Smedge has a built in redundant Master system that allows any node to take over as Master. It should also include the "viral" licensing that Smedge 2 had, so that if you install the license on one master, all of the redundant Masters should get a copy of that license and save it for themselves.
You can disable this system. There are several ways of doing so. You can use one, several or all, depending on how sure you want to be.
Smedge 2011 or later:
Use the Default Component Startup command
- Choose System > Components > Set System Default Component Startup
- Set the Start the Master on Startup option to "Do not start it"
- Click OK
Using this command, you can configure the Master to tell the GUI clients that connect which components should be run by default. If you disable the GUI clients from running the Master, then they will stop the Master when they connect and will not start it in the future (the machine that is currently the Master will ignore the request not to start the Master).
You can also use this window to configure other components you may want to start automatically. For example, you may want to start Aegis with the GUI so your artists have a simple 3 button control to make their machine available for rendering or to take it back if they need it.
Install the Engine as a service or daemon
You can install the Engine to run as a service (or daemon) on the machine. By doing so, you gain several advantages:
- Engine starts when the machine boots autoatically.
- You don't have to start SmedgeGui to make the machine available, reducing Smedge overhead on the machine and netwrork.
- You don't have to log a user into the machine to make it available to render, freeing up more memory for rendering processes.
There are some disadvantages to services. Namely, they are a bit more complicated to configure, and you may have issues with permissions and accessing shared drives that are more complicated to resolve. None of these is a deal breaker, but it does make administration a bit more complicated.
(On Windows, make sure you have updated to Smedge 2010 update 1 or later to avoid a possible issue with multiple Engine processes starting on a macine).
Set the clients not to start the Master component process
- Choose System > SmedgeGui Options.
- On the General Options tab, set the Start the Master on Startup option to "Do not start it"
- Click OK
- You can stop the Master that may be currently running on the node using the menu command System > Components > Stop the Master Now
You can also create a SmedgeGui.ini file in the program folder with the following contents:
[ Configuration ]
StartMaster = 0
Disable the Mirror system in the Master options
- Make sure that the machine you want as Master is currently the active Master.
- Choose System > System Commands > Configure Master. (You must be in Administrator Mode to access this command.)
- On the bottom of the Distribution tab, uncheck the Allow Mirrors check box.
- Click OK
Force the clients to connect to a specific Master
Note: We generally do not recommend this approach, if you can avoid it. Using a dedicated master this way disables the ability to have redundant masters on your network. It also can break easily if your master machine changes name or IP address for some reason. Finally, you have to manually change this configuration on each node if you want to move your Master, and it's easy to forget.
To specify a dedicated Master:
- Choose System > Configure Connection
- In the lower set of controls (that set the Connection.ini file) put the name or IP address of the machine you want to be Master, and the port (default is 6870).
Do not use the upper set of controls, as this will not configure all component processes on the machine. The upper set of controls should be left blank.
- Click OK
You can copy the created Connection.ini file to the program folder, or use the GUI on each machine to set it up.
