Need help with DR setup

[Bormax]

Hi. I need help with DR setup.

I have some questions about it and will be very grateful if you can help me to get the answers. Don't have the second computer yet, but I'll get it soon, so need some information beforehand.

1. If I get it right I can have not activated version of 3DS Max on the slave computer, but what about the plugins? Almost in all project I use Forest Pack, should I have it activated on the slave or demo version is enough? The same question about other plugins and scripts.

2. If I share the folder from the master computer which contains all textures and proxies I use for my projects, will it be used by render node without packing and sending the assets from master computer to the slave?

3. Is it possible to use DR with IR?

4. What kind of connection between master and slave is better to have?

5. If you can share some good tutorial about Corona DR setup and also about network setup would be also very appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[Bormax]

Somebody, help, plzzz!

[James Vella]

1. Read the licenses for each of your plugins. For example on the license page for Itoo it mentions: "free unlimited render nodes."
2. Yes, as long as each node can access that directory. Again read the documentation for your network render plugins etc.
3. Cant remember - I dont have nodes anymore. Maybe someone else can help with this one.
4. ?
5. You can read more here or here. Again read the documentation. These things took me 30 seconds to search for on google.

[Bormax]

1. Read the licenses for each of your plugins. For example on the license page for Itoo it mentions: "free unlimited render nodes."
2. Yes, as long as each node can access that directory. Again read the documentation for your network render plugins etc.
3. Cant remember - I dont have nodes anymore. Maybe someone else can help with this one.
4. ?
5. You can read more here or here. Again read the documentation. These things took me 30 seconds to search for on google.

Thank you James Vella!

4. - by this question I meant is it enough to have regular connection through the router, or something faster (some straight connection) would give noticeably better result?

[dj_buckley]

My setup is this.

I have my main workstation and two other PC's acting as render nodes.

I have a NAS drive with all projects and my asset library on it.

There's an ethernet running from my router to a network switch.

The workstation, render nodes and NAS drive are all connected to the switch via ethernet.

The NAS drives are mapped to the workstation and render nodes.

I only have 1 license of everything (3DS Max, Corona, Forest Pack etc)

My workstation and render nodes are setup identically in terms of software installs.  I've not needed additional licenses for anything ... yet.  I just install the software on each machine as I would if it were my main workstation.

[James Vella]

4. - by this question I meant is it enough to have regular connection through the router, or something faster (some straight connection) would give noticeably better result?

Oh in that case yeah faster the better. Similar to @dj_buckleys graph was my previous setup so we upgraded the connections to 10gigabit ethernet connection and was fine for heavy duty tasks.

[dj_buckley]

Yep, I should have mentioned it's a 10gig switch and all cabling is CAT 6.

[Bormax]

Thank you guys for the info! I will definitely take this information into account when setting up my work network.

[hurrycat]

This is really helpful, I have also been exploring the possiblity of setting up a network more elaborated than my current setup in order to accomodate more seats.

My main goal is not DR but to have a second person collaborate with me in my running projects (not exactly the topic discussed here but the solutions presented still apply). I would be happy to start a new thread if necessary.

I have 2 computers with 1gbps network cards, connected with an ethernet cable. All assets and project files are stored in an NVME of the first PC, which is far from ideal (PC needs to stay on for the other person to work, file transfer speeds are capped to 100mb/s, max gets slow trying to gather all necessary files etc)

From this discussion I understand that the best way currently available is to follow a setup similar to dj_buckley, where all assets and project files are stored on the NAS, using a 10gbps connection to run everything.

So my questions are these:

1. NAS accept HDD/SSDs if im not mistaked (im currently storing files in an NVME). Have you experienced any 3DSMAX slowdows due to everything being stored over the network compared to working locally?

2. Will a network card upgrade to 10gbps for both PCs get them up to speed for such a setup?

(How to split a given project/scene in order for more than 1 people to be working on simultaneously is surely a topic for another thread)

[dj_buckley]

A quick Google tells me you can use NVMe in a NAS setup.

No "noticeable" slowdowns for me, but all my PC's are next to each other so short cables :)

I'm not the best person for technical questions - someone helped me setup mine way back when.