Q100080: Troubleshooting Frame Server issues on external machines

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SUMMARY

This article outlines some potential issues when setting up Nuke's Frame Server on external machines, and how you can begin troubleshooting them.

 

POTENTIAL ISSUES

No connection between the main workstation and render machines

Firstly, you need to ensure that a connection between the main workstation and the render machines can be established.

To test if the main workstation and render machines can communicate with each other, you can use the ping command in your Command Prompt/Terminal.

Firstly, ping the host machine from the slave:

ping HostName_Of_Main_Workstation

Then ping the slave machine from the host:

ping HostName_Of_Render_Machine

If you get no response for either then the problem may lie within your network configuration rather than the Frame Server:

mceclip2.png

You must ensure the main workstation and render machines can ping each other successfully for the Frame Server setup to work, and results in successful 'reply from' messages. For example:

mceclip1.png

 

Invalid Python command

You should then make sure that the Python command you are executing is correct and has neither spelling mistakes nor incorrect parameters. To test the command is correct please follow these steps:

1) If the command has been initialized properly, executing it in the Command Prompt/Terminal should block you from further usage and look like:

2) Close all instances of Nuke/NukeStudio

3) Run the System Monitor application for your specific OS

  • Windows - Task Manager
  • OSX - Activity Monitor
  • Linux - top (or similar Terminal commands)

4) Check if the process python.exe/python is running.

NOTE: If you are using Windows you can select to show the "Command Line" column in your details view (right click > Select Columns) shown here:
 

Then the "command line" should display the executed Python commands:

If it is not running, please make sure to double check the syntax in your command. To troubleshoot command syntax problem look at:

Common Syntax mistakes include:

  • Missing parts of the Python command
    • correct: "./python ./pythonextensions..."
    • incorrect: "./pythonextensions..."
  • Spaces between Parameter and Parameter input
    • correct: "--numworkers=2"
    • incorrect: "--numworkers= 2"
  • Missing or incorrect port number
    • correct: "workerconnecturl=tcp://bob:5560"
    • incorrect: "workerconnecturl=tcp://bob"
  • Incorrect filepaths
    • often caused by confusion between relative and absolute paths

 

Firewall blocking the Frame Server connection.

Windows Firewall will often block the Frame Server. To test and identify if this is the problem you're seeing, please temporarily switch off the firewalls on both the main workstation and the render machines, then test your Frame Server setup again.

If testing reveals that this was causing the issue, please make sure to create firewall exceptions for the used port and processes. You can find a list of ports used by the Frame Server in the following article:
Q100459: Ports used by the Nuke Frame Server

 

Both the main workstation and render machines can access all necessary files and folders

1) Ensure that both the main workstation and render machines have sufficient read/write permissions and are able access all project relevant files and folders.

2) If you are not using any path substitutions on the main workstation and render machines, make sure any shared network locations are mapped to the same drive letters.

3) If you are using path substitutions, then they may not be substituted correctly during command line rendering or Python Terminal mode. You can find instructions for how to set up paths substitutions in command line in the following article:
Q100273: How to handle path substitutions for Nuke terminal sessions

 

FURTHER READING

More details on what the Frame Server is and how to set it up can he found in Nuke's documentation here: Rendering Using the Frame Server

 

For more information about how to set up the Frame Server on external machines, please refer to the following article: Using the Frame Server on External Machines

 

Instructions for testing whether the Frame Server is using external machines correctly can be found in the following article: Q100089: How to verify that NukeStudio's Frame Server is using worker processes over a network

 

FURTHER HELP

If you are still seeing any issues after performing the steps outlined in this article, please open a Support ticket and let us know the problem you are encountering and the troubleshooting steps you have taken so far.

For more information on how to open a Support ticket, please refer to our Q100064: How to raise a support ticket article.

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