Houdini 20.0 HQueue

Managing clients

How to use the web interface or local logins to add, remove, restart, and manage client machines.

On this page

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.

  1. On the Clients page, find the client you want to set the credentials for. Click the hostname to view the client details.

  2. 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).

  1. 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.

  2. 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

  1. On the Clients page, find the client you want to set the credentials for. Click the hostname to view the client details.

  2. 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 Linux, 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.

  1. Check the box at the start of the row for any clients you need to upgrade.

  2. 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.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  1. On the Clients page, find the client you want to set the credentials for. Click the hostname to view the client details.

  2. 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.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

HQueue

Getting started

  • About HQueue

    HQueue is a general-purpose job scheduling system. You can use it to distribute renders, simulations, and other work to remote clients.

  • Installation

    How to set up a basic HQueue farm.

  • Configuration

    How to set configuration options for the HQueue server and clients.

  • How to submit jobs

    How to put work on the farm.

Managing the farm

  • Managing jobs

    How to view and manage jobs on the farm.

  • Managing clients

    How to use the web interface or local logins to add, remove, restart, and manage client machines.

  • Managing client groups

    How to use the web interface or local logins to create and manage groups of client machines.

  • Network Folders

    How to use the Network Folder management page.

  • Resources

    You can specify what resources (such as licenses) are available on each client, so jobs can be scheduled on clients where they can run.

  • Notes

    Each client and job can have informational notes attached.

Next steps

  • Logging

    HQueue stores separate logs for server errors and scheduling events, and each client also generates a log.

  • Uninstalling

    How to uninstall the HQueue server or client software.

  • FAQs

    Answers to frequently asked questions.

Guru level

  • Remote API

    You can connect to the HQueue server over the network and call functions to manipulate and query jobs and other information.

  • Jobs specification details

    More detail on the internals of a job specification for users who want to submit custom jobs.

  • Multiple clients, single machine

    A guide on how to run multiple HQueue clients on a single machine.