Any way to auto shutdown render nodes once backburner or DR job complete ?

[stevesideas]

Maybe by using scripting or something ? Does anyone know how this could be done. I sometimes find my systems render till about 3 in the morning and then they are on for no good reason. Just trying to do my bit for the environment !

By the way, I use psshutdown and run small batch files on from my desktop to shut the nodes down manually. If I could get backburner or max/DR to run these batch programmes once done that would be good.

[flino2004]

I do it via refamo...you can group rendernodes, selecting them and running commands like you want for run/kill DR and BB server
Refamo also has a power saver options,wake, remote desktop, screenshoots & VNC

in power options you could set a rule like if CPU load is below X% for Y minutes then shutdown or restart.

[crazy homeless guy]

By the way, I use psshutdown and run small batch files on from my desktop to shut the nodes down manually. If I could get backburner or max/DR to run these batch programmes once done that would be good.

Maybe, ...I use this method for updating the renderfarm using a batch script that is executed from Backburner.

I have a job that I keep in Backbburner. It is simply called 'Update,' and its job is to update the renderfarm with new software or plugins as needed. This job is void of scene information, but is set to call a Maxscript when executed.

The Maxscript then calls a batch file that is located on the renderfarm, and executes it locally. I don't see why I couldn't add a -shutdown into the batch script, and have it shut down the farm machines.

[stevesideas]

Both methods sounds interesting. Crazy...I wouldn't know how to do that although it does sound like an ideal solution. Is there any reference in the max manual or online on how to do that ?

[crazy homeless guy]

It is fairly simple to set up, it just takes a little organization. Look at the attachment for a visual description...

I send a job to Backburner. Typically I set this job to have 20,000 or so frames to make sure all of the computers pick it up. This job calls a prerender Maxscript. The Maxscript is short, and simply calls a link file on the server. The link files is pointed at a batch script. This launches the batch script on the machine, and I am able to run updates as needed without doing it manually on each machine.

I have played around with just placing the update link in the startup folder, but when I do that I can update on the fly. Though I have written a batch script in the past that called another batch script every 10 minutes. If I needed to change something, I simply modified the batch script it was calling in order to do what I needed to do.

Anyway, there are batch script commands that shut down a computer. This may be to complex, but at the time I was looking to see if I could use Backburner to update the render farm.

Something like flino2004 suggested may be easier, and there are actually a ton of programs like this out there.

Something like the one in the link looks like it would allow you to execute scripts on the farm. The advantage to that one is that you would easily be able to pick and choose which machine you wanted to shut down.
http://3d2f.com/screenshot/0-443-rem...reenshot.shtml