Initial Setup for Manager and Server Programs

The files necessary for network rendering are copied to the Backburner root directory when you install 3ds Max. Two of these files, manager.exe and server.exe, require initialization before they can be run. Set up the Manager program first, then the Server. When you're finished, you can start network rendering. After setup, you can run both Manager and Server as services by installing managersvc.exe and serversvc.exe, respectively.

You need to initialize only one machine as network Manager. This can be any machine on the network, and can be used on a machine running the Server, 3ds Max, or both.

You need to initialize every machine used as a rendering Server. This is done once to establish the connection between the rendering Server and the network Manager.

The Manager and Server programs can be run in application mode as explained in the procedures that follow, or as Windows 2000 or XP services, in which case they run in the background and provide less feedback on the progression of the rendering job. To learn more about installing these programs as services, see Installing Network Services.

Initialization is done only once for each service. Each initialization process creates or updates the following:

• A subdirectory called \Network under the Backburner root directory, containing several further subdirectories, including \Jobs, \Servers, and \ServerJob. By default, the Backburner directory is called Backburner, and is found in the \Program Files\Autodesk\ directory.
• A file with initialization parameters (backburner.xml).
• A log file that keeps track of what the services do (backburner.log).

Next Step

Starting Network Rendering

Procedures

To initialize the Manager program:

• Run the Manager program from the Start menu Programs Autodesk Backburner menu.

  The first time you launch the Manager, it creates the backburner.xml file, which stores the manager configuration settings.

The Backburner Manager General Properties dialog also appears the first time you run Manager. In most cases, you can safely proceed by accepting the default settings and clicking OK. Thereafter, you can modify the configuration settings by choosing Edit menu General Settings to open the General Properties dialog. For the new settings to take effect, you need to close the manager and restart it.

The settings in the General Properties dialog are described in depth in Backburner Manager General Properties Dialog.

To initialize the Server program:

1. Run the Network Rendering Server program from the Start menu Programs Autodesk Backburner menu.

   The first time you run Server, its General Properties dialog appears.

2. By default, the Subnet Mask field is set to 255.255.255.0 with the Automatic Search option turned on. In most cases, you should leave this option on. Backburner detects the machine acting as the manager.

   At this point, do not make any other changes in the Backburner Server General Properties dialog. Settings in the this dialog are described in detail in Backburner Server General Properties Dialog.

3. Click OK on the Backburner Server General Properties dialog to save the current configuration.
4. The Server starts, and attempts to connect to a Manager automatically. If no Manager is found on the network, the Server times out and reports that the Manager is not responding.
5. If the Server eventually fails to connect to the Manager:
   • Check the subnet mask setting in your TCP/IP network configuration. If it is set to something other than 255.255.255.0, in the Server application, go to Edit menu General Settings, in the dialog, set the subnet mask to match it and click OK. You will need to shut down the Server application and restart it for the changes to take effect.
   • If you do not want the Server to connect automatically or the Server will not connect automatically to the Manager, go to Edit menu General Settings and turn off Automatic Search. Click in the Manager Name Or IP Address field and enter the name or IP address of the workstation running Manager, and then click OK. You will need to shut down the Server application and restart it for the changes to take effect.

     This updates the backburner.xml file, which now stores the Server configuration settings. The next time the Server is run, the application is launched and the configuration settings are used.

This completes Server initialization.