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Set up a master machine with mental ray standalone (method 2)

Network rendering

Submit a job to render over the network

 

User Guide > Rendering and Render Setup > Rendering > mental ray for Maya rendering > Network rendering > 

Slave machine setup

All slave machines require mental ray for Maya Satellite or mental ray standalone.

When you install mental ray standalone, the installation automatically sets up your machine as a server to receive network render requests. If you are encountering problems with network rendering follow the steps below.

To set up a slave on Windows (mental ray standalone)

1. Ensure there is a rayrc file in the mental ray installation directory (C:\Program Files\Autodesk\mentalray). This file is automatically created during a default installation.
2. Ensure that the mental ray service is installed and running.

   To verify this, go to the Services window from the Administrative Tools and check to see if the Ray Server service exists and is started.

   If the Ray Server service exists but is not started, go to step 5.

3. If the Ray Server service does not exist, edit the services file located at:
   • (Windows XP) C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\services
4. Make sure the following lines exist:

   mi-ray 7009/tcp mi-spm 7050/tcp

   7009 represents the port number used for rendering requests and 7050 represents the port number used for licensing connections to SPM. Make sure the port number used for rendering requests is the same on the master machine and all slave machines (here, 7009).

5. Open a command prompt window and type the following:

   ray /install

   ray.exe should automatically be in your path and is located in the bin directory of the mental ray installation.

6. Double-click the Ray Server service in the Services Window (Administrative Tools in the Control Panel) to start it.

   When the service successfully starts, the machine is ready to receive network render requests.

When you install mental ray for Maya Satellite on a slave machine, the installation automatically sets up your machine as a server to receive network render requests. If you are encountering problems with network rendering follow the steps below.

To set up a slave on Windows (mental ray for Maya Satellite)

1. Ensure there is a rayrc file in the mental ray installation directory (C:\Program Files\Autodesk\mentalraysatellite\). This file is automatically created during a default installation.
2. Ensure that the mental ray service is installed and running.

   To verify this, go to the Services window from the Administrative Tools and check to see if the RaySat Server service exists and is started.

   If the RaySat Server service exists but is not started, go to step 5.

3. If the RaySat Server service does not exist, edit the services file located at:
   • (Windows XP) C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\services
4. Make sure the following line exists:

   mi-raysat2009 7109/tcp

   7109 represents the port number. Make sure the port number is the same on the master machine and all slave machines.

5. Open a command prompt window and type the following:

   raysat2009 /install

   raysat2009.exe should automatically be in your path and is located in the bin directory of the mental ray installation.

6. Double-click the RaySat Server service in the Services Window (Administrative Tools in the Control Panel) to start it or type raysat2009 /start.

   When the service successfully starts, the machine is ready to receive network render requests.

The mental ray standalone installer does not set up your machine as a slave automatically. You need to follow the steps below with administrative privileges on all Linux machines.

To set up a slave on Linux (mental ray standalone)

1. In a shell type:

   /usr/autodesk/mi361/bin/netsetup -s

   You are prompted for the name of the SPM license server. It defaults to the local host.

2. Type in the SPM license server name if it is other than the default local host and then press Enter.

   The machine is now ready to receive network render requests.

The mental ray standalone installer does not set up your machine as a slave automatically. You need to follow the steps below with administrative privileges on all Mac OS X machines.

To set up a slave on Mac OS X (mental ray standalone)

1. Add the install location of mental ray to your path:

   /Applications/Autodesk/mentalray3.6.1/bin 

2. Create a new environment variable called SPM_HOST to identify your license server machine.

   The machine is now ready to receive network render requests.