How to Set up a Cluster in Compressor

235 Studios

235 Studios

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Anyone care to share how they have setup clustering in Compressor 2, and what their results have been?

I want to setup my laptop and powerpook to render out my FCP projects and was wondering how you set up compressor to do that. I can't find anything in the manual telling me how to set it up. Do I need to connect the computers via ethernet, firewire, or can I use a wireless connection?

What is the best way to set it up for the quickest renders?

Any input and info would be great.

(I searched over at Apple.com, but there did not seem to be any clear cut how-to's- although it seems like there have been various people having problems using clusters ...)
 
Does it say "no cluster available"? This happened to me once. After many attemps, I had to reinstall motion. Now it works fine.
 
ian lucero said:
Wouldn't that information come with the manual (Paper or PDF)?
Click to expand...

You would think so wouldn't you- I looked through the paper manual for Final Cut Studio (All 4 volumes!) and did not see anything specific on it. And then when I open up compressor and go to help (which pulls up the PDF manual for compressor) and searched in there, I did not find anything either ..... frustrating. :furious3:

But maybe I missed it, do you know which pages it is on?
 
SPZ said:
Does it say "no cluster available"? This happened to me once. After many attemps, I had to reinstall motion. Now it works fine.
Click to expand...


Yep it says none available. Do I have to install motion on all computers that I want to cluster together for renders? Or do I just have to install compressor on the other computers?
 
Apple's documentation seems to be consistently lacking when it comes to providing a basic "how-to". They're good at telling you what the software can do, but seldom have good step-by-step details on how it's done.

It was that way when I had to puzzle out how to use the multicam edit feature.

So I set up my own step-by-step procedure and pass it along in case anyone asks.

And along that line of thought -- if anyone comes up with a procedure for setting up a Qmaster Cluster, please post it here. Thanks in advance!
 
DCSensui said:
It was that way when I had to puzzle out how to use the multicam edit feature.

So I set up my own step-by-step procedure and pass it along in case anyone asks.
Click to expand...

Do you have a PDF I can download / view- I would love to take a look at it. (I have not used that feature yet.)

DCSensui said:
And along that line of thought -- if anyone comes up with a procedure for setting up a Qmaster Cluster, please post it here. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

As soon as I get all the bugs worked out, and figure out the process, step by step, if no one else has beat me to it, I'll definately post a how to- now it's on to figuring this whole thing out .....
 
I remember finding some straightforward guides online, using The Google Method. I don't remember what those sites were. But here's the basics:

1) install QMaster on all machines
2) go to Qmaster in System Preferences and configure as you see fit. For your master machine you'll want "QuickCluster with Services" and for the others you'll want "Services only".
3) click "Start Sharing"
4) do your renders. Your cluster should now show up in the selection dropdown, with whatever name your master machine had in the preferences. You'll probably want to change this, otherwise it will just read something like "Bob Costas' Cluster" which isn't very informative.

That's all there is to it for a simple solution. I have found that there is some serious ghost in the machine factor with clusters, however, and sometimes certain machines in the cluster will or will not contribute, depending on... well, I've not yet figured out why. Like so many Apple products, it's easy to get going once you have the general idea, but finding more depth of control can be infuriating.
 
Thanks Doug. I'm installing it now, and will start playing around with it. Hopefully it should help speed things along ....
 
That was the trick, thanks Doug it is working now.

BTW- I finally found documentation on clusters- for all those who are interested- Open up QMaster>Help>Distributed Processing Setup

Not where I would have looked for it, but all the documentation seems to be there. (Would have made more sense to mention it somewhere in the FCP manuels, or at least made mention of additional info in QMaster ...)

Thanks again for your help.
 
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