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Table Of Contents
For more powerful rendering, a network might include a number of client computers on
a LAN, connected to a cluster using a high-speed switch. A rack of servers plus a shared
storage device, acting as the cluster, would be an extremely strong rendering engine.
The service nodes would each have a local copy of the relevant client application software
so that they could process the rendering jobs.
Client Client Client Client
Example of a network setup for distributed rendering
High-speed switches (chained together)
Rack of servers containing
cluster controller and service nodes,
plus rack-mounted shared storage device
LAN
How the Apple Qmaster System Distributes Batches
The Apple Qmaster cluster controller determines the most efficient use of the cluster
resources. It makes this determination based on the availability of each service node and
the number of separable parts (described next) of the batch.
Because Apple Qmaster subdivides individual batches across different service nodes, the
work is shared and completed more quickly. And, because this method uses all the service
nodes as much as possible, you avoid under-utilizing your resources.
356 Chapter 29 Apple Qmaster and Distributed Processing