Watchdog Client:

Overview:

The Watchdog distributed system provides render management support for multiple software packages including Maya (software, hardware, and vector), Mental Ray (through Maya and stand alone), Lightwave, 3dsMax, Rib compliant renderers, Combustion, AfterFX, and Command Line scripts. To allow the most flexibility in a multi-version software environment, Watchdog supports an unlimited number of user defined versions for each software package allowing the administrator to customize which versions (i.e. Maya4.0, Maya 4.5, and Maya 5.0) are available to the user. These versions can be chosen on a per job basis at submission time. Watchdog also provides support for simple and detailed job logging, and server defined limiting of job logs by total count and expiration date. Additional user defined viewing and remote login applications such as fcheck and vnc are directly supported through the interface.

Feature Set:

Job Submission:

Definable Job Name
Per job pool and individual render node selection
Support for simultaneous single and multi-processor jobs
Per job priority
Max slots to use per job
Annotate each job with a custom note
Software specific options supporting all command line flags

Command Line Submission:

Watchdog supports command line submission to allow for scriptability of render launches. This opens up watchdog to launch jobs from within other applications using script based tools (i.e. MEL).

Job Editing:

On the fly job editing
Redefine pool and individual render node selection for job
Adjustable job priority
Adjustable max slots to use for job
Pause jobs in progress
Delete jobs from queue

Monitor Render Farm Status:

View from Watchdog client or Dogpound server
View by Machine or Renderdog slot
Remote login w/ VNC software installed
Toggle render slot/machine online/offline from watchdog or dogpound
Displays machine statistics on Watchdog and Dogpound

Define Render Pools:

Server side GUI for creating /managing render pools
Select render nodes for job by pool and/or slot basis

Monitor Jobs in Progress:

View current status and total elapsed time for job
View all or just the user owned packets on farm
View current task, memory, and elapsed time for each packet
Double click to view current frame being rendered using image viewer helper application
View output of current process from any packet
Kill individual packets
Remote login to machine assigned to packet using VNC software as helper application

Job Logs:

Server defined global log directory
Per job specification of none, simple, or detailed logs
Job title, owner, packet host, memory, total time, and date are recorded
View information on a per job, per packet, or total output basis
Job logs can be limited by server through max number of logs and expiration date

RenderDog Command Processing Client:

Auto login to server
Separate application space for each slot (processor)

Dogpound Server:

Active monitoring of both Watchdog and Renderdog clients
View connection info and total connection time for client
Remote login with VNC software when defined as helper application
View basic output (faster server response)
View detailed output (useful for debugging server activity)

GUI:

Hide any combination of views showing only the information that you need
User definable colors for all panes and text
Hide/Unhide background grid
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