Hi,
we want remote users to be able to submit sim/render jobs via HQueue. Since the remote users do not have a direct access to the file system, we thought about prepending a ftp - file transfer job and the renderjob itself should wait until the ftp transfer is done and veryfied.

Is this possible with the current HQueue submit nodes in Houdini or do we have to create our own submit tool with the HQueue API?

Hello,

It's not possible with the HQueue nodes in Houdini. You would have to write your own custom jobs and then submit them with the HQueue Python API:
- https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/hqueue/jobdetails.html [www.sidefx.com]
- https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/hqueue/api.html [www.sidefx.com]

Cheers,
Rob

Thanks, I'll have a look.

Hi,
You can upload assets to your working folder in the nas file server with a 3rd party ftp service, then submit remotely.

https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/hqueue/submittingjobs.html#submitremotely [www.sidefx.com]

Good idea, that's exactly what I have in mind, but I'll have to investigate how the ftp upload works.

If I submit a job via a HQueue Render node, multiple jobs are created, a parent job and a child idf generator job, then a child render job. Is there a way to see the whole job hierarchiy with all parameters and arguments so that I can see how the whole process works? Or do I have to find it out myself?

I don't think there's a quick way to see the whole job hierarchy. You would have to click on the child jobs and parent jobs to build up a mental picture of the hierarchy.

But you can see the job parameters by clicking on a job's (or child job's) Job Properties link in the HQueue website. You could also download the job's diagnostics file from the website, if available. The diagnostics file will contain the commands that are executed in the job. For HQueue Render/Simulation jobs, the command simply invokes a Python script in $HFS/houdini/scripts/hqueue, so you could trace through the code in the script to see what the job is doing.

Cheers,
Rob

Ah, fine. I'll try that.