Compressor 4 - Examples of a Distributed Processing Network

Examples of a Distributed Processing Network

A very small distributed processing setup could include as few as two computers:

• One computer connected to the client and configured to act as both the service node

and the cluster controller

• One client computer

Client

Service node with

cluster controller enabled

Minimum setup for distributed processing

Though simple, this setup is useful in a small-scale environment because it allows the
client computer to offload a lot of processing work.

Using One Computer to Serve Two Distributed Processing Roles

To maximize your resources, you may want to consider using some computers for more
than one distributed processing function.

• Service node and cluster controller: In a small setup, one of the service nodes in a cluster

can also act as the cluster controller so that it performs both functions. However, in
a cluster of many service nodes, the processing load required for the cluster controller
could be so high that it would not be efficient to use one computer as both a service
node and a cluster controller.

• Client computer and cluster controller or service node: You could also set up a client

computer to act as a cluster controller or service node in a cluster, but again, keep in
mind that the more available processing power a computer has, the faster it can
manage or process jobs.

350

Chapter 29

Apple Qmaster and Distributed Processing

The following setup is for an environment that uses desktop computers. It is called
“part-time” processing because each computer acts as someone’s workstation, but at the
same time is also part of the distributed processing cluster. The bulk of the processing
jobs can be submitted with Compressor or Apple Qmaster at the end of the day, so that
the computers are busy processing a large queue of distributed processing batches after
everyone has gone home. (See

About Advanced Settings in the Apple Qmaster Sharing

Window

and

Scheduling Service Availability in the Work Schedule Dialog

for information

on scheduling service node availability.)

Network

FireWire

drive

FireWire

drive

FireWire

drive

FireWire

drive

FireWire

drive

Each computer acts as both

a client that submits jobs for processing and

a service node that performs the processing.

All source and output files are stored on the FireWire drives.

In the sample setup shown above, five computers act as both the clients (user workstations
from which users submit jobs for distributed processing) and cluster computers (which
do the processing). Each computer has an additional volume, such as a FireWire drive,
that is used for media before and after it is rendered, and for the associated files.

351

Chapter 29

Apple Qmaster and Distributed Processing