Vray Swarm Licensing & Other Questions

[theantnest]

Hi all, first post here!

The notion of halving my render time without buying any new hardware is very enticing one. Especially once AMD releases Threadripper and my current build could sit in the corner as a swarm node only.

I have many questions about Vray swarm, but the main question I have is to do with the licensing:

If you have a full Vray single license, are you able to use swarm? Or do you need to purchase additional licenses for the machines running Swarm?

This is really not clear in any of the documentation, and somewhere on this forum I read somebody saying a Vray license comes with 10 swarm licenses, but then I read somewhere else that you need a Render Node license for each machine running swarm. If you do need to buy additional licenses, I would suggest that Swarm should not be considered a part of Vray, but more it's own product which can be purchased additionally to Vray. The fact that the installer defaults to installing swarm is confusing if additional licenses are required to use it.

And does swarm UI tell you if the node is unlicensed? Or it just doesn't work? I have a server in my house that I installed only swarm on, and in the UI it looks like swarm should be working, but then only my workstation renders buckets. It would be nice if there was somewhere in the Swarm UI that gave feedback about each node's licence status. I think it could save a lot of headaches!

But mostly, I think it would be a good idea to not install Swarm with Vray by default, or at least to add some info into the installer package explaining only to install swarm if you have the necessary license if that is the case.

[ivan.slavchev]

If you have a full Vray single license, are you able to use swarm? Or do you need to purchase additional licenses for the machines running Swarm?

If you have a single Workstation license package (1 GUI license + 1 Universal Render node license) you cannot use SWARM because the render node license will always be engaged by the local machine. Hence - you'd need additional render node licenses (1 license per machine) to use SWARM.

I read somebody saying a Vray license comes with 10 swarm licenses

V-Ray 2 had 10 Distributed Rendering licenses. Distributed rendering was carried out in a different way with V-Ray 2, too.
V-Ray 3 is offered with one or more Universal Render node license - you can check the different packages here https://www.chaosgroup.com/vray/sketchup#pricing
For more detailed pricing (for example if you need a different number of licenses)- please contact your reseller.

I would suggest that Swarm should not be considered a part of Vray, but more it's own product which can be purchased additionally to Vray.

SWARM is a distributed rendering manager that can be used only with V-Ray and comes with V-Ray installer.

And does swarm UI tell you if the node is unlicensed?

The node/s without a license will be marked as "UNSTABLE". Generally - "Unstable" status means that there is a problem with the node - license, configuration etc. More information about the eventual problem can be found in the node's log - http://IP_Address_of_the_node:24267/log

I have a server in my house that I installed only swarm on, and in the UI it looks like swarm should be working, but then only my workstation renders buckets.

SWARM is working, it requires a license to start V-Ray only when you start a render.

You can review the SWARM documentation here - https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/...ration-License

[Peter.Chaushev]

Hello,

V-Ray Swarm is a system which manages distributed rendering. It does not actually do any rendering. Instead it organizes which render node machines to participate, makes sure all of them are using the same version of V-Ray and allows users to interactively change the number of machines being used while the render process is ongoing.
For further info, please visit https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/...UP/V-Ray+Swarm

If you have a full Vray single license, are you able to use swarm? Or do you need to purchase additional licenses for the machines running Swarm?

When you purchase a Workstation 3.0 license, it contains an Interface (GUI) and an AppSDK(GUI) License which let you model with V-Ray and access all of its menus. It also comes with 1 Render Node 3.0 license which is required for rendering. To use multiple machines for Distributed Rendering one Render node license per additional machine is required. The Render node licenses are universal and can be used for any other V-Ray 3.0 products as well.
https://www.chaosgroup.com/vray/lice...#vray-sketchup

This is really not clear in any of the documentation, and somewhere on this forum I read somebody saying a Vray license comes with 10 swarm licenses, but then I read somewhere else that you need a Render Node license for each machine running swarm.

V-Ray 2.0 used to come with rendering node license restricted only for use with that version of V-Ray for SketchUp. If you are upgrading from v2.0 to v3.4 you can upgrade your old v2.0 render node licenses to the universal v3.0 licenses instead of buying them.

And does swarm UI tell you if the node is unlicensed?

You can see all available render node machines through the Swarm UI. How many of them you can use simultaneously depends on the number of render node licenses you have available.
https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/...ation-Overview

To view your available licenses, simply open the License Server web interface located at http://localhost:30304 (or simply type Manage V-Ray Online License Server in your Windows Start menu). You can get all the info you need about your current licensing there. For example, when you click on the number of engaged licenses you can see which machines(name and IP) are currently using them.

For further info about license pricing, upgrades or what discounts you qualify for, please send an email to sales@chaosgroup.com or contact your local reseller.

Let me know if you have any further questions!

Kind regards,
Peter Chaushev

[theantnest]

Many thanks Peter and Ivan for your clear responses. Much appreciated.

Maybe clarifying these points in the documentation would be very useful to many users.

[peerman]

V-Ray 2.0 used to come with rendering node license restricted only for use with that version of V-Ray for SketchUp. If you are upgrading from v2.0 to v3.4 you can upgrade your old v2.0 render node licenses to the universal v3.0 licenses instead of buying them.

So does this mean I used to have 10 licenses included in my vray 2.0 license? So I now get 10 render nodes for 3.4 since I upgraded to 3.0? This part is not clear for me. We used to have a couple of DR nodes with 2.0 included. And now we have to pay extra for the same nodes even though we upgraded to 3.0? We only use V-ray for Sketchup so the universal nodes aren't any use to us. Only Sketchup restricted nodes would do just fine...

Best,

Peter

[Peter.Chaushev]

Back in the day most V-Ray 2.0 for SketchUp users had 10 render node licenses. My colleagues from Sales team can let you know how many old v2.0 render node licenses your account has, which of them can be upgraded in bundles, what volume based discounts can apply, and so on.
V-Ray 3.4 works only with V-Ray 3.0 universal render node licenses which are also the only ones available for purchase and use . By default, upgrading from V-Ray 2.0 to 3.4 involves one workstation license (appsdk & gui license) plus one render node license.
I can truly help you only with technical issues and questions. My advise is to contact my colleagues from Sales for further info (at sales@chaosgroup.com ). They will be able to assist you further!

Kind regards,
Peter Chaushev

[peerman]

Thank you Peter! I will contact your colleagues.

Best,