The problem I am having is that they're sitting Idle and not picking up any jobs from the manager. I thought it could be that the paths wer'nt configured correctly so I sorted that out and they're still not working?

That really seem more of a firewall issue. Especially if you updated machines

to SP2.

 

Speaking of network rendering...

 

In our setup, we run manager as a service on a win2k Server.

The scene files, maps and XREFs and renders are all located in the Win2K server.

 

Our workstations (server) are XP Home.

Before we had a mix of XP Pro, Win2K, and XP Pro.

 

Just use UNC's for refering to maps and xrefs so your files and maps wont get lost when working with the scene files using different workstations.

 

Its ok to have the servers set to automaticaly find the manager if you have

a DHCP server to manage your internal network IPs.

 

In my experience, It also doesnt matter which runs first the server or the manager, so as long as you ticked to 'use all servers' when you issued the

net render command. I've even tried turning off the Manager machine and some of the server machines halfway during rendering. When the machines

were switched on again, the render queue just picked up back where it last were. You only lose the render time of the frames that got shutdown.

JUST be sure to render in file sequence though and not in AVI or MOV.

 

Using and emplimenting roaming profiles and policies and login scripts can help automate and organize your farm too.

 

Sorry for hogging your thread.