- Wed Feb 04, 2009 2:55 am
#290852
We are trying to use the Maxwell "command-line" client (mxcl) via the Rush farm management software on OSX. The problem we have with mxcl is that it is not a true command line client - it needs access to the osx window server in order to open a graphical console window to output logging information instead of writing to stdout.
As Rush is configured to run jobs under a dedicated render user it is necessary for this user to be logged in and holding the default window session for Maxwell standalone renders to work. If another user is logged in, the render user is unable to gain access rights to the window server in order to open up the graphical console log - when this happens, we get the following error message in our rush logs:
_RegisterApplication(), FAILED TO establish the default connection to the WindowServer, _CGSDefaultConnection() is NULL.
We are able to work around this on our dedicated osx render nodes by simply leaving the window session logged in under the dedicated render user account. We would like to also be able to render on some of our high-end osx workstations in the evenings however, and as these are usually left logged in under artist user accounts, the jobs end up failing due to the above error.
We do not seem to encounter the same problem when we use the Maxwell for Maya plugin in order to render, but we would prefer to be able to use the standalone Maxwell render client in order to free up memory which would otherwise be used by Maya - some of the scenes we are working on at the moment are very complex and require lots of RAM.
The other issue we have with this is that because the logs are written to a graphical console window (instead of being output to stdout) our render farm management software is unable to access the logging information, preventing us from being able to script automatic detection of various render errors, and responding accordingly.
I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how we might be able to work around this?
Apparently this is a problem that others have encountered and reported to Next Limit in the past, without success - one member of the Rush mailing list advised me that he had contacted Next Limit about this issue over a year ago and that so far nothing has changed.
As Rush is configured to run jobs under a dedicated render user it is necessary for this user to be logged in and holding the default window session for Maxwell standalone renders to work. If another user is logged in, the render user is unable to gain access rights to the window server in order to open up the graphical console log - when this happens, we get the following error message in our rush logs:
_RegisterApplication(), FAILED TO establish the default connection to the WindowServer, _CGSDefaultConnection() is NULL.
We are able to work around this on our dedicated osx render nodes by simply leaving the window session logged in under the dedicated render user account. We would like to also be able to render on some of our high-end osx workstations in the evenings however, and as these are usually left logged in under artist user accounts, the jobs end up failing due to the above error.
We do not seem to encounter the same problem when we use the Maxwell for Maya plugin in order to render, but we would prefer to be able to use the standalone Maxwell render client in order to free up memory which would otherwise be used by Maya - some of the scenes we are working on at the moment are very complex and require lots of RAM.
The other issue we have with this is that because the logs are written to a graphical console window (instead of being output to stdout) our render farm management software is unable to access the logging information, preventing us from being able to script automatic detection of various render errors, and responding accordingly.
I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how we might be able to work around this?
Apparently this is a problem that others have encountered and reported to Next Limit in the past, without success - one member of the Rush mailing list advised me that he had contacted Next Limit about this issue over a year ago and that so far nothing has changed.
- By hwolfejr
- By choo-chee