Renderfarm OS 2005-05-12 - By Andy Jones
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Yeah, you get much smaller images this way without having to zero out
all the empty blocks.
-Andy
Gene Crucean wrote:
>Cool... I thought you were going the "dd" route, but then you threw a
>partimaged curve ball. :)
>
>Thanks for that little tut Andy.
>
>
>
>
>On 5/10/05, Andy Jones <andy@(protected)> wrote:
>
>
>>Hi Jordi,
>>
>>Our farm is Windows 2000 on BatchServe.
>>
>>That said, I'd go Linux. No question. If what you're saying about
>>being comfortable with batch rendering is true, you can probably get
>>away with that for now if you have to, and with Linux, it's a lot easier
>>to automate. Don't install Windows for the purpose of using
>>BatchServe. Even if BatchServe were great render queueing software,
>>you'd still be better off on Linux. The only reason I can think of not
>>to use Linux is if you absolutely need some sort of shader that you only
>>have compiled on Windows and you don't have access to the source. For
>>free open source render management, check out DrQueue. I don't know of
>>anyone who has used it yet. I'm still hoping someone will give it a try
>>and tell me about it (anyone?). If you're on a production deadline and
>>don't have time to experiment, maybe go with one of the other options --
>>Royal Render, Rush, etc.
>>
>>For distributions, I can't speak from personal experience with XSI on
>>Linux, but Gentoo is likely to give you the fastest possible system.
>>Since you're installing on 10 machines, maybe it's worth the
>>semi-fictional "extra trouble." Just make sure there aren't any
>>proprietary drivers you need that will only install on particular distros.
>>
>>If you do choose to go with windows, google "psexec". It's a program
>>that runs applications remotely, and can make your life easier if you're
>>comfortable putting together some scripts.
>>
>>Here's something else that might be useful for you (one of many ways to
>>do this):
>>
>>Procedure for imaging hard disk partitions:
>>Install software on one system.
>>Download and burn 2 Knoppix Live CDs.
>>Boot the machine you installed with Knoppix (call this "source")
>>Boot another machine with Knoppix (call this "server")
>>
>>On server:
>> Become root
>> > su
>> Create a password for the user "partimag"
>> > passwd partimag
>> Partition the hard disk if necessary, with a Linux partition.
>> > cfdisk /dev/sda
>> Create a filesystem:
>> > mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sda1
>> Create a mount-point:
>> > mkdir /mnt/sda1
>> Mount the filesystem:
>> > mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/sda1
>> Run the following:
>> > partimaged --daemon --port 4025 --dest /mnt/sda1
>>
>> You should now have a disk image server running on server. Make
>>sure you know the ipaddress of server (ifconfig eth0).
>>
>>On source:
>> Become root
>> > su
>> Run imaging program
>> > partimage
>> Choose the partition you want to image, give it a filename, select
>>"Save partition into a new image file", enable "Connect to server",
>>input the IP address of server, hit next.
>> Log in as user=partimag, password=<whatever password you chose>
>> Follow the rest of the instructions. If you get confused, man
>>partimage.
>>
>>Once you have an image file on the server, shutdown the source, and use
>>that cd to boot another computer (destination).
>>
>>On destination:
>> Become root
>> > su
>> Run cfdisk and partition your hard drive.
>> > cfdisk /dev/sda1
>> Run the imaging program
>> > partimage
>> Do the same thing you did above, but choose "restore partition from
>>an image file". Be sure to enter the same filename you used above.
>> Log in as before.
>> Once the partition is imaged, you should also restore the MBR.
>>Follow the same options as before, but choose "restore an mbr from the
>>imagefile".
>>
>>Hopefully I got all this right, and it's useful... Note, if you're
>>copying NTFS partitions, Linux's NTFS support is experimental, so don't
>>use this for transferring mission-critical data. Also, note that you
>>can restore partitions to multiple machines at the same time. And for
>>faster transfers, disable the SSL encryption option.
>>
>>-Andy
>>
>>Jordi Bares wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>we are using Fedora Core 2 for our renderfarm and workstations and works
>>>really well.. some of the stats show the up and running time and tends
>>>to be many many days without any performance degratation nor crashes.
>>>
>>>jb
>>>
>>>On Tue, 2005-05-10 at 09:41, tony@(protected) wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>Hi all,
>>>>
>>>>I'm about to take delivery of a mini renderfarm (10 dual cpu ibms in a small
>>>>rack enclosure), but was wondering what the best OS for it should be. I'm
>>>>currently using xsi on winxp, so should I stick with that? How about linux?
And
>>>>is there a particular flavour of linux i should use? I have limited unix
skills,
>>>>but am sure i'm up to setting up a linux server.
>>>>
>>>>Also, I don't have batchserve. Up until now i've simply been using xsibatch
>>>>command line rendering to set off distributed rendering. I'm comfortable
with
>>>>it and find it adequate for my needs, but should I consider investing in
>>>>batchserve or some sort of render management software now that i have this
>>>>mini-farm.
>>>>
>>>>cheers
>>>>Tony.
>>>>
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