V-Ray version incorrectly reported in Swarm

[AlexIO]

Hello,

this has been a headscratcher for me for a while.

Rhino reports this version for me:



Yet when opening the Swarm UI, my machine reports:




Why is there this mis-match?

Another observation here was, as we updated to the new v4, on a computer that previously had no V-Ray installed, the version was simply reported as "default". No number or anything. This smells as if upon first use of V-Ray inside Rhino, the version is written somewhere for Swarm to look it up. Perhaps then if you upgrade to a newer version, is this not updated?

Moreover, perhaps will jobs not be distributed because the version number is reported incorrectly?

Thank you for your thoughts.

[ivan.slavchev]

SWARM will use the same V-Ray version you have installed on your host app (Rhino in this case) to render the scene. When you submit a render job SWARM will check if the particular version is present on the render node If it isn't - it'll transfer the build over the network from the machine you submit the scene from prior to rendering, start that version and render the scene with it. I suppose you hadn't submitted a render job with V-Ray Next at the time the screenshot is taken, hence only the older V-Ray 3 build is present on the render node from previous renderings.

You can also upload a version manually if you browse from the machine you have V-Ray for Rhino installed on to the render node you want to upload V-Ray inside SWARM - https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/...Items-Versions

[AlexIO]

SWARM will use the same V-Ray version you have installed on your host app (Rhino in this case) to render the scene.

Sadly that's not the case for me.

it'll transfer the build over the network from the machine you submit the scene from prior to rendering, start that version and render the scene with it.

Can you please rephrase this more clearly - I have too many theories what you might mean.

I suppose you hadn't submitted a render job with V-Ray Next at the time the screenshot is taken, hence only the older V-Ray 3 build is present on the render node from previous renderings.

That's definitely not the case. I double-checked now and finished a render with the version rhino reports (screenshotted above). Swarm was enabled. After, Swarm UI still shows the same v3.60 for my own machine, and doesn't let me choose any other verisons, either. Even if, it should not be necessary to finish a render first for this to update. The correct version should be reported, without having to manually upload the package.

[ivan.slavchev]

Swarm UI still shows the same v3.60 for my own machine and doesn't let me choose any other verisons, either. Even if, it should not be necessary to finish a render first for this to update. The correct version should be reported, without having to manually upload the package.

V-Ray uses SWARM to render only on the additional render nodes. On the local machine you render via V-Ray's integration in Rhino. Having V-Ray SWARM installed is also not necessary to have on the local machine for rendering, but it's convenient for monitoring purposes, e.g. you always know that on the localhost address you have a SWARM instance that can show other nodes.

Can you please rephrase this more clearly - I have too many theories what you might mean.

If there is no locally copied instance of V-Ray in SWARM's repository on a certain node, an archived version of V-Ray is transferred over the local network from the computer with V-Ray and Rhino to the respective render node, then SWARM extracts it, starts it in server mode (meaning it waits for render requests) and uses it to render the subsequently incoming scene.

[AlexIO]

V-Ray uses SWARM to render only on the additional render nodes. On the local machine you render via V-Ray's integration in Rhino. Having V-Ray SWARM installed is also not necessary to have on the local machine for rendering, but it's convenient for monitoring purposes, e.g. you always know that on the localhost address you have a SWARM instance that can show other nodes.

Well but shouldn't my own machine's node still report the updated version? Also, I don't recall an option during the installer to install only as a node. It appears we must manually update all machines intended for distributed rendering by uploading the V-Ray package in Swarm's browser menu, as you had mentioned. Is this the normal procedure, even for offices like us with >100 computers?

If there is no locally copied instance of V-Ray in SWARM's repository on a certain node, an archived version of V-Ray is transferred over the local network from the computer with V-Ray and Rhino to the respective render node, then SWARM extracts it, starts it in server mode (meaning it waits for render requests) and uses it to render the subsequently incoming scene.

That sounds both complicated but potentially powerful at the same time. But why doesn't it simply transfer the required version over that was used on the host machine initiating the job?

[ivan.slavchev]

Well, but shouldn't my own machine's node still report the updated version?

No, unless you use it as a render node as well. All V-Ray versions SWARM has on a certain node are stored in

%userprofile%AppData\Roaming\Chaos Group\vray-swarm\work\vray-swarm\V-Ray

or, in case you run the service with a Local system account in

C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Roaming\Chaos Group\vray-swarm\work\vray-swarm\V-Ray

Also, I don't recall an option during the installer to install only as a node.

There is such option, it installs only SWARM on the node. You can use a standalone SWARM installer instead, too.

It appears we must manually update all machines intended for distributed rendering by uploading the V-Ray package in Swarm's browser menu, as you had mentioned. Is this the normal procedure, even for offices like us with >100 computers?

You're not meant to manually update.

That sounds both complicated but potentially powerful at the same time. But why doesn't it simply transfer the required version over that was used on the host machine initiating the job?

That is how SWARM works. If it doesn't work correctly in your environment and a build is not transferred even after you submit a scene to the render nodes, you're either missing some VC++ libraries (or other, for other OS), or there is a firewall/antivirus that blocks the upload. Usually, if you try to upload manually on 1 machine and the upload fails there's an error printed that should point to the problem's cause.