render farm setup

[brobins]

Hi there,

When setting up a new render farm, is it best to give each render node its own dedicated license or just have them pull a license from the server as and when they require one?

Thank you

[stefan.isakov]

Hello Brobins,
If you are using online licensing, it depends on your current environment and the number of licenses and accounts you have, but in most cases, you can install the Chaos license server on a dedicated machine and point all of the render farm machines to pull a license from it.
The other option is to install and activate the Chaos license server locally on each machine.
Let me know if you have further questions.

[aneliya_karadzhova]

Hello brobins,

This is a personal preference. Using one license server has a single point of failure but allows more flexibility. If you prefer and have the availability of two machines maybe you can setup two license servers and point the machines to both of them this will allow you to have some backup just in case.

Here you can see how to set those up: https://docs.chaos.com/display/LIC5/...%2Ftools%2F%20.

[Morbid Angel]

Hi there,

When setting up a new render farm, is it best to give each render node its own dedicated license or just have them pull a license from the server as and when they require one?

Thank you

You need to setup a virtual machine which is your dedicated license server, that has access to either offline or online license. This is how 99% of all large farms have it setup. If the vm fails, it can be easily restored from vm manager (we use hypervisor vcenter).

[Joelaff]

You need to setup a virtual machine which is your dedicated license server, that has access to either offline or online license. This is how 99% of all large farms have it setup. If the vm fails, it can be easily restored from vm manager (we use hypervisor vcenter).

^^^^ This!

Then you can run linux and your vm will only need about 768-1024MB of RAM (less with small footprint distros). The linux license server is rock solid. Set it and forget it.

[brobins]

Ah thanks for this.

We actually currently use a Mac Mini running Linux for our Nuke license server so I guess we could use this to handle all licenses. Thank you, will look into it.

[brobins]

Hi there,

We now have a dedicated machine on the LAN running Ubuntu that we would like to use as the License Server. Is there any documentation on how to install the License Server on Linux via Terminal? I would like to get this setup today if possible.

Many thanks

[Joelaff]

We just ran the installer and it worked great under Ubuntu 22.x LTS

Note that the Chaos command line installers force you to go through a ridiculously long EULA, and if you accidentally hit Enter one more time when asked if you agree it quits and you have to go through it again, which is just plain ignorant design not to require the user enter Y or N. This applies to installing any Chaos product on the command line. So go slowly to make sure you don't have to go through 30 pages over and over.

If you want to use offline licenses (highly recommended because by default if your internet or Chaos' servers go down you are dead in the water and can neither use VRay interactive, nor render) you have to be on the local machine (i.e. connect to 127.0.0.1). This can be circumvented with something like ssh port forwarding to connect from another machine.

[brobins]

Hi, thanks for that.

That is a good point actually and maybe a good idea to have the render nodes have offline licenses to ensure they always have one?

Thanks

[Joelaff]

Hi, thanks for that.

That is a good point actually and maybe a good idea to have the render nodes have offline licenses to ensure they always have one?

Thanks

Yes, and once you set it up it auto-renews itself, which works pretty well.

https://docs.chaos.com/display/LIC5/...or+Offline+Use

No clue why those docs say only borrow if you absolutely have to... I say, only borrow if you can't stand to blow your deadline if you lose internet or Chaos' servers go down. Note that all it takes is a short time without internet (or without an offline license) to bring a render farm to a screeching halt.

We had not borrowed all licenses one night (some were still online, not offline), and both our internet providers decided to do maintenance at the same time. This meant some nodes could not get licenses. This caused too many failures, and Deadline failed entire jobs, even though there were some nodes that could have rendered.

Always use offline (borrowed) licenses. The idea of your business requiring an internet connection 24/7 to render is pretty absurd.

[Morbid Angel]

We are trialing renting out our farm to customers, if anyone is interested pm me.