Setting Up a Cluster for Compressor

You just keep trying but eventually you will give up.
If you look at the Qmaster forum, you will see that only one in 20 or so posts indicate a successful implementation of this terrible and terribly flawed application.

Apple has the brains to make network rendering work but it remains a cruel joke.

bogiesan

dnucks: It is hard to give you advice when you say nothing in detail about what you have tried. Please tell us exactly how you tried setting up Qmaster. What happens when you try to submit something to your cluster?

This is how I did it on an Xsan based system. If you do not have any kind of shared storage, you can still set the cluster storage to an other location than the default "/var/spool/qmaster", or you can just leave it at the defaults. The Cluster Storage location is just for temporary files. The destination of the final result is defined in Compressor, just like any other job.

1. Open Qmaster Preferences in System Preferences and set the following settings on all clients:

Setup:
Share this computer as: Services only
Services -> Compressor: (x) Share (x) Managed

(Advanced settings are just the defaults. You might want to check Show Qmaster service status in menu bar)

2. Choose the client you want as controller, and open the Qmaster Preferences in System Preferences, and change its settings to the following:

Setup:
Share this computer as: Services and cluster controller

Advanced:
Set the Cluster Storage to a folder on your Xsan volume

3. On the controller open /Applications/Qadministrator and make a new cluster with the controller computer set up as controller.

The following article might be helpful too:
http://www.macworld.com/2006/01/secrets/marcchreateside/

Notice the tip about resetting the Qmaster Services.

To reset a computer’s Qmaster preferences, hold down the option key and bring your cursor over the Start Sharing button. It will change to Reset Services.

Thomas, thank you for the contribution. I hope the OP can get Qmaster moving. I've printed your post and taped it to the Qmaster/Compressor/Batch manuals I've printed.

Aside from the difficulty most of us have installing and activating Qmaster, do you, perhaps, have any suggestions to help debug some of Qmaster's issues:
1. failure to start/launch/initiate
2. failure to end properly which leaves the file unusable
3. propensity to drop machines off the cluster

bogiesan

Identify this QuickCluster as: G5 Cluster is supposed to be greyed out, when you have Services only checked under Share this computer as.

QuickCluster is not relevant when setting up a managed cluster.

Make sure that you do not have any firewalls activated on any of your clients.

Have you tried resetting the Qmaster services, as described in my previous post?

If you can not figure out how to get "managed" checked, try reinstalling Compressor/Qmaster on your G5. See Apple's instructions: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302845

(See: Remove and reinstall Compressor)

Remember that you only need to set the Cluster Storage setting on the cluster controller, when setting up a managed cluster with shared storage.

David Bogie Chq-1 wrote:
Aside from the difficulty most of us have installing and activating Qmaster, do you, perhaps, have any suggestions to help debug some of Qmaster's issues:
1. failure to start/launch/initiate
2. failure to end properly which leaves the file unusable
3. propensity to drop machines off the cluster

1. Reinstall Compressor/Qmaster

Remember to also confirm your computer's name in System Preferences -> Sharing

If Apple's tips for troubleshooting/reinstalling does not help, try some of these tips: http://www.kashum.com/blog/1152611689 (read this anyway)

2. Search in the Qmaster/Distributed Processing docs, search the forums and Google (your guess is as good as mine)

Cleaning Up Cluster Storage
If you are using cluster storage, and an error occurs, partial files may be left on the designated cluster storage location. Check the designated cluster storage location to make sure no partial media files are left there. If you find partial media files, delete them and submit the job again.

3. Make sure you do not have any firewalls blocking Qmaster. I guess you can use LittleSnitch to find the port range Qmaster is using. Try setting the network interface manually inside System Preferences -> Apple Qmaster -> Advanced -> Network

Inside the Distributed Processing Setup PDF that can be found through the Compressor Help menu, there is a troubleshooting section. I guess you have read that already, but have an other look at it. There are some good tips there too.