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Backburner is a queue manager for background processing and distributed network processing. It allows multiple jobs, such as I/O operations, grading, composites, and animation scenes, to be processed by many computers on the same network.
Backburner Server and Backburner Manager are installed and are set to run automatically when the workstation starts. By default, the Backburner Server installed on the workstation communicates with the locally-installed Backburner Manager, but a centralized Manager installed on another system in the network can be used. Only one Backburner Manager should run on the network at once.
If a workstation is using a remote Backburner, then disable the local instance on the workstation:
![Autodesk Autodesk](https://pxhst.co/avaxhome/bd/d4/000ed4bd.jpeg)
Once the local Backburner Manager is stopped, use /opt/Autodesk/backburner/Network/backburnerConfig to configure it.
Autodesk Backburner 2016, version 2016.0.0.2150 and earlier, fails to properly check the length of command input which may be leveraged to.
Backburner Manager must be stopped before making any changes to the backburner.xml configuration file. Otherwise these changes will be overwritten by the running instance of Backburner Manager. Normally there is no need to configure the Backburner Manager. The most common changes, such as specifying the default mail server through which Backburner sends job-related email specifications, can also be made via the Backburner Web Monitor.
Configure Backburner services
To configure Backburner services:
- Ensure Backburner Server is set to run automatically on the workstation: chkconfig –-list | grep -i backburner_server. If backburner_server is not set to “on” for run levels 3, 4, and 5, enable it:
- chkconfig backburner_server on
- /etc/init.d/backburner_server restart
- Check the keywords in /opt/Autodesk/<product_home>/cfg/init.cfg:
- BackburnerPreConfigManagerHostname <hostname>: Set <hostname> to the hostname or IP address of the workstation running Backburner Manager.
- Set <priority> to a value from 0 to 100. The default is 50.
- BackburnerPreConfigManagerGroup <groupname>: Set <groupname> to the name of a group of computers on a Burn rendering network. For example, if the name of the group is “renderfarm1”, this keyword would be set to BackburnerManagerGroup renderfarm.
Start or restart Backburner Manager and Backburner Server
Backburner Manager and Backburner Server must be running for jobs to be submitted. They start automatically so you do not need to manually start them. If you are having problems with Backburner Manager and Backburner Server, restart them.
Log files are at /opt/Autodesk/backburner/Network/.
In OS X: run the Service Monitor: Applications/Autodesk/Smoke Common Utilities. If Backburner Manager is not running, click Start. To view details on the Manager’s status, run the Console application from Applications/Utilities, and look for entries containing com.autodesk.backburner_manager.
In Windows: from the Start Menu, select Programs > Autodesk > Backburner > Manager. Backburner Manager starts and its application window appears. The message “Starting Network Manager” as well as server connection messages are displayed in the window. To view details on the status of Backburner Manager, leave its application window open or view the log files.
SUGGESTION
Servers can fail for a variety of reasons during a network render job. Many of these reasons are covered in “Troubleshooting” in the Autodesk Backburner User Guide at www.autodesk.com/backburner-documentation. One reason that is specific to 3ds Max which can cause a server to fail is the presence of a scene which does not contain texture coordinates.
All errors are recorded in the appropriate log file. You can learn more about log files in “Configuring Backburner Log Files” in the Autodesk Backburner User Guide at www.autodesk.com/backburner-documentation.
Here are some of the error messages related to 3ds Max, along with a likely cause, that you will see in the Errors tab of the Queue Monitor when a failed server is selected:
ERR: ----- Render Error:
ERR: D:MAPS3DS.CEL [where this is the location of a map in the submitted scene]
The Server could not find 3ds.cel in the local path specified, which means that the path to this map is not been correct for network rendering. To fix the problem, do one of the following:
- If all maps are being shared from a single directory, make sure the directory is correctly shared with full permissions. See Sharing a Directory.
- Make sure that you have used either the full UNC path name for the bitmaps or that the maps directory has been mounted to the same drive letter on each machine. In this case, verify that particular path has been added to the Configure User Paths dialog External Files panel of every server's local version of 3ds Max or that the particular path was used when assigning bitmaps in the scene to be rendered.
- Verify the bitmaps still reside in the shared directory.
- Add an Alternate Map Path on the Network Job Assignment dialog that points to the folder containing the missing map.
ERR: Object (UVW 1): Sphere01 requires texture coordinates and may not render correctly
Open the scene and make sure the errant object is assigned texture coordinates. This can be as simple as adding a UVW Map modifier to the object.
ERR: Frame error
Texture coordinates must be applied to the specified object to render it on the server.
ERR: Load Error: Missing DLL'S
Following this error, you will also receive a listing of each of the missing DLLs in the scene. Files needed by the server are not available to render the job. Make sure that all the plug-in DLLs used in a job reside on each of the servers rendering the job.
ERR: Job not found. Ok if just deleted
When you delete a job, the Manager sends out a notification to all clients (Monitors) telling that the job has changed. This is the same message sent when the job completes, gets suspended, resumed, etc. The monitors in turn request the job status from the manager. The manager doesn’t find the job (it was just deleted) and returns this error to the monitor.
ERR: Targa - The device is not ready. (0x15)
ERR: Frame error
The server could not write the output file. 'Targa' represents the file output type, and will change depending on the output file type you selected. This problem can occur for several reasons:- If you are running the Backburner Server as an installed Windows service, make sure that the user account that the service is logged to has adequate permissions. Administrative permissions are recommended.
- Check to make sure the target output directory is shared, with both read and write permissions.
- Verify that the path for saving file output on the Render Setup dialog (or the Output Event dialog in Video Post) is set to a valid UNC path name.
- If you are writing to a shared directory mounted locally on each server, verify that the directory is mounted to the same drive letter on each server, and that the file output path is set for that drive letter.
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