This render node is madness! I can hit render, and my node will work, but then it will not. It is a crap shoot! I’ll stop a render, make a tweak, and hit render again. Sometimes, the render node will join, but most of the time, it will not. I remember this same behavior when I had a render farm ten years ago, so it seems nothing has improved. Is there anything I can do? If not, I don’t see a reason to pay for the extra node.
[17:55:08.508] Warning : Could not connect to host 192.168.2.97:20204: No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it.
[17:55:08.509] Warning : Could not use any of the selected (1) hosts for distributed rendering!
Today, I started and stopped a render three times. The second render began after 17 minutes (stopped contributing after two hours), but the first and third never started, and all three ran for at least 1/2 an hour.
I have a CAT 6 between the two machines, CAT 6 with a preferred IP and Wi-Fi with a preferred IP. I assume I should be using the ethernet IP; is this correct?
Bobby you have a cat cable connecting the two machines? You need to run them through a switch, make sure switch is connected to a router. I would not use ip6, rather ip4, set the static ips for both of them so they are always defined.
Okay, I ran some tests, and my render node only uses the WIFI IP, not my ethernet IP. I unplugged my ethernet cable and can still access each machine from the other, so my ethernet cable is doing nothing. I am not sure this solves my issue since I have been using my WIFI IP in V-Ray.
Multihoming with two or more IPs on a machine can be difficult to get right, and some software just may not support it. I would make sure everything is on a single, wired network. Both machines can be wired into your router. If you can’t access the router then get a small switch (dirt cheap) and connect the machines to the switch, and then the switch to the router. You don’t want to be simultaneously using WiFi and wired networks unless you have a deep understanding of networking.
Nope, no access to the router. As long as the WIFI is doing the job, I am fine. It is surprisingly fast, but it makes sense that the extra node takes about 15 minutes to join. I didn’t think you could render over WIFI.
Simply unplugging my CAT6 seems to have solved my issue. I tried both IPs, and both worked, but the CAT6 direct was flaky, and even if I removed that IP, it still caused problems. Unplugging it solved the flakiness.