The Backburner Manager, on
Linux or Windows systems, is the link between the Render Clients
who submit jobs and the render nodes that process these jobs. If
the Backburner Manager is not available, jobs cannot be submitted
to or processed by Backburner. Not being able to connect to the Backburner Manager
causes problems for both Render Clients and nodes, but Render Clients
usually discover the problem. For example, if you submit a job while
the Manager is down, an error appears in your application.
The most common reasons
for not being able to connect to the Backburner Manager are:
- An incorrect IP address or an IP address
that connects to the wrong Backburner Manager
- A Backburner Manager that is not running
or is hung
- Communication problems between the Backburner Manager
and the render nodes
To resolve a problem connecting to the Backburner Manager:
- Ensure you are connecting to the correct Backburner Manager,
using its correct IP address, as follows.
Connect the application
directly to the Backburner Manager workstation by trying the following:
- If you use the Auto-Connect functionality,
disable the Use First Available option and/or remove the subnet
mask for the Backburner network. You are prompted to enter the name
or IP address of the Backburner Manager workstation when you try
to submit a job to the Backburner.
- Disable any settings or preferences that
automatically connect to the Backburner Manager.
If the application cannot
connect to the Backburner Manager, continue to the next step.
- Verify that the Backburner Manager is
running.
If it is not running
or appears to be inactive on the workstation, restart the Manager
for the network. Refer to the Autodesk Backburner Installation
Guide for help starting Backburner Manager.
NoteIf you are running Backburner Manager
as a Windows Service, display the Services control panel, and verify
that the Manager service is running. If the service is not running,
highlight it and click Start.
If restarting the Manager
does not fix the problem, continue to the next step.
- If a render node has more than one network
interface, these problem may be that the Backburner Server running
on that node is identifying itself to the Backburner Manager using
the wrong IP address. Do one of the following on the node to specify
the IP address the Backburner Server uses to identify itself to
the Backburner Manager:
- (Windows render node) Stop the Backburner Server
on the node, and the Backburner Manager. On the render node, from
the Start menu, choose Programs, Autodesk, Backburner, then server
to open the Backburner Server General Properties dialog and in the
Server Name or IP Address field, enter the name or IP address you
want to associate with the Backburner Server. Restart the Backburner Manager and
the Backburner Server.
- (Windows or Linux render node) Stop the Backburner Server
on the node, and the Backburner Manager. Load the /usr/discreet/backburner/Network/backburner.xml file
in an XML editor or text editor and edit the <SystemConfiguration>/<AppDetails>/<ServerSettings>/<ServerName> values
to reflect the host name or IP address you want to associate with
the Backburner Server. Save and close the file, then restart the Backburner Manager
and the Backburner Server.
- Ensure the render nodes can ping the Backburner Manager.
For help with the ping command, see
Verifying Communication Between Two Hosts.
If the render nodes can
successfully ping the Backburner Manager,
continue to the next step.
- If a firewall is running on Backburner components, review
the firewall settings for each network component to ensure the following:
- The Backburner application(s) are allowed
to access the network.
- The ports used by the Backburner Manager
and the Backburner Monitor to communicate are not blocked by the firewall.
By default, these ports are 3233 and 3234.
- Configure the log files to report detailed
information about TCP/IP packets, as follows.
Enable the Log Debug
and Log Debug Extended options in the preferences for the Manager
and all render nodes running Backburner Server, and then restart
the Backburner Manager and Backburner Server workstations.
Examine the TCP/IP information
in the log files to determine why the Backburner Manager workstation
and render nodes are not communicating.
- Examine the backburner.xml file
to ensure that the subnet mask defined for the Backburner Manager
is correct and matches the subnet mask defined for the render node's TCP/IP
settings. See
Editing the Backburner.xml File.