VrayDR (start/stop) utility

[plastic_]

Ok i tried to manually correct that problem and i managed to do it:
I did a small modification (for my personal use of course) of the code, replacing 3 lines of code in the .hta which are all the pskill by taskkill (and the correct switch syntax), works fine now ! no more hangs.

I know have one remaining problem is "mapped network drive"
I'm trying to run a .bat at the startup of each machine in the renderfarm like so:
net use [driveletter] /delete
net use [driveletter] \\[path]

Doesn't seem to accept jobs with mapped drives though when server are launched from Dave's slave utils.


Anything i'm doing wrong here ?
Thank you very much

SMaX

it just wont work with services. i tried hard for a solution, but i think there is none.
you should switch to UNC mapping, it sucks somehow, because the path is dependent of the computer name, not so with drive mapping. but it looks like there is no way to make a service see mapped drives.

[smax]

Ok found a way to do it and i think it's the only one available since psexec don't keep the mapped network drives:

Instead of launching a server.exe just launch a startserver.bat for example.
You 'll have to put this file in each renderfarm backburner folder.
It contains:

net use [driverletter]: /delete
net use [driveletter]: \\[path] password /user:login
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\Backburner\server.exe"


With that modified in the hta, works fine

Hope it helps,

[dbuchhofer]

smax: Glad to see this thing still helps people its a mess, but beats the hell out of 40 .bat files for me so far

it just wont work with services. i tried hard for a solution, but i think there is none.
you should switch to UNC mapping, it sucks somehow, because the path is dependent of the computer name, not so with drive mapping. but it looks like there is no way to make a service see mapped drives.

Marc, I just don't know if that's true or not though, as I've got 5 out of my 10 machines that CAN see the mapped drives. (Talking about DR via Service, and server.exe via.. well, exe..)

Smax: Are you saying that the slaves WILL accept mapped drives if started manually? I don't think I ever tested that heh!

I just made a small "sanity check" script that converts from mapped to unc if needed that is called at render time on each of the workstations

[tricky]

Hi thread

I'm trying to have a go at getting this up and running. I am using the suggested TightVNC utility, and after installation and conection to one of my machines through the viewer (which works fine) I cannot seem to actually click the mouse button. It tracks where the cursor is with a little dot, but it doesn't do any of my mouse or keyboard actions. Any ideas?


EDIT: hang on, it *seems* to be working, it is just amazingly slow....mmm, odd. This is a Gigabit network.

[dbuchhofer]

If you're looking at an actual slave machine, try this tip.. if you're looking at something thats in use as a real workstation at some point, you're somewhat out of luck i think.

TIP: In order to get maximum refresh rate, responsiveness and
performances, it is necessary that you completely disable "Hardware
Acceleration" on the machines that run WinVNC (server). It can be done
in "Display Properties" Panel -> "Settings" Tab -> "Advanced..." Button
-> "Troubleshooting" Tab -> "Hardware Acceleration" Tab set to "None".
This makes a big difference, especially over LAN connections and even
with others VNC distributions.

[tricky]

OK, these are all render slaves, so shouldn't be a problem. I did as you suggested but it is difficult to see if it made a difference. There is also something called 'write combing'. Should this also be disabled?

[dbuchhofer]

If that didn't make a difference, then it wasn't the same issue i was having, for me it was a DRASTIC change. I tend to not really use the VNC much anymore, only for installations that i can't batch through the "process to start" thing

have you tried windows remote desktop by chance? is it also as slow?

[tricky]

RDP is fine, so will probably keep using that. At the moment, I am trying to use the start/stop Vray DR service, but am having no luck.

Machines are all XP64 and I'm using Max2009 with Vray1.5 sp2 (so I've changed the name of VraySpawner filename in the ini file to "VRaySpawner 2009", but as of yet, no joy.

[tricky]

This is my ini file:
* Enter the Path to VNC with the exe on the next line
C:\Program Files (x86)\TightVNC\vncviewer.exe
* Enter the Login, with domain if you have one on the next line
"our domain name"\Administrator
* Enter the Password on the next line
"administratoir password"
* Enter the Location for 3D Studio Max on the next line, leave off the C:\
Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2009
* Enter the Location for Backburner on the next line, leave off the C:\
Program Files (x86)\Autodesk\Backburner
* VraySpawner filename
VRaySpawner 2009

[dbuchhofer]

Are you using the spawner as an Executable or as a Service? If service, then has the service NAME changed for the max 2009 version? I still see the service labeled as "VraySpawner 90" in '08 when i look at it in my Start->Run->Services.msc

If you find the commandline arguments for RDP, its pretty trivial to add a new button instead of VNC. I just never really had a chance to use RDP due to the IT helpdesk using that already

[tricky]

Spawner is running as a service on all of our render machines.

The service name for spawner is "VRaySpawner 2009", but if I choose 'ProcessList' from your utility, I see it listed in the command line window as "vrayspawner2009". I have tried both options, but it seems not to work.

Also, if I enter "VraySpawner 2009" in the remote processes section of the utility, and choose "Kill Process", I just get the Command Line window open up and hang with PSKill v1.10.... but nothing actually happens.

[smax]

Smax: Are you saying that the slaves WILL accept mapped drives if started manually? I don't think I ever tested that heh!

I just made a small "sanity check" script that converts from mapped to unc if needed that is called at render time on each of the workstations

Hi Dave,

Well the problem with mapped drives is our max files behind rendered, all mapped to N:\ for convenience.
If you launch manually the server.exe (or vrayspawner2009.exe) then it will use the session mapped drives correctly.

If you use psexec, whatever you try, it appears it won't use the mapped network drives of the session and simply not find N:\ (although the distant session is correctly logged and actually sees N:\ )
=> An error of "path not found" will then occur in the backburner server window.

I guess the .bat workaround is the only one, been testing that until now and works fine.

Some little improvements to the tool would be ultimate, like having the possibility to kill certain 3dsmax.exe and not all of them, or being able to sort and alias the computerlist (like so we could split graphically the "renderfarm" machines and the "workstations" machines, to avoid killing your buddy's 3DSMAX during the day by mistake )
(Like 2 listing menu ?)

Anyway, thank you for the tool Dave

Marc (SMaX)

[dbuchhofer]

I see.. the filenames AND service names changed, Makes sense, as you would probably want to keep multiple spawners installed over time to deal with older projects, but makes this little app a bit less flexible as theres not enough options in the tool to compensate I'll have to update that a little!

you can manually edit the service name pretty quickly.. if you search for 'VRaySpawner 90' and replace it with 'VRaySpawner 2009' the services should work for you.

So 'VRaySpawner 2009' is the SERVICE name, but that service in turn launches a VRaySpawner2009.exe, which is what you're seeing in the pslist, and what you would want to be in your ini file. (Though, if you're using the services, the ini file is ignored.)

[dbuchhofer]

If you use psexec, whatever you try, it appears it won't use the mapped network drives of the session and simply ignore them when it comes connect (although the distant session is correctly logged and actually sees N:\ )
=> An error of "path not found" will then occur in the backburner server window.

That gives me an idea.. I had to do a similar workaround to allow launching of VNC as an executable (Long story short, didn't have permissions to isntall it as a service on certain machines... so it needs to run as an exe.) BUT.. when run as an exe, it wasn't getting launched as an INTERACTIVE process..

so what i did was launch it instead by

cmd.exe /c start "c:\program files\Realvnc\winvnc\winvnc.exe" "c:\program files\Realvnc\winvnc\winvnc.exe

as the "Process" of my psexec -i -d... so the full commandline ended up being something like

psexec -u DOMAIN\Login -p password -i -d cmd.exe /c start "c:\program files\Realvnc\winvnc\winvnc.exe" "c:\program files\Realvnc\winvnc\winvnc.exe"

so it used the login and pass to launch the remote cmd.exe, but then used the local system privileges with the start command.. allowing it to have full network and desktop interaction privileges.

that i think does pretty much the same thing your batch file does.. So maybe we can just adjust the command line a little and have our mapped drives back! yay!

Some little improvements to the tool would be ultimate, like having the possibility to kill certain 3dsmax.exe and not all of them, or being able to sort and alias the computerlist (like so we could split graphically the "renderfarm" machines and the "workstations" machines, to avoid killing your buddy's 3DSMAX during the day by mistake )
(Like 2 listing menu ?)

I just added them into the computers.ini myself

127.0.0.1

[The Manager]
manager-0

[The Farm]
machine-1
machine-2
etc

[Workstations]
work1
work2
etc

[tricky]

Oh, this is sooo frustrating. I just cannot get this to work. Am I going to have to right off the last 3 hours????

This does look like a great tool Dave - well done so far.