Working with Server Groups
 
 
 

A server group is a named collection of render nodes that is treated, for the most part, as if it were a single node. By default, jobs are submitted by creative applications to the Backburner network as a whole. It is the Backburner Manager that determines the specific render nodes to which they are sent, based on job type and node availability. However, certain Autodesk applications can be configured to submit jobs to a specific server group.

Server groups can be used to implement a job-processing strategy. For example, consider a facility with two Visual Effects and Finishing applications, and a render farm consisting of eight Burn nodes, four of which are GPU-enabled. In such a situation, you might create two server groups, one each for the non-GPU and GPU-enabled Burn nodes. By assigning each Visual Effects and Finishing workstation to a different server group, you can reserve the GPU-enabled Burn nodes for the workstation with higher priority or more demanding jobs.

It should be understood that server groups do not restrict your ability to assign render nodes to particular jobs as you see fit. When a creative application is configured to submit its jobs to a server group, additional nodes can be assigned to it, automatically, or manually, once the job is on the network. Conversely, you can always remove individual nodes from a job, regardless of their relationship to a server group.

Use the following procedures to create or delete a named collection of render nodes, called a server group, and to assign a server group to a job.

NoteFor information on configuring a creative application to submit jobs to a server group, see the User Guide for the application of choice. To configure a Visual Effects and Finishing application to submit its jobs to a server group, set the optional BackburnerManagerGroup keyword in the application's init.cfg file. See the Burn Installation and User Guide. For Smoke for Mac OS X, this can be done in the Smoke Setup UI.

To create a server group:

  1. On the Server Groups tab, click the Create button.

    The Create Server Group dialog appears.

  2. Enter a name for the new server group in the Group Name field.
  3. Add render nodes to the group by selecting them in the Available Servers list and moving them to the Servers in Group list.
  4. Once you are satisfied with your choices, click OK to commit the changes.

    The new server group is added to the list.

    NoteServer groups you create in the Backburner Web Monitor appear as global groups in Backburner Windows Monitor.

To assign a server group to a job:

  1. On the Jobs tab, select the job of interest and choose Settings from the Action menu, or double-click the job.

    The Job Details page appears.

  2. In the Job Details page, click on the Server Assignment tab.

  3. Choose a server group from the Assigned Server Group menu.
  4. Apply your changes, then click Refresh to update the display.

    Compatible servers belonging to the group appear in the Assigned Servers list.

    NoteIf an expected server belonging to the chosen group does not appear in the list, it can indicate the server is absent, or does not have the correct adapter installed. The manager will only assign servers that are able to carry out the job.
    NoteChanged settings apply to new tasks only. Completed tasks are not reprocessed. To reprocess completed tasks, restart the job from the beginning. See Restarting Jobs.

To delete a server group:

  1. On the Server Groups tab, select the server group of interest and click the Delete button.
  2. When prompted to confirm your action, click OK.

    The selected server group is deleted.