NZAR: Cross platform rendering manager.

(1998R1 render manager documentation.)

NZAR includes several programs which work in conjunction to accept and manage rendering jobs, pass required information to rendering machines, and report progress to users.

On the server there are two programs that run, nzar & filed. The master program nzar is started by the user (typically in /uu/local/serv. When nzar starts, it launches filed automatically (in the background), and reads the config file nzar.web which contains information for the web serving component to find images and web pages required for status pages & submission pages. This is all that is required to run the serving process.

After the server is started, the rendering clients may be connected to the server. The rendering client is named netzor and is run with the server hostname as its only argument. (Ex: neztor un). Netzor creates a connection to the server, and then querys for work.

If there is an active project with work remaining to be assigned, the server will check that the client supports the job type, send the job setup file, and then assign work to the node to do. At the end of a job, the master will inform the clients that they can free memory used by the job, and delete any temporary files.

Configuration:

The server is currently installed in /uu/local/serv. Its web configuration is controlled by nzar.web. The current configuration is:
port 10100 -- The port for accessing the server.
root /uu/local/serv/http -- The directory containing the web pages & java programs.
active /cmmd & active /active -- special directories that the server produces results for (instead of sending a file). These settings are not to be changed.

Service Pages:

/index.html The page provides a directory for the other pages in the system, it is easiest to navigate the system from this page.

/active/status.tmpl, This page displays all the nodes connected to the system, and its general status.

/active/workstatus.tmpl, This page shows the status of a job in progress (as well as an updating java applet), and also lists other jobs waiting in the queue.

/active/worklist.tmpl, This page shows the work queue without the java progress applet.

/posthack.html, the page for submitting new character rendering jobs.