Need help for building and setup a render farm

[deersign]

hi volx,

im looking for nice ideas and help to get my brain running...

i planning to build and setup a private render farm. mostly for maya and lightwave. some of my student friends and some from the university want to use my render farm to render their own stuff.

now... what do i need, except money ?

1. what kind of server, do i need or you prefer?
2. i planning to setup a small cluster first, ie. 6-8 cpu's -> 3-4 nodes
3. do i need the whole license for the 3d soft, or is it possible to buy a render license only?
4. if not, do i need a extra license for the server and each node?
5. what is the best operating system for the whole server/custer combination? win/linux/osx?
6. what's about a raid? wich capacity should i looking for? scsii or a fast ata? how does it work?
7. how can i manage a lot render jobs with a queue?
8. what is the best ram amount for each cpu?
9. can i mix up the cluster with different nodes? (different hardware/cpu's)
10. does anyone have exerience with the boxx-systems?

11. what you think about the upcoming apple xserve g5 server/cluster combination? is it possible to administrate the xserve cluster-nodes with a win200k based server?

12. thank you!

cheers

stefan

[aaron_johnson]

1. do u want an SMP server (single node machine with multiple CPUs, in which case Opteron 800 series is your only choice), or do u mean a cluster (multiple nodes / rack server, or multiple PCs networked).
   i should point out that any solution involving SMP cpus (Opteron800) costs US$700 - $1,500 per CPU, plus i imagine about 5,000 for an SMP motherboard. Rack servers (dual CPU units in a rack) are also expensive because they're brand name solutions. render farms (networked PCs) are very cheap, powerful, and much more cost effective per $.

2. for Maya when you buy 1 licence you get unlimited rendering licences - cool eh

3. debatable, probably linux because its free, both linux and 2K/XP can be stable if administered properly. for your server or farm its best to get the same OS that you are running on your workstation, there can be some issues with different OS paths and networking resulting in hassles for 3rd party rendering solutions.

4. you don't need raid for a render server. it will not help with any aspect of performance. unless you have a specific need to playback uncompressed video data in realtime which would be more of a concern for the editing and broadcast industry.

5. there is a list on highend of all 3rd party rendering solutions, have a look for em. smedge seems to be pretty popular. or you can just do manual remote logins with VNC or something.

6. 512MB per CPU, minimum. only if you have very complex scenes and high-res textures then it might be an idea to get perhaps a GB per CPU.

7. not sure what u mean, can you add more PCs in the network of different makes then yes, can you alter CPUs in an SMP server usually no, but if they were all 800series Opterons then you can add different speed CPUs to the server yes.

8. no, but i hear they are very reliable. if u ask me, they're a brand name so will be more expensive, but for someone who doesn't have experience assembling their own systems, Boxx is good.

9. don't know, no experience with OSX. honeslty, iffy about it considering the complaints i've heard about performance, and the fact that there are no plans to put maya unlimited on OSX.

hope some of that was helpful,

-paul

[deersign]

hi cypher,

thnx for your reply...

i'm highly new in that render farm area...

1. i'm looking more for a multiple pc networking or a cluster (rack mounted) solution
   i'll render animations, mainly

2. maya licence -> thats fine!!

3. ram per cpu -> i was thinking about a gig per cpu anyway

4. you gave me the answer in 5. -> it's better to not mixing up different os'es, different hardware nor cpu's (intel or amd) on the renderclients

5. xserve g5, osx, maya unlimited -> thats right, but i thought it's possible, maybe, to have a win2000 server with a renderclient on it to administrate the xserve g5 cluster... :-). otherwise, there is xgrid... i don't know anything about it!

is there ready software around that you can handle different user (upload/download/queue/...) ?

wich pocessor has a good money/quantity relation? means, with wich processor i get more speed & faster renderings for equal money?

i got some requests about cinema 4d renderings, is cinema 4d available for linux? i don't think so.

how is that -> server win2000 based and a multiple pc render network on linux? maybe for the first time i'll setup 10 pc's (network, small harddrive, 1gig ram, cpu???, dual/single???)

cheers mate!

[user_deleted]

RE:"is there ready software around that you can handle different user (upload/download/queue/...) ?"

Are you asking about distributed rendering or project management? You can find a lot of free tools at www.sourceforge.net. Some software you should look at for your studio http://grender.sourceforge.net/http://grender.sourceforge.net/ http://www.nxn-software.com/http://www.nxn-software.com/ http://seriss.com/rush/.http://seriss.com/rush/. Also you don't require multiple licenses to use Maya's default renderer but you do for Mental Ray. You can puchase licenses from Mental Images that will allow MR stand alone renderer to be installed across the network.

RE: Processor cost/speed/performance.

Taking a look at the online Maya test results at www.spec.org may help you decide. AMD procs appear to offer the best value for the dollar while offering good performance compared to other competitors. Dual AMD Opteron 64-bit 3400+ procs may be something you should consider. I beleive Boxxtech offers this option and will even install Linux for you.

RE: Does your OS offer you freedom?

I agree with the previous poster that setting up a single OS network is far easier and produces less headaches when using mulitple software licenses. Linux is by far the cheaper alternative to other OS and offers great stability, security and memory management. If you require network server services these tools are included in many distros free of charge. Such as SAMBA to communicate with other OS's in a network. There's also the cost of Microsoft/Apple charging per machine install which is not the same as Linux. With Linux (example: SuSE) you pay once and install across as many machines in the network as you like. Just some things to consider when looking at other OS's. Copy/Paste the link below for a review of OS's, apps and the cost differances.
http://www.pcmag.com/print\_article/0,3048,a=111154,00.asp

[joojaa]

Ummm as much as i understand english seems like spec pref only deals in Video performance for the UI... Not so much in renderig speed wich offcourse is the topic here.

The rack mounted systems wont be using a graphics card so this is totaly a momt point.

So they are totaly non relevant here. But the spec at ( http://www.highend3d.com/tests/maya/testcenter/http://www.highend3d.com/tests/maya/testcenter/ )highend does accont for rendering in maya standard renderer. But sadly it hasnt been updated for a while, and i find te data there a bit supect anyway.

Generaly speaking id say a xeon box is faster for the money whan doing a pure software render. Even bang for the buck!

[aaron_johnson]

Xeon faster for the money....?? maybe for 3DMAX but not for Maya. - the Xeon is sunk now.

http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view\_content.as...n246&page=5
of the page).

the opty 246 costs about US$650-700 while the Xeon 3.06 / 1MBL2 is around 750-800.

[joojaa]

But its benchmark for 4.02! =( Anyway good to know. Anyone got a benchmatk for prman!

[deersign]

thanx for all replies.

i posted already these post some days before, but i can't find it here...

anyway, now i have to look for a cpu wich is runnning very well under linux and maya. my choice is SUSE Linux for the farm. (dual/single (?) - amd)

how big is the cinema4d community vs. maya? what you think?
first at all, i'll buy me maya.
BUT, is there a big community for cinema4d, then i have to change all to win2000...

do i have to buy the maya unlimited package to render all possible things, or is it possible to render with the standard renderer fur&clothes aswell?

cheers

[user_deleted]

Elnino,

Don't compare cinema4D to Maya as it's not even in the same league with professional software. The only real competitor for Maya in the 3D market is XSI. Trailing behind is 3DMax and Lightwave.

You seem to have several licensing issues so I recommend you contact Alias directly to answer your questions.

[deersign]

that's true that cinema4d is playing in a different league, but otherwise i got some requests from cinema4d user also.

i got these requests (i hope they becoming more...) :

maya: 21
cinema4d: 6
xsi: 3

i think i'll start with maya on linux first, i'll decide later wich 3d app i adding for the future, it's a money issue aswell

cheers

[aaron_johnson]

with regard to your Unlimited / Complete question, with Complete you can only render Complete features, because it won't install the cloth libraries etc.

Unlimited is very expensive so only buy it if you know you'll use or need the features, but it has the advantage of being a floating licence, ie: you can transfer your Unlimited workstation and/or render farm to another operating system at no charge. with Complete you have to buy another copy of Maya if you want to use it on multiple operating systems.

[deersign]

ohh yeh! good to know...

with the floating license is a really good option.

thnx cipher

[3drenderer]

Hello, I have been trying to do this for the past 3 days now and cant. (set up a render farm) I had a project due a couple days ago and I am trying to render out 4K frames on 1 computer and it isnt going too well. You had mentioned that you get an unlimited amount of licences for rendering. How come when i try installing it to set a render farm up, It wont allow me to acces maya at all for anything. I have tried customizing the install. and taking out the licence but that wont allow me to. I really need help with this PLEASE. Thank you

[aaron_johnson]

hi - once you've installed maya on the other machines you just have to create a flexlm directory on the c drives, and put an empty aw.dat file in that directory. it still won't let u load the interface but the render command will work fine.

[3drenderer]

Thank you so much. You have no clue how many forums I asked this kinda question on and got back different responses. I cant believe this, Your awsome, thanks for the help, and I hope this works when I get back into work next week!