Author Topic: Team render and licences  (Read 50297 times)

2019-07-29, 18:30:48

wonderlondon

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Hi,

We have 5 x FairSaas +3 node licences that are being used in C4D R20 on a number of Macs, and also have a number of spare macs that have team render client installed on them that are used for ad hoc rendering (the more spare machines we have, the more are used for team render)

I've installed the licence server on a PC on the network, but no matter what I do I can't seem to get the render nodes to activate properly. I think that we're supposed to have 15 available render licence (5 licences x 3 nodes?). They just show up with 'No Licence Loaded' in the Team Render Client console.

The only work around I have has been to open c4d on the team render machines and activate the 45 day licence. This isn't really sustainable. Can anyone help?

2019-07-29, 20:23:53
Reply #1

houska

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Hi! I suggest using the Licensing Server: https://help.c4d.corona-renderer.com/support/solutions/articles/5000618553-corona-licensing-server

Let us know if this solves your issue!

Oh, and please, don't double-post. :-( I already deleted your second post.

2019-07-30, 00:02:03
Reply #2

wonderlondon

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Ah - Sorry for the double post. I posted in the wrong place and couldn't see how to delete it.

I can't get the licence server to work at all - it's installed but the render nodes won't see it. The licence server is running on the same subnet as the render nodes, and the ports are open. What else do I need to do? I can't seem to find a way to troubleshoot it.

2019-07-30, 12:37:09
Reply #3

houska

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Does it work if you run the license server on the same machine with the client? Does it work when you turn the firewall off on both computers? Note that you need to open ports for both sides of the communication - the Licensing server itself AND the Team render client app.

2019-07-30, 14:08:09
Reply #4

wonderlondon

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Ok. So If I install c4d render client and corona on the licence server, it works (so the licence server can communicate with the internet)

Even if I disable the firewall on the corona licence server (on a PC), it still doesn't work on the Mac clients (which are not using a firewall). What do you mean by 'open ports'? If I'm not using a firewall on either, this means that the ports are all open, yes?

Very confused as to why this isn't working.




2019-07-30, 15:29:28
Reply #5

houska

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I cannot really help you much with the Mac, as I am very inexperienced with that OS, but surely they do have a firewall in there, right? Or by "which are not using a firewall" did you mean that you already disabled the firewall on the clients?

By open ports I mean allowing traffic from outside to the specified port numbers on the computer. It's a firewall configuration thing. And yes, if you don't have any firewall on any of the machines, it should work...

One more idea that comes to my mind is - are you on the same subnet on both of the machines? Can the machines ping each other?

Also, the Licensing server has a log that should be able to tell you, whether the request from the render client arrived to the LS machine at all. Then we'll be able to tell where the issue with the communication happened.

2019-07-30, 17:37:12
Reply #6

wonderlondon

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Macs have the firewall turned off by default. I can ping the licence server no problem, and they're on the same subnet. I can also do a port scan with the server as the target and the right port is listed.

Can you confirm whether macs running team render are able to get licences from the licence server? If not is there a way to give them a licence manually?

Thanks

2019-07-30, 17:50:27
Reply #7

houska

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Yes, Macs should be able to license from a Win machine without any problems. Does your License server say something about the clients asking for a license in its log window at least?

In any case, you can activate Corona also manually, as described in this article: https://coronarenderer.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/5000618549
It's Max specific, but should be applicable without major changes to C4D as well. The section that would interest you most would be:
Quote
Simply create file %LOCALAPPDATA%/CoronaRenderer/CoronaActivation.txt containing email:password

[...]

Upon rendering with Corona for the first time on the machine, the file will get renamed, and Corona will be activated.

NOTE: if you use this method, please consider that your login/serial number is exposed to anyone with access to the computer until you delete the CoronaActivation.txt file (you can delete it after the license was activated once)

2019-07-30, 17:56:02
Reply #8

houska

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Oh, silly me! I'm so sorry, of course the solution that I gave you is Windows-specific. It should still be applicable to Macs, but let me find the correct path for the CoronaActivation.txt file...

2019-07-30, 18:39:05
Reply #9

wonderlondon

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~/Library/Application\ Support/Corona/ seems to work.

I'd love to know why the licence server doesn't work though, if you or any Corona employees have any insight it would be very helpful. Is the licence server also supposed to be able to licence the plugin from within cinema 4d? Or just render nodes?


2019-07-30, 18:43:54
Reply #10

houska

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Glad that at least the manual approach worked for you. And yeah, I'd also like to know why it wasn't working :-)

Without further information I don't have a clue as to what happened, but if you're interested, we can continue troubleshooting. You still didn't tell me, whether the server at least got the request for licensing from the client nodes...

And yes, you can use the Licensing server to license your main workstation too!

2019-07-30, 18:48:36
Reply #11

wonderlondon

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Very interesting.

The logs in the licence server do not change at all. It seems the macs aren't reaching the licence server at all, rather than the server not issuing the licence.

My hunch would be there is something odd going on with Windows networking that I am unqualified to fix! I will play with some settings some more and see where I get to.

2019-07-30, 18:59:44
Reply #12

houska

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If you figure something out, I'll be happy to hear about it (and other users potentially facing a similar issue in the future too)

2019-07-31, 11:52:49
Reply #13

burnin

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just a note
lately (with newer updates on MacOS Catalina & Win10) i've seen more & more security involved in network/communication processes with similar issues arising - locations, folders & files get protected (permissions change) and suddenly become harder or impossible to reach, blocked w/o notice

worth checking

2019-07-31, 14:54:48
Reply #14

wonderlondon

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We have a bunch of issues with visiting PCs communicating with Macs for filesharing also, and I imagine this is a similar issue.

Are there plans to release a Mac version of the licencing server? Or maybe also the ability to add Corona serials to MAXON's licence server (I've seen some other plugins use this)