Creating a Mini Rack / Farm For Rendering

[rcallicotte]

Anyone know of a simple layout describing a simple farm of 3 to 5 drives to use for rendering Terragen 3, once I can get it? 

I've found some racks, some drives and some software, based upon Planetside's recommendations.  But, I'm looking for a technically savvy instruction list to prevent unnecessary loss of money and / or time.   

[Oshyan]

You appear to be looking at *hard drive racks*, not *server/system* racks. Granted you will need potentially a good amount of HD space for the rendered frames of an animation, but having done several animations myself, I'm still doing fine with a standard 3TB drive, no need for an array, RAID, etc.

I think what you're looking for is a way to efficiently organize and connect multiple *render machines*? If so, you need to look for different racks.

- Oshyan

[rcallicotte]

So I can't do this just with hard-drive space alone?  Okay.  I've been reading SquidNet's explanation here http://www.squidnetsoftware.com/documentation.html and I'm wondering what exactly I do need.  I don't want to be cheap, of course, but I want the TG3 upgrade before everything else.  The offer of 5 nodes for $50 is too much to pass up, if I can make it happen.  However, if you have some simple steps, I'm listening.  I have messed with hardware in the business world and have been in programming so long I might have forgotten some things.

[Oshyan]

Well, if you don't already have the machines, it's not cheap. You need full-on computers, basically. They can be minimal/stripped down, i.e. small/old/left-over hard drives (use centralized network storage), onboard graphics cards, no monitors. You could probably get some decent AMD-based systems for a few hundred dollars a piece. If you're going from 1 computer to 6 (your workstation license plus 5 render nodes allows you to render on 6 machines at once in total), then that's an outlay of at least $1500, maybe more. Fortunately you can build up to it slowly. Start by buying one bare-bones machine and go from there.

The one caveat is you of course need the space to store all this. That's where rack-based systems come in as they're very compact. However you need to watch out for 2 things. First, rack-based cases and motherboards tend to be more expensive. Second, you need very good cooling since these machines will be using a lot of CPU resources for long periods of time and putting out a lot of heat.

The idea of a "garage render farm" is pretty cool, it's something I've always wanted to do, but it takes some dedication, some funds, and a lot of research to do it right. If you're serious about going down that path I could offer some more specific component advice, but it may make the most sense just to find a decent deal on a 2nd desktop system to start with and see how it goes...

- Oshyan

[rcallicotte]

Thanks Oshyan.  I can get a couple of old PCs fairly inexpensively, if the school has a sale or something else comes up similarly.  However, I found this http://www.directron.com/mracksatafull.html and seem to remember working with some racks where each slot had it's own CPU, memory, graphic connection, power connection, etc.  But, I'm guessing it might be expensive, depending on what I buy or maybe it doesn't matter because it's expensive no matter what.  What do you think?  What has been your experience?

I'm serious about this, though I really don't have loads of $$.   

[Oshyan]

An "SATA mobile rack" (the shopping category you're in) is not what you want, it's *only* storage space, you need CPU, memory to compute Terragen renders. There *are* rack mount systems that have slot computers which include CPU, memory, etc., but these are not those.

Here are some "barebones" rack mount systems on that site. Not necessarily a comprehensive overview of what's available or the best place to buy (personally I prefer Newegg), just an example:
http://search.directron.us/newsearch.php?find=rack&within=barebone
Here are their rackmount *cases* (no components):
http://www.directron.com/raccas.html

Here's Newegg's rack mount cabinet list:
http://www.newegg.com/Server-Racks-Cabinets/SubCategory/ID-803
If you're creative and handy, there's also a special Ikea table that makes a decent rack mount for a few machines, hehe:
http://wiki.eth0.nl/index.php/LackRack ($10! Variety of colors! )

- Oshyan

[rcallicotte]

Yes.  I see research in my near future. 

Thanks for the links and input. I'll be back to ask for more direction.  I've actually worked on rack mounts in business, but it's been a while.  These things always amaze me how cool everything fits together.  It's time to figure out what I can afford...