Managing clients

How to ¶

In a web browser, connect to the HQueue server (http://‹hostname›:5000/). Click the Clients icon at the top-right corner of the web interface to go to the clients page.

Tip

Remote management from the web console uses SSH to connect to the client hosts. If remote management fails, make sure sshd (the SSH server process) is installed and running on the host, and that HQueue has the correct username and password for the host (see below).

Note that remote management from the web console is only available for Linux and macOS machines.

To...	Do this
Set rules for when a client is available to the farm	You can have a situation where certain computers are used by people during work hours, but are added to the farm late at night. You can do this automatically using availability rules. On the Clients page, find the client you want to set the credentials for. Click the hostname to view the client details. Under Availability, you can add, edit, disable, or delete rules. If any of the rules match current conditions, the server will consider the client available to accept jobs. If a client has no rules, then the server will consider the client as unavailable to accept jobs.
Restart a client from the web interface	Currently you cannot restart Windows clients from the web console. See how to restart a client locally (below). On the Clients page, find the client you want to restart in the client list. Check the box at the start of the row for that client. Click the Restart button below the client list. (You can check multiple boxes and then click Restart if you want to restart multiple clients at once.)
Set the username and password used to connect to a client machine	On the Clients page, find the client you want to set the credentials for. Click the hostname to view the client details. Under Client Details, click Set username and password.
Restart a client when logged into the host machine	If you can connect to the host machine manually, you can restart the HQueue client locally. Linux To restart the server on a Linux machine running systemd, run: sudo systemctl restart hqueue-server If your machine does not use systemd, run: cd /opt/hqueue sudo ./scripts/hqserverd restart Mac To restart the server on macOS, run: sudo launchctl unload -F /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.sidefx.hqserver.plist sudo launchctl load -F /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.sidefx.hqserver.plis Windows To restart the server on Windows, go to Control Panel ▸ Administrative Tools ▸ Services and restart the `HQueueServer` service.
Upgrade client software from the web interface	If a client is out-of-date, a NEEDS UPGRADE message appears beside the client’s hostname in the client list. Check the box at the start of the row for any clients you need to upgrade. Click the Upgrade button below the client list.
Disable or enable a client	You can disable a client to prevent it from accepting jobs. HQueue does not assign jobs to a disabled client even if the client’s availability rules make it available. On the Clients page, find the client you want to disable in the client list. Check the box at the start of the row for that client. Click the Disable button below the client list. (You can check multiple boxes and then click Restart if you want to restart multiple clients at once.) To enable a disabled client, turn on the checkbox next to the disabled client and then click the Enable button below the client list.
Set the username and password used to connect to a client machine	Note The username and password are used for remote (SSH) management of the client. Setting the username and password is only available for Linux and macOS client machines. On the Clients page, find the client you want to set the credentials for. Click the hostname to view the client details. Under Client Details, click Set username and password.
Remove clients using the web interface	Removing a client stops the client, marks the client as inactive and then removes it from the clients list in the web interface. Removing a client does not delete it from the system nor does it uninstall it from the machine. To uninstall a client, see Uninstalling. On the Clients page, find the client you want to remove in the client list. Check the box at the start of the row for that client. Click the Remove button below the client list. (You can check multiple boxes and then click Remove if you want to remove multiple clients at once.)
Uninstall client software when logged into the host machine	See Uninstalling.

Client list table ¶

Column	Description
‹`checkboxes`›	Allows you to select a client. You can apply actions to selected client(s) using the buttons below the list.
‹`dots`›	The dot color indicates the client’s status. Green – available Red – unavailable Orange – currently running jobs Dark grey – offline
Client	The host’s DNS name and IP address. Click the name to view the machine’s profile. If the client is out of date, the cell displays a NEEDS UPGRADE message.
Description	An optional field that can be used to add a description to the client machine. For example, “Jeff’s machine” or “Rack machine in server room”.
User	The user account running the HQueue client process on the machine.
Last Heartbeat	The number of seconds since the client machine last contacted the HQueue server. If the client has never contacted the server, the cell displays a no response message.
Platform	The host’s operating system and architecture.
CPUs	The number of computing processors on the host and their speeds.
Memory	The total memory on the host and the amount of memory currently in-use by processes.
Load	A measure of how busy the machine is. The maximum load is equal to the number of CPUs. For example, a machine with 4 CPUs and a load of 4.0 means all CPUs are at 100% usage.
Idle Time	The number of minutes since the host received either a mouse or keyboard event from its primary user (macOS and Linux only). If you have hosts in your farm that are used by people during work hours, this can give you a sense of whether the host is in use or available. For Linux hosts, the idle time is reported only if the client machine is configured to grant X11 display server access to the user account running the HQueue client daemon. See the 'By Idle Time' subsection at Client Availability Rules for more details.
Enabled	Whether the machine is allowed to receive jobs or not.
‹`note icon`›	Indicates whether the client has a note attached to it or not. Note exists. Hover over the icon to view the note. Click the icon to view the note’s full thread. No note. Click the icon to add a note.
Availability	A list of rules controlling when the client will accept jobs. See Client Availability Rules.

Viewing Clients ¶

Click the client’s name in the client list to view the machine’s hardware specifications and configuration. General information is located under the Client Details section as shown below.

The following table describes the fields found in the General group box:

Field	Description
Hostname	The client’s machine name.
Name	A unique name assigned to the client. Used when running multiple clients on the same machine. See the `name` option in [Client Configuration Options\|configuration\|client_config_options].
Status	The client’s status.
Description	An optional field that can be used to add a description to the client machine. For example, “Jeff’s machine” or “Rack machine in server room”.
Last Heartbeat	The number of seconds that have passed since the client machine last contacted the HQueue server. If the client has not contacted the server since the server started, then the column displays No Response.
Listen Port	The port number that the client is listening on. The server connects to this port when sending messages to the client.
Load	A measure of how busy the machine is. The maximum load value is equal to the number of CPUs. For example, a machine with 4 CPUs and a load of 4.0 means that all CPUs are at 100% usage.
Groups	The groups that the client is a member of. See Client Groups.
Install Location	The install location of the HQueue client files.
NEEDS UPGRADE	This appears when the client requires an upgrade. Click the Upgrade button next to it to upgrade the client.
IP Address	The machine’s IP address.
Platform	The machine’s operating system and architecture.
CPUs	The number of CPUs on the client machine and their frequency.
Memory	The amount of memory reported by the client machine.
Free Disk Space	The amount of free disk space on the client machine.
Disk Capacity	The total amount of disk space available on the client machine.
Username	The username used to remotely log into the machine. Remote login occurs when restarting the machine from the CLIENTS page. For Linux and macOS clients only.
Password	The password used to remotely log into the machine. It appears as a series of ``s if a password is set and as NOT SET if no password is set. Remote login occurs when restarting the machine from the CLIENTS* page. For Linux and macOS clients only.
Set Username and Password	Click on this button to change the username and password used to remotely log into the machine. Remote login occurs when restarting the machine from the CLIENTS page. For Linux and macOS clients only.

Client availability rules ¶

The availability of a client machine to take on jobs is determined by a set of rules.

The rules let you create a situation where certain computers are used by people during the day, but are automatically added to the farm when nobody’s using them.

Currently there are two rule types:

By time

You can set the client to be available between certain hours (for example, from 11pm to 4am the next day on weeknights, all day on weekends).

For a dedicated render server, you can turn on the Anytime checkbox.

By idle time (macOS and Linux only)

You can set the client to become available when it has not been used interactively for a certain number of minutes. This is only supported for macOS and Linux clients.

Note

On Linux, the host must be configured to grant X11 display server access to the user account running the HQueue client. You can do this by logging into the host as the HQueue client user and running:

xhost +local:

If you edit the rules, make sure to click Save to save the new rules to the client.

Managing clients

How to ¶

Client list table ¶

Viewing Clients ¶

Client availability rules ¶

HQueue

Getting started ¶

Managing the farm ¶

Next steps ¶

Guru level ¶