I'm planning to post a newly completed render queue manager I wrote, which is for Houdini versions 8 and 9 running on Linux to the Houdini Exchange in a few weeks, and wanted to see if there is interest/curiousity or requests. It is called ROXAN for “really simple but operational queuing system for area networks (roqsan)”
Highlights:
compatible and tested with H8 and H9 and mantra renderer in a 25 server facility written entirely in a small amount of Tcl/Tk script code (python was preferred but I had less experience with it and python was not integrated into H8) uses Firefox web browser for displays/control: server status, job status with image thumbnails, output logs uses a new ROXAN ROP DA for job submission does not require rsh or ssh - uses its own server process (which is launched as needed by xinetd daemon ) instructions included for setup allows multiple CPUs per frame allows grouping of servers by show, resources, software, etc reasonably simple to install and use, or modify probably will be under the MIT license or similar
I also plan to be available for support/help for anyone interested.
Just a quick update on the new open source render queue manager for Houdini on Linux - “ROXAN”
We've been testing it in production for a few weeks now, getting the kinks out, and added a few new features by request
* ability to retry failed frames * start mplay to play the rendered frames by clicking on the thumbnail in the browser, or a “Play Frames” button in the DA * pause/resume jobs * schedule by round-robin or priority-sequential * move jobs to a new render server group * move jobs to a new prep (IFD/simulation) server * checkpoint/restart the queue system for maintenance * detect and reduce workload or restart overloaded servers
Timeline update for release/posting on the Exchange
probably two-three more weeks to finalize and finish HTML documentation.