To Manage Cluster Rendering

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The VRED Cluster Manager organizes the shared use of a central cluster by multiple users. It provides you the ability to book certain time slots and resources for cluster raytracing. Resources are booked for a user and each user must be registered, by an administrator, to use the system. You can see your reservations and the remaining available resources. Administrators manage all reservations and may stop sessions as necessary. A central server must be selected to work as the management server. The VREDClusterService does not require a license, but must be installed on the PC in use. Administrators can upload cluster configurations. The VRED Cluster Module should be used to create these configurations.

Open the Cluster Manager

Click Rendering > Cluster Manager

Initialize the management PC

Each PC in the network can be used as a management node. On the PC that the cluster service is installed:

You can also execute the initialization from the command line. The command VREDNodePoolService -i resets the database and asks for the name and password of an administrator.

All settings and booked sessions are stored in a database file. The location of this file depends on the operating system.

User Management

If the cluster service is running at the first login, users should start registering with the system. The most convenient way to use the system is to use the windows login names and register the users without a password. In this case, users are automatically logged in. If circumstances required the use of passwords, a login screen is displayed when the Cluster Manager module is opened.

Configuration Management

If users are added, one or more clusters must be configured. Create a cluster configuration with the cluster module. This configuration should include all available resources.

You can use localhost in configurations. Compute nodes named localhost, 127.0.0.1, or ::1 is ignored during scheduling.

If configurations contain display cluster definitions, then all display nodes must be available to start the configuration. If not all display nodes are available, the resource overview shows 0% available resources.

Resource Overview

The resource overview shows available resources for an entire week. Available resources are shown as percentages and the actual number of available compute nodes. If all resources are available, the time slot is green. If no resources are available, the slot is red. If multiple clusters are available, the available resources can be shown for each cluster configuration.

To Book Resources

To reserve nodes, select a time from the resource dialog and select Book nodes from the context menu. The booking editor is displayed.

Starting a Cluster Session

Sessions that have been successfully booked can be started by selecting the booking, then the Start button. If the start time has already been reached, the cluster session starts immediately. If the start time has not been reached, a countdown is displayed until the session begins.

Ending a Cluster Session

The administrator determines what happens at the end of a session. A warning dialog can be shown before the end, the session can end automatically, or a dialog box can be shown that the session has ended.

There are different ways to stop a running session. You can stop running sessions by selecting the stop button in the Cluster Manager module or by selecting Stop in the cluster module. If a session was started on the local PC, an orange arrow is shown. If the session was started on another PC in the network, a blue arrow is shown. With this method, you can stop your session from any PC in the network. Administrators can use this function to stop sessions started by other users. If an administrator stops a session from other users, the session is marked as aborted.