Renderfarm OS 2005-05-13 - By Stefan Andersson
Back
I'm keen to hear from those that are using a Linux farm what kind of
dispatcher they are using. Mill has their own system (which would be
sooooo damn cool if they were to sell it... hehe), and so does many
companys that are their size. But what do the smaller companys out
there use?
I've seen two systems that are affordable and doesn't seem to be to
much of a hassle to setup (for Linux).
Muster - http://www.vvertex.com/
Royal Render - http://www.royalrender.de/
Then the more advanced thing
Rush - http://seriss.com/rush/
The last one seems very complex to manage though, and is probably more
suited for a large pipeline with 50+ computers or so (I think Raf said
something about that a while ago). But what would be best for a 10+
situation? Anyone used Muster? or Royal Render in a Linux enviroment?
regards
stefan andersson
On 5/13/05, Andy Jones <andy@(protected)> wrote:
> 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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