Turn a mac Pro 3,1 into render slave?

[dcnblues]

I need to upgrade my hardware, and need some advice. Either my 2008 3,1 mac pro (8 core) or my dual Dell monitors regularly chew up my GTX 285 graphics card. I'm sick of losing my main computer while the card gets repaired, and Yosemite might break the Pro in any case (if not now, soon). So I need to upgrade.

-First thing is that I'm not sure about my workload. I'll be making my own short films, and they'll work with video in and output to 720p 30fps, and they'll be short 4-10 minutes. However, there will be a lot of compositing. 

-I'm considering getting a lighter weight iMac, some thunderbolt peripherals, and converting the 3,1 mac Pro to a render slave. The mac Pro won't currently boot without a working graphics card. Can I change that, and get it to work remotely without a graphics card? That would be nice as I don't want to put money into it unless really worth it.

-My impression is that doing so will require linux geekery beyond my talent level. *Edit: Okay, it seems like if I'm using Smoke, Backburner is my only option. I can follow straightforward instructions using the comand line, but simply can't freestyle on the command line. My impression is that I'd have difficulty making this work. Or would setting this up fall under Autodesk help, and get me pro setup help?  

-Backburner seems to need to 'Select a machine to be used as the render farm manager.' So do I understand correctly that one needs a minimum of 3 computers? I've got a laptop (macbook pro mid 2010 with 4gb RAM), but don't know if it's capable enough. I don't suppose the 'render farm manager' can do so via wifi?

-As well, the 3,1 has a working pciE card leading to a 5 bay enclosure with 5 terrabytes in a Raid5 setup. Would that connection be stable as a render slave? I really don't know how server setups work, whether they can manage external storage. 

-Should I dump / sell / trade in the mac pro, should I salvage the Raid enclosure with a Thunderbolt box that would take the pcie card? That's like $300, and might be throwing good money after bad. 

-Lastly, is anyone considering leasing a new mac pro? I got a pretty convincing pitch from a business sales guy in an apple store. I like the trade-in options to avoid the obsolescence trap (especially with 4k breathing down my neck in a few years). But I know leases are a scam in the auto world. Any advice? Many thanks, I'm a lightweight who still hasn't dived in to Smoke but look forward to doing so when I can get my production off the ground.

[dcnblues]

Some good info to be found here:

http://infernoflameflintflaresmoke.blogspot.com/2013/03/autodesk-backburner-know-your-enemy.html

[dcnblues]

-Render Farm Manager needs Gigabyte ethernet, got it. 

-Okay, new question: I'm under the impression that each Backburner node needs to have Smoke installed (with same location structure) on OS X. So I'd need to keep all OS's on the same version? I couldn't, for example, leave the 3,1 mac Pro on Mavericks. Is this correct? This seems risky to have to keep the old pro constantly updated on OS...

-As well, I haven't come across anything in the documentation that suggests that the macbook pro can't be the render farm manager. It's got the ethernet, and can run the browser and server software (I believe). Is this accurate? 

-My single user license will work for two nodes? Documentation is not reassuring about this.

[yann.laforest]

Hi,

First, we have to understand both components involved in the render farm process here:

- Backburner (which is managing the render jobs - Backburner does not render anything)

- Burn (which is the remote render engine)

Burn is compatible with Smoke Perpetual (not Smoke Desktop Subscription) and is available on Linux only (not on Mac OSX).  On the other hand, Backburner runs on Mac OSX, Windows and Linux.

That being said, the only possible option in your case would be to install Linux (Red Hat or Centos) on your Mac Pro and then configure it as a Burn render node.

Having 2 Mac OSX machines on the same network, rendering tasks from each other is indeed possible but only if Smoke is installed and licensed on both workstations.  This configuration is a more collaborative workflow rather than background rendering workflow and requires at least 2 full Smoke licenses.

I hope it explains a bit the options you have here.

Your Smoke reseller can surely help you with the licensing and other technical questions you may have.

Best regards,

Yann

[dcnblues]

Thank you for the response. I still have the following questions:

-As I bought Smoke 2013, is that a perpetual license that will let me use Burn? Will I be able to use the latest versions of Burn and BackBurner?

-Can the macbook pro be the render farm manager?

-Will tech support (in particular, the remote desktop help) help with installing the Linux apps? Is that part of tech support?

[yann.laforest · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Q: As I bought Smoke 2013, is that a perpetual license that will let me use Burn? Will I be able to use the latest versions of Burn and BackBurner?

A: Burn requires its own license which may be included with with your Smoke 2013 license.  Your Smoke reseller can provide you the info.  Regarding the second part of your question, Smoke 2013 is compatible with the Burn and Backburner versions with which the version was originally released, hence it is not compatible with the latest Burn and Backburner.

Q: Can the macbook pro be the render farm manager?

A: Yes.  Any computers accessible on your network can be the render farm manager as Backburner is Linux, Mac OSX and Windows compliant.

Q: Will tech support (in particular, the remote desktop help) help with installing the Linux apps? Is that part of tech support?

A: It all depends of your technical support contract.  Again, your Smoke reseller can provide you the right information here.

Please let me know if you have any questions,

Regards,

Yann