There is nothing inherently incompatible about the software, just all the ancillary tools that I need to worry about handling. Like using apt-get instead of yum (and finding the right package names), update-rc.d instead of chkconfig, etc. Nothing huge but it will take me some time.

You are correct that performance is only so-so in vmware, but it does work. One cool thing is that an empty vmware client can be set to PXE boot, kind of like a virtual diskless node, and that works pretty well on the client side. But for server side, a physical box is much better. Keep me in the loop, I look forward to hearing how it goes. Also, if you have downloaded a version already, check again before you install. A newer one will probably be up.
Thanks!

I do still intend to look at this, the only issue at hand is that it requires Centos and I don’t have a spare machine readily available to wipe out for that OS .. We run a Debian network, it’d be wonderful if a Debian package were available.

I could run this in a virtual environment but I don’t think that would be very fair to the software since performance would be greatly impaired… so I’ll see what I can do to set up a test.

Specifically you need the renderfarmer download from here: http://www.linuxrenderfarm.com/downloads/rs-renderfarmer-1.1.tar.gz

And the installation guide is here:
http://www.linuxrenderfarm.com/documentation/cluster-maker-and-render-farmer-installation.html

I am revising that now because some of it is dated, but not so much that it doesn’t work.

Pre Req’s are short:

* Does /etc/hosts have the correct information?
* Is the system configured with the primary IP address on eth0? Primary means: This is the IP that the master will use to communicate with clients. I.e., if I am 10.0.0.5 and the clients will be 10.0.0.6,7,and 8., then 10.0.0.5 needs to be on eth0
* Is your kernel source linked to /usr/src/linux ? (for tips on obtaining this, check the latest README documents) The source headers provided by yum install kernel-devel are fine.

You’ll want a few nodes that you can set for PXE boot too…

And thanks! Let me know how it’s going and I look forward to hearing what you think.

Still waiting to hear back :)

I’d be happy to give it a shot, is there anything in particular I need to know? Always interested in such things, and I’d be happy to write up my honest views :)

Lonnie

We are trying to improve the state of the art when it comes to scaling out linux render farms in no time flat, and we need beta testers. Since you have this experience doing it with BNR, I’d REALLY value your opinion.

Thanks,
Chris