Setting up a C4d Network renderfarm tutorial?

[kevin3d]

Does the 3 node network render module allow me to render on 2 PCs & one Mac (maybe with OSX)?

[imashination]

Yup

[mrblifil]

Hate to say it, but if you do it exactly as the manual instructs, you will be up and running, regardless of your platform(s).

You don't have to be an IT type guy. Lord knows I ain't.

Kevin

[dann_stubbs]

actually the NET pdf manual really does take you step by step through the setup - it really can't be much easier unless maxon sent someone over to do it for you.

as far as the connectivity with all those platforms you mentioned... NET client and server only runs on mac os9, OSX and windows. linux i'm not sure why you tossed that in there? but sure you can access the NET server via a web browser from any of the above inlcluding linux all in the same way and at least control the start/stop preview upload/download etc of your renders.

i've heard conflicting reports of running net client under wine on linux - i've just never really had the time to look into it and the cross platform/os possibility of slight rendering variances it pushing me to keep my farm all one processor type as well as operating system too now.

if you really are having a tough time feel free to send me an email i am sure i can get you through it.

dann

[Zoogie]

I am hoping someone can help me on this very topic.
I have 3 computers (win2K) linked to a linksys router. these computers access the internet fine as they are recieving dynamic ip from the router.

The net render manual says . Set the server to static IP.
Well as soon as Iset the server computer to static, it doesnt access the network, however, as soon as I change this back to dynamic, it will work. . Almost as though there is a conflict between the static IP that I assigned ( eg. 192.168.0.109 ) and the one from the router.
I havent been able to get past this to even try runnning net render.
So how do you do this? How can I make one computer behind the router static and yet be on the same network with the router. Probabaly doesnt make sense, but thats because I dont understand fully.
Is this computer with static IP still protected behind the firewall? Or does it create a big gateway to outsiders?
thanks

[Anadin]

Your static IP computer needs to have it's gateway and DNS numbers entered manually.

The gateways will probably be the router IP number.

These numbers will have been given to the machine dynamically, but once you change to static, you have to do it all.

[dann_stubbs]

you don't need to worry about this.

just set the clients IP's to the one the CPU pulled from the router. it will work fine.

most routers config options (usually a web page) will let you turn on an option to renew IP forever - this will keep your PC using the IP address it was assigned so it won't change.

even if it didn't do this and you just left everything as is - if you ever lost your IP to change all you'd have to do is update the 3 clients with the new IP address of the server, that would take all of two minutes.

the suggestion to have a static IP is routine - but not absolutly necessary for it to work.

and no there are no general security risks at all with this setup - static or dynamic - 192.x.x.x IP address' are not routable outside of your internal network.

dann

[dAfTiE]

For the network setup bit...
Most of the time,the IP's on your side of the router won't change,like dan said.
The router should remember the last mac adress to last have a given IP,
and will try to renew the lease with the same IP.

If you want to set it to static tho,something I always do for ANY kind of server on general principle,
just use ipconfig /all from the commandline,
and write down the netmask and router and DNS addies.
Then manually enter them under TCP/IP properties on the server.
Also set the IP on the server to a high adress in the range,
shouldn't be any conflicts then.

As for the NET render stuff,I only used it once,and that was just to see how it worked,
and it seemed easy enough to set up.
I'd love some linux binaries for it tho :)

[Zoogie]

Thanks for all the suggestions given.I tried to go the dynamic IP route as posted by Dan above. ie leave everything as is and configure the net render.


I got the net render to work after I changed the client IP settings to match what I was seeing on the server settings page of Net Render. Very nice indeed.

But I have a question about this method.
As stated previously , if the connection is dropped , I can always change the settings back to what the server is set to . What if I want to say set the render and go to bed?

Obviously, this would be fixed by using a static IP, but I tried that and nothing seemed to work.I will keep trying. I opened my router settings page and looked and tried copying some values. I sure didnt know what I was doing.

2.I read you need to have plugins installed in the folders on client machines. As far as my machines, no problem, I just copied over my plugs (not that many :)
3.I am contemplating using Renderking if this job gets out of hand in reder times. My question is what do I do in terms of plugins if I wanted to do that? OR do you have almost all the plugs in the world ( green with envy)...just kidding. OR do i have to do some kind of baking.

Thanks again for all your help, at least now I can use net render.

Also what do you guys think about a wireless network . How unsafe is that . What do you do to prevent / guarantee against any "unfortunate" hacks

[dann_stubbs]

there should be no reason your computers would be dropping their IP by themselves. it usually only happens if the PC is turned off for a length of time. then the lease on the IP is returned and the router MAY give it out to another - but again it shouldn't have any other to give out unless you add a NEW computer to your network.

really there is no need to use a static IP - when using a DHCP router - just look for a setting in the config page that says renew forever (or sometimes it will have a time entry for the renew time - usually 0 is forever)

actually with most all network rendering you have to bake - each cpu will try to generate it's own values for things otherwise and you end up with a bunch of frames that don't match. pyrocluster cannot be baked and therefor each render client makes it's own version of the calculation - so no network rendering for that. Baking can also speed up renders in general as the clients just pull the already processed info from the project folder instead of having to calculate it again themselves.

wireless is pretty safe for general use - turn on WEP and the password stuff and use a network name etc... don't just let it accept any connection. the client wanting to join should have to enter in the network name and password to join - that is the very minimum for security settings. then you can usually as well go into the settings and let it only accept wireless connections from MAC addresses you have identified and entered as valid. this should prevent any issues from casual attacks. but if you had some hard core hacker out there using a wireless packet sniffer - some programs like FTP etc, may send login and password as clear text... that might be exposed. but use the WEP that should help...

but really wireless is quite slow compared to even a 10baseT ethernet connection - i wouldn't use it for those reasons alone - we use it just for web surfing and email etc... i've copied files over wireless and it works but is so much slower i just keep a loose network patch cord on my desk and plug in to copy large items. wireless probably isn't the best idea for network rendering.

dann

[Zoogie]

Thanks a Lot Dann.
I really appreciate all the info. I have learnt a lot in this thread.

CHeers
Zoogie

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