Hi,

Just for clarification, is it necessary to have sesinetd running on a render farm machine or can one simply fire up hserver (and have it pointing to the license server using the ‘-h’ switch)?

Also, I seem to remember that SESI_LMHOST was going away…?

(I don't have root on this box and need to let the admin know in the morning, otherwise I'd test it myself)


–Mark

Hey Mark,

Nope, it is not necessary to have sesinetd on any machine other than the license server. You can simply use the “-h” switch with hserver.

Note there's a file “.sesi_licenses.pref” in $HOME (on Linux machines) that points hserver to the license server.

Cheers!
steven

Hi Steven!

Thanks, that's perfect.


–Mark


P.S. It was great to meet you at SIGGRAPH!

Hey Mark,

You're welcome.

It was great to meet you at SIGGRAPH too and it seems I'm one of the lucky few who met you.

Cheers!
steven

One last question regarding sesinetd (I hope).

Where does the sesinetd.options file live on a WIN-XP machine? I need to add a read/write mask to allow our farm to grab keys off the license server but it's on a different subnet.

I'm assuming it should be in: C:\WINDOWS\system32 but don't see the file there as opposed to it being installed in /use/lib/sesi on UNIX machines.

Thanks!


–Mark

You've got the location right. It's just that under Windows, we don't install a default one.

Mark

Great, thanks Mark!


–Mark

xionmark
I'm assuming it should be in: C:\WINDOWS\system32 but don't see the file there as opposed to it being installed in /use/lib/sesi on UNIX machines.

Hi,

OK, I just got our sys admin to do a proper install of Houdini on 2 of our farm machines (houdini-7.0.489-linux_rh7.3), but there's a complication with sesinetd (and the modified sesinetd.options file) running on the WIN-XP box that serves up the licenses on another subnet.

When setting the masks to allow for the subnets to reach the license server machine (the entry in sesinetd.options file is: -V 2 -l /var/log/sesinetd.log -z 250000 -m ‘+.+.*.*’ -M ‘+.+.*.*’), the other WIN-XP machines on the same subnet complain that it can't read licenses when bringing up hkey, however, houdini and hscript execute just fine; odd.

On the render farm boxes, hscript and sesictrl always complain that it can't acquire licenses (see below). They're running an NIS server for host name resolution and user authentication, so I had to set the SESI_LMHOST to an IP, hserver and sesictrl couldn't resolve the host, but as you can see from the output from hserver -l, it reports the host as a hostname, which is correct.

Tips? Suggestions? Insight?

As always, thanks!

forgot to mention that I don't see a “.sesi_licenses.pref” in $HOME


–Mark


$ hserver -l
Hostname: BLADELAS11
Uptime: 0:41:32
License Server: troll19
Server Version: sesinetd4.x
Version: Houdini7.0.489
ReadAccess: +.+.*.*
WriteAccess: +.+.*.*

323 of 2007 Mb available
CPU Usage: 50% load
0 active tasks (4 slots)

$ psg hser
mstory 14521 1 0 14:05 ? 00:00:13 hserver -h 192.212.8.119 -m+.+.*.* -M+.+.*.*
[
$ sesictrl -i
Server troll19: Access denied for operation

$ hscript
hscript Version 7.0.489 (Compiled on 07/21/05)
No licenses could be found to run this application.
Please check for a valid license server host

$ echo $SESI_LMHOST
192.212.8.119

Hi Mark,

To reduce complications, maybe you should remove the -m & -M options from the sesinetd.options file first.

Next thing, I don't think you need to start hserver with “-h 192.212.8.119 -m+.+.*.* -M+.+.*.*” on the client machine. Just start hserver straight & do “hserver -S 192.212.8.119” to tell the client which is the license server. Use “hserver -l” or hkey to check that the client can access the license server properly.

One last thing, the sesinetd.options file is: -V 2 -l /var/log/sesinetd.log -z 250000 -m ‘+.+.*.*’ -M ‘+.+.*.*’ but I don't think WinXP knows what “/var/log” is. You might want to specify a Windows friendly path instead.

Cheers!
steven

stevenong
To reduce complications, maybe you should remove the -m & -M options from the sesinetd.options file first.

Did that first (before I first realized the farm was on a different subnet than the license server), but hscript couldn't get a key.

stevenong
Next thing, I don't think you need to start hserver with “-h 192.212.8.119 -m+.+.*.* -M+.+.*.*” on the client machine. Just start hserver straight & do “hserver -S 192.212.8.119” to tell the client which is the license server. Use “hserver -l” or hkey to check that the client can access the license server properly.

Did that too, no luck.

stevenong
One last thing, the sesinetd.options file is: -V 2 -l /var/log/sesinetd.log -z 250000 -m ‘+.+.*.*’ -M ‘+.+.*.*’ but I don't think WinXP knows what “/var/log” is. You might want to specify a Windows friendly path instead.

Woops, missed that one. My machine has CygWIN installed so /var/log is a valid path, but the license server doesn't. I changed the log file path to “C:\WINDOWS\system32\sesinetd.log”, it works fine, see the excerpt below.

Another symptom is that when an IP mask is specified in the sesinetd.options file (on the XP license server machine), hscript and houdini start up fine, but when running hkey (on the license server or another XP box on the same subnet), hkey prompts with the message “The license server on server troll19 does not permit this machine to read a license from it”. Strange huh?


–Mark

Here's a few attempts on the linux box (a farm machine on a different subnet):

$ hserver -l
Hostname: BLADELAS11
Uptime: 0:39:49
License Server: 192.212.8.119
Server Version: sesinetd4.x
Version: Houdini7.0.489
ReadAccess: +.*.*.*
WriteAccess: +.*.*.*

1251 of 2007 Mb available
CPU Usage: 0% load
0 active tasks (4 slots)

$ hscript
hscript Version 7.0.489 (Compiled on 07/21/05)
No licenses could be found to run this application.
Please check for a valid license server host

$ hserver -h 192.212.8.119

$ hserver -l
Hostname: BLADELAS11
Uptime: 0:17:46
License Server: 192.212.8.119
Server Version: sesinetd4.x
Version: Houdini7.0.489
ReadAccess: +.+.+.*
WriteAccess: +.+.+.*

1249 of 2007 Mb available
CPU Usage: 0% load
0 active tasks (4 slots)

$ hscript
hscript Version 7.0.489 (Compiled on 07/21/05)
No licenses could be found to run this application.
Please check for a valid license server host
[
$ echo $SESI_LMHOST
192.212.8.119


Here's the excerpts from the sesinetd log file, the failures on from the attempt on the linux box (with and without the masks), and the success came from a XP box on the same subnet.


10:35:04 08/25/05 sesinetd: server start pid=624 IP: 192.212.8.119
10:35:04 08/25/05 sesinetd: Usage: 0/0/0 Houdini/NonGraphic/Render
10:35:04 08/25/05 sesinetd: QueueStats: 0 requests 0/0 peak/fail
10:35:04 08/25/05 sesinetd: Threads: 1 peak, wait: 2e-006/2e-006
10:35:04 08/25/05 sesinetd: Max Wait: 0 (0/0)
10:35:04 08/25/05 sesinetd: Avg Wait: 0 (0/0)
10:35:44 08/25/05 sesinetd: mstory@bladelas11: attempt checkout Houdini-Master failure
10:35:44 08/25/05 sesinetd: mstory@bladelas11: attempt checkout Houdini-Master failure
10:35:44 08/25/05 sesinetd: mstory@bladelas11: attempt checkout Houdini-Master-NG failure
10:35:44 08/25/05 sesinetd: mstory@bladelas11: attempt checkout Houdini-Master-NG failure
10:35:44 08/25/05 sesinetd: mstory@bladelas11: attempt checkout Houdini-Master-NonCommercial failure
10:35:44 08/25/05 sesinetd: e00c1188: Generic Houdini-Master 7.0 3/3 free
d5c2f4b2: Generic Render 7.0 10/10 free

<SNIP>

10:39:49 08/25/05 sesinetd: mstory@troll9: attempt checkout Houdini-Master success
10:39:51 08/25/05 sesinetd: attempt checkin 3
10:40:09 08/25/05 sesinetd: Usage: 0/0/0 Houdini/NonGraphic/Render
10:40:09 08/25/05 sesinetd: QueueStats: 24 requests 1/15 peak/fail
10:40:09 08/25/05 sesinetd: Threads: 1 peak, wait: 1.36364e-006/3e-006
10:40:09 08/25/05 sesinetd: Max Wait: 0.095032 (0.060512/0.060163)
10:40:09 08/25/05 sesinetd: Avg Wait: 0.0474622 (0.0383352/0.00408133)

Hi Mark,

Have you tried to start sesinetd with the following options but without the single quotes ( ' ) around the ip mask? If I remember correctly, the quotes are not needed.
-V 2 -l C:\WINDOWS\system32\sesinetd.log -z 250000 -m +.+.*.* -M +.+.*.*

Please give that a try and I hope that is it.

Cheers!
steven

stevenong
Have you tried to start sesinetd with the following options but without the single quotes ( ' ) around the ip mask? If I remember correctly, the quotes are not needed.

OK, that fixed the “The license server on server troll19 does not permit this machine to read a license from it” error message.

And now the Linux box is getting a little further, but not quite there yet.

Ah ha! I think I know what's going on now, it's an H7 vs. H8 issue, read on …


$ ./hserver_start.csh
$ hserver -l
Hostname: BLADELAS11
Uptime: 0:00:04
License Server: 192.212.8.119
Server Version: sesinetd8.0.308
Version: Houdini7.0.489
ReadAccess: +.*.*.*
WriteAccess: +.*.*.*

1395 of 2007 Mb available
CPU Usage: 0% load
0 active tasks (4 slots)

Warning: 192.212.8.119 has keys which expire shortly
License: e00c1188 in 6 days
License: d5c2f4b2 in 6 days

$ sesictrl -i
—– SERVER 192.212.8.119 ——–
Lic e00c1188: 3 “Houdini-Master 7.0 ” Generic 31-aug-2005 +.+.+.* troll19
3 licenses free

Lic d5c2f4b2: 10 “Render 7.0 ” Generic 31-aug-2005 +.+.+.* troll19
10 licenses free

$ psg hser
mstory 962 1 0 13:34 ? 00:00:00 hserver -h 192.212.8.119 -m+.*.*.* -M+.*.*.*


When I bring houdini or hscript on my XP box, sesictril -i on the Linux box reports the correct number of master licenses available now.

When I start a remote host render from my XP box, the following message appears in the Houdini console:


mantra: Network Error Unable to initiate communications for 30 seconds.
Perhaps this host is running the incorrect version of mantra?
mantra: No remote hosts are available for rendering


So we've talked about it and are going to install H8 on the production floor and the farm. I'm pretty confident about H8, and I'll personally test new cuts on my machine before distributing it to other machines. Does that sound OK with you? Any problems you might see with that approach? I know H8 is still in development so we may see a hiccup every now and then but we need DOPs, so we're tied to H8 …


–Mark

Hi Steven,

Dog gone it, spoke too soon …

When executing a remote render from the XP box to the Linux box, I get:

Connecting to 1 remote mantras
Registering procedural ‘image3d’
Registering procedural ‘metapoly’
Registering procedural ‘program’
Registering procedural ‘hscriptinstance’
Registering procedural ‘sprite’

Warning: troll19 has keys which expire shortly
License: e00c1188 in 6 days
License: d5c2f4b2 in 6 days
reading /obj/model from stdin: /obj/model (4668 primitives)
4776 Points
4668 Primitives
18276 Vertices
4536 Polygons
132 Spheres
____________________________________
Size: 1.47359, 3.16858, 1.42097
Center: -0.00496486, 0.613021, 0.127038
Bounds: 0.73183, 2.19731, 0.837523
-0.741759, -0.97127, -0.583448
____________________________________
1 Point Attributes: N

4 Primitive Attributes: shop_mi_material, ogl_shop, shop_ri_surface,
shop_vm_surface

____________________________________
Approximate Memory Usage: 841 Kb
____________________________________
Load Time: 0.218u 0.421s Memory: 14.05 MB of 15.23 MB arena size
MGridCache Cache Hit/Miss: 0/0
VEX Shaders Loaded
opdefShop/v_plastic opdefShop/v_plastic
opdefShop/v_ambient opdefShop/v_ambient
opdefShop/v_asadlight opdefShop/v_asadlight
opdefShop/v_rayshadow opdefShop/v_rayshadow
Generating Image: CDocuments and Settings/mstory/My Documents/work/test_render.sgi (720x486)
Plane: Cf+Af (8-bit integer)
SampleFilter: alpha
PixelFilter: gaussian 2 2
VEX Type: vector4
Dither: 0.5
Gamma: 1
Gain: 1
White point: 1
UT_NetPacket::read: No such file or directory
mantra: Network Error Missing data in read – possible remote crash
Render Time: 0.234u 0.453s Memory: 15.81 MB of 16.01 MB arena size
MGridCache Cache Hit/Miss: 0/0

H8.0.341 on the XP machine, and H8.0.342 on the Linux box RH EN3 but with a 2.4 kernel, so I installed: houdini-8.0.342-linux_rh7.3.tar.gz

Also, hscript still doesn't come up on the Linux box:

$ hscript
hscript Version 8.0.342 (Compiled on 08/25/05)

Warning: 192.212.8.119 has keys which expire shortly
License: e00c1188 in 6 days
License: d5c2f4b2 in 6 days
No licenses could be found to run this application.
Please check for a valid license server host
$



What do you think?


–Mark

HI Mark,

I wish I can tell you to go ahead with H8 but it is still in beta so the usual blabber goes here: “…”

I just noticed the following from your posts:

192.212.8.119 has keys which expire shortly
The above IP is your license server right?

mantra: Network Error Unable to initiate communications for 30 seconds.
Perhaps this host is running the incorrect version of mantra?
mantra: No remote hosts are available for rendering
The above IP is your XP box?

So, shouldn't the ipmask be “+.*.*.*” instead of “+.+.*.*” in the sesinetd.options?

I think it's best to send an email to support and have someone look at this thread.

Cheers!
steven

OK, got the remote render to work. It's a reverse lookup issue. When starting the render using the IP, the render finishes. I'll test a bit more but that appears to be the problem.

hscript still isn't coming up on the linux box … wonder if it could also be a reverse lookup issue.


–Mark

ops:

Ah, crap … spoke too soon on that last post as well …mantra seems to come up a little longer on the farm machine but then poops out …

I can hit another XP box with a remote render, but not the Linux farm.

Arghhh … I think I need to go home …

:?


–Mark

Yea, the keys are about to expire, it is hitting the correct license server.

I did change the mask on the license server to +.*.*.*, that's how I've been able to get this far, also have I to use the IP, not the FQN. However sesictrl -i still reports with the +.+.+.* mask:

$ sesictrl -i

Warning: 192.212.8.119 has keys which expire shortly
License: e00c1188 in 6 days
License: d5c2f4b2 in 6 days
—– SERVER 192.212.8.119 ——–
Lic e00c1188: 3 “Houdini-Master 7.0 ” Generic 31-aug-2005 +.+.+.* troll19
64519 by troll9 Aug 25 17:46
2 licenses free

Lic d5c2f4b2: 10 “Render 7.0 ” Generic 31-aug-2005 +.+.+.* troll19
10 licenses free



I'll send a note to support. Thanks for all your help Steven!


–Mark

Hey Mark,

Aaah… you need to request for a Class A or B license (I think Class B is good enough) from SESI so that the licenses can be served to the required network address classes.

I suspected it but didn't look closely at the license strings.

Cheers!
steven

stevenong
Aaah… you need to request for a Class A or B license (I think Class B is good enough) from SESI so that the licenses can be served to the required network address classes.

Oh, so that's why sesictrl was still reporting the +.+.+.* mask even though the sesinetd.options file has a +.*.*.* I assume.

OK, I'll put in a request tomorrow.


Thanks again,
Mark

Note that, in addition to hserver -l and sesictrl -i, there's extra diagnostic info to help debug licensing problems. This diagnostic info will try to detect problems such as ip mask mismatches. You can get this info with sesictrl -f or “View -> Diagnostics” in hkey.