Use the Backburner command-job utility, cmdjob, to submit batch, executable, or script files to Backburner as custom jobs for execution on remote servers. This tool provides flexibility in running custom jobs from scripts. For example, you could create a script that submits all jobs contained in a network folder to be rendered automatically at night. Special security consideration should be given to the cmdjob utility, as it can execute commands remotely on all the render nodes on the network. A trained systems administrator should ensure that the execution permissions are properly set and managed.
- Two types of adapters
- CmdJobAdapter
- Executes submitted jobs as root user account. Used by default. Available on all supported platforms.
- UserCmdJobAdapter
- Executes submitted job as the account that submitted the job. To invoke this adapter, specify the -userRights job option when submitting the job. Available on Linux and OS X only.
- Location of adapters
- Linux/OS X
- /usr/discreet/backburner/Adapters
- Windows
- Program Files\Autodesk\Backburner\Adapters
Use cmdjob:
- Open a DOS shell or Linux/OS X Terminal and navigate to the Backburner folder.
- Submit a job or jobs to the cmdjob utility using the following syntax: cmdjob <options> <executable_to_run> <parameters>. You can use options, parameters, and tokens at the command line of a DOS shell or Linux terminal, as well as in a batch file or script. Options, parameters, and tokens are not case-sensitive. If multiple occurrences of the same option or parameter are used, only the last occurrence is processed by the cmdjob utility.
- cmdjob options
- -taskList:<file>
- Sets the task list file. The file contains a tab-separated table. Use fill-in tokens to reference the table.
- -taskName:<number>
- Sets the task name column in the task list file. A value of 0 means this column is unnamed while a value greater than 0 specifies the column in the file for the task names. This is used for feedback in the monitor when looking at the task list.
- -numTasks:<number>
- Sets the number of tasks for the job. This option is ignored if -taskList is used.
- -tp_start:<number>
- Sets the starting offset of the default task parameter in numeric format. Ignored if -taskList is specified.
- -tp_jump:<number>
- Sets the increment of the default task parameter in numeric format. Ignored if -taskList is used.
- -jobParamFile:<file>
- Sets the job parameter file. See example below.
A token is a reference to a value that can vary. It is evaluated on the server assigned to the job at the time the cmdjob utility executes. You cannot nest tokens within tokens.
- cmdjob tokens
- %dsc
- Job description.
- %srv
- Name of the server executing the task.
- %tpX
- Task parameter X from the task list, where X is the column index in the task list file.
- %*tpX
- Same as %tpX, where * indicates the number of 0 padded digits to use.
- %tn
- Task number of the assigned task.
- %*tn
- Same as %tn, where * indicates the number of 0 padded digits to use.
- %jpX
- Parameter X from the job parameter file, where X is the row index in the job parameter file.
- %*jpX
- Same as %jpX, where * indicates the number of 0 padded digits to use.