Newbie Phoenix licensing question regarding slave node etc.

[JezUK]

I have two pcs, my main machine and an additional machine for assisting with renders.

As I learn about Phoenix, I understand it is possible to submit a simulation via BB or Deadline (I use Deadline) for my other pc to carry out while freeing up my main pc.

My question is, if I do that, can I then switch off my main pc and allow just the slave pc to work on the simulation ? I’m wondering if the slave would fail with a ‘cannot find licence’ error of some sort.

(my small network is very new and I’ve not had time to try this out).

My secondary question is, can I submit multiple simulations, one for each pc, to run at the same time ?

Finally, do I need to buy another Phoenix licence just so I can continue working with Phoenix on my main pc (including any simulations) whilst the slave executes a simulation ?

Many thanks.

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Hey, check this out for more info: https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/...ation+Licenses

In short - a running simulation requires a Simulation license. 1 standard full Phoenix license = 1 GUI license + 1 Simulation license. For example, if you run 5 simulations on 5 different machines, you will need 5 Simulation licenses. If you open the GUI of 3ds Max, you will need a GUI license. Note that 1 machine cannot consume more than 1 GUI license and 1 simulation license, no matter how many 3ds Max instances you open or how many simulations you run.

I haven't tried shutting down a machine from which I have sent a BB or Deadline job, but I suppose it should keep working once it's started - depends on how BB and Deadline handle it, but in theory there shouldn't be issues once the job is already on another machine.

Cheers!

[JezUK]

Thanks Svetlin, helpful as ever

I'll contact my reseller and ask them how much Phoenix Simulation licences cost (I wasn't even aware that such a thing existed until just now).

PS - looking into the future, would it be safe to predict that simulations will one day be distributed across networks, so that slave machines can share in their calculations ? (seems obvious to me, but......)

[Svetlin.Nikolov]

Ah, yes, it would be good to get there, but unfortunately distributed simulations don't scale nowhere near distributed rendering, so there is a lot to improve on a single PC before going there...

Cheers!

[ijzerman86]

@Svetlin,
I dont know if this is bending the rules a bit but is it technically possible to run the GUI license on one pc(my workstation) and the Sim node part of the license on another workstation via backburner?

[flipbook]

That is exactly what the sim license is for. I use my GUI on the workstation and send a sim to the farm.

[ijzerman86]

Thanks for the heads up