README for Autodesk mental ray Satellite 3.6.51 for Maya 2008
============================================================
revised 2/8/08

mental ray version 3.6.51 

This readme is installed with:

- mental ray for Maya satellite

What is mental ray satellite?
-----------------------------

The mental ray satellite software supplements the mental ray
rendering capabilities of your Autodesk software by taking
advantage of the additional rendering power of the CPUs from 
other networked computers.

The satellite rendering process is initiated from a master
machine (the machine running Maya). This machine handles task
distribution, load balancing, and the collection of completed
rendering tasks which make up the rendered image. It sends
rendering tasks to slave machines (satellite rendering
computers), which process the rendering tasks and send back
results.

For more information on mental ray satellite rendering, see:

- For Maya: the Installation and Licensing guide, which is
available as online HTML or PDF, and the Network Rendering guide,
available as online HTML.

This information tells you how to set up the master and slave
machines so that they work together, including setting up the
rayhosts file that specifies which CPUs participate in satellite
rendering.


Number of satellites available to you
-------------------------------------

For Maya:
The mental ray for Maya plug-in that is integrated with Maya
lets you render with unlimited local CPUs/cores.

- With Maya Complete, mental ray satellite rendering can take
place on 2 additional remote cores.

- With Maya Unlimited, mental ray satellite rendering can take
place on 8 additional remote cores.

Slave machine additional setup
------------------------------

Once this version of mental ray is installed and running, it
waits for rendering tasks from mental ray on the master machine.
The satellite-enabled version of mental ray does not require its
own licensing. It is activated through the licensing of your
Autodesk software.

On the slave machine, the Ray Sat server must be running.

To verify that Ray Sat server is running (Windows)
--------------------------------------------------

1. Open a Windows command prompt.

2. Navigate to the /bin directory of the mental ray satellite
standalone. By default this is:

   C:\Program Files\Autodesk\mentalraysatellite3.6.51\bin

3. Type the following:

   raysat3651Mayaserver /query

A message should be returned saying Ray Sat Server service
is running.

If you do not get this message, make sure that Ray Sat Server
has been installed as a service, and start it from the Services
Control Panel (Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Options
> Services), or type the following:

   raysat3651Mayaserver /start

To verify that Ray Sat server is running (Linux and Mac OS X)
-------------------------------------------------------------
For Linux and Mac OS X, a process (on Linux, xinetd; on Mac OS X, 
launchd) monitors the mental ray satellite port and starts mental 
ray satellite when it receives a request from the master machine.

Additionally, you can follow these advanced instructions to verify
the Ray Sat server on Linux and Mac OS X.

To verify that Ray Sat server is running (Linux - Advanced)
-----------------------------------------------------------

On Linux (SuSE, RedHat, and Fedora Core) xinetd services can be
monitored using the chkconfig command-line utility. For example:

/sbin/chkconfig --list mi-raysat3651

This should report mi-raysat3651 as an "xinetd based service" and
state whether it is on or off.

If the xinetd service is not installed it will report "unknown
service". If you get this message ensure that mr Satellite RPM
is installed (the default install location is 
/usr/autodesk/mentalraysat3651/).

If the software is installed, but not showing up with the above
"--list" command, the service can be added using the
netsetup_satellite utility:

/usr/autodesk/mentalraysat3651/bin/netsetup_satellite

If the service is showing up but is not on, it can be activated
as follows:

/sbin/chkconfig mi-raysat3651 on

Note: all of the above commands should be run by a user with root
privileges.

To verify that Ray Sat server is running (Mac OS X - Advanced)
--------------------------------------------------------------

Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4) only

The mental ray satellite service on Mac OS X is run and managed by
launchd.

Apple includes a useful command-line tool for monitoring and
managing launchd services: /bin/launchctl. Admin privileges are
required to query or change the mental ray satellite service so
you must authorize the command with sudo.

In Terminal, type:

    sudo launchctl list

to list all available launchd services available on your Mac.
(This does not include services or agents running at a
user/non-Admin level.) If mental ray satellite is properly
installed it will show up in the list with the job-label
"com.autodesk.mentalraysat3651".


If the label is present then the mental ray satellite launchd
service is properly installed.

The launchd service can be loaded, unloaded, started, or stopped
using the launchctl utility.

Slave machine port setup
------------------------

Port number 7108 is set by default. To change the port number
used by mental ray satellite, you must edit the services file.

To change the port number (Windows and Linux)

1. Edit the services file.

   The services file is located at:

   (Windows 2000) C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\services

   (Windows XP) C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\services

   (Linux) /etc/services

   Use a text editor to edit the services file.

2. Change the number in the following line (here, 7108) to the
desired port number:

   mi-raysat3651  7108/tcp

   (Mac OS X) You may need to click the lock icon and
   authenticate to change this value.

3. Restart the server.

   * (Windows) Type the following:

       raysat3651Mayaserver /start

   * (Linux) You can reboot your machine to restart
   the server, or follow these advanced instructions to restart 
   the mental ray service.
   
   * (Linux [SuSE, RedHat, and Fedora Core] - Advanced), The xinetd 
     service can be re-started by restarting xinetd (as a root 
user):

    /etc/init.d/xinetd restart

   This will stop, then restart the xinetd process, forcing it to
   reload settings such as port numbers.

To change the port number (Mac OS X)


   Tiger (Mac OS 10.4) only:

   (Mac OS X) Use NetInfo Manager
   (/Applications/Utilities/NetInfo Manager)
   and navigate to /, then services, then mi-raysat3651.

   You may also need to modify the /etc/services file on 
   Mac OS X to have the same port number.

   Leopard (Mac OS 10.5) only:
   
   Open a Terminal window and do one of the following (depending on the 
type of service you are using):

   mi-raysat3651:
   sudo /bin/dscl . -change /Services/mi-raysat3651 port 

   <currentportnumber> <newportnumber>
   
   For example:

   sudo /bin/dscl . -change /Services/mi-raysat3651 port 7108 7107
     
   To determine the port you're currently using, in a Terminal window, 

type: /bin/dscl . -read /Services/mi-raysat3651 
	
   * (Mac OS X) You can reboot your machine to restart
   the server, or follow these advanced instructions to restart 
   the mental ray service.
   
   * (Mac OS X - Advanced) The service can be unloaded then re-loaded 
using the launchctl command-line utility to force the service to 
   reload its configurations:

sudo launchctl unload 
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.autodesk.mentalraysat3651.plist

sudo launchctl load 
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.autodesk.mentalraysat3651.plist
 

Mac OS X Uninstall Note
=======================

On Mac OS X, you need to use the mental ray satellite uninstaller 
in the mental ray satellite folder to properly uninstall this product. 
If you delete the mental ray satellite folder, port and machine 
associations may not be updated properly once you install the latest 
version of mental ray satellite.
