Setup guide

5 Click OK to save your changes. The configuration settings are written to the Backburner configuration
file, backburner.xml.
6 Restart the Backburner Manager for the changes to take effect.
You can set up the Backburner Manager to run as a Windows service so that it starts with the workstation's
operating system and runs in the background. When running as a service, no GUI is presented—events are
logged to the log file only. Depending on how Windows is configured, it may be necessary to log on to a
Windows account for the service to load.
Running the Backburner Manager as a service changes the location of the backburner.xml, wiretap.cfg, and
log files to /backburner subdirectories of the per-user application data directory subdirectories belonging to
the Local Service user. These directories are hidden to non-administrative level users. For example, on
Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\Local Service\Local Settings\Application Data\backburner
\backburner.xml
To set up Backburner Manager as a Windows service:
1 Open a shell and navigate to the Backburner root directory
2 Register the Backburner Manager executable as a service with the command managersvc -i.
3 To undo this, do managersvc -r.
4 You can start the service without rebooting from the Services GUI, typically accessed at Control Panel
> Administrative Tools > Services. You can also configure the service here.
5 The next time you start the workstation and/or log on to Windows, the Backburner Manager is started
automatically.
General configuration
The Backburner Manager should be stopped before configuring. While the default settings are appropriate
for most cases, you may have to adjust these settings to enable communication between the Backburner
Manager and other components.
TCP/IP settings
DescriptionXML ElementField
The port number used by the Backburner Manager. The default
value is 3234.
<ManagerPort>Manager Port
The port number used by the Render Node(s). The default value
is 3233.
<ServerPort>Server Port
The default subnet mask used for the network. The default value
is 255.255.255.0. This value can be overridden using the Win-
<NetworkMask>N/A
dows-based Backburner Monitor; when you launch the Monitor,
from the Manager menu, choose Connect. Enter the subnet mask
in the dialog that appears.
General settings
DescriptionXML Element(s)Field
Specifies the number of jobs the Manager sends out simultaneously. This number depends on the processor
speed of the Manager workstation, general job size, and overall network speed. Generally, the default
<MaxConcurren-
tAssignments>
Max Concur-
rent Assign-
ments value of 4 is adequate. Too high a value may cause an increased number of node timeouts because the
jobs are sent faster than the nodes can handle them. In such cases, decrease the value.
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