To set up a master machine with mental ray standalone - method 1
MAIN .0 info : mental ray, version 3.4
MAIN .0 info :
[...]
MAIN .0 info :
MAIN 0.0 info : version 3.4, 4 Dec 2004
MAIN 0.0 info : compiled on: Windows NT 4.0, x86
MSG 0.0 info : reading hosts file C:\\.rayhosts
MSG 0.0 info : connecting host foobar1:7054
JOB 0.0 info : started thread 0 on foobar1 now known as host 1
MSG 0.0 info : connecting host foobar2:7054
JOB 0.0 info : started threads 0,1 on foobar2 now known as host 2
.....
This indicates that the hosts file C:\.rayhosts was read, and that it specified network render slaves foobar1 and foobar2 for use in this rendering. The started thread 0, 1... messages indicate that the slaves were successfully contacted.