zocker-160/blender_cr_headless.md

## blender_cr_headless.md

      
    Raw
  

              blender_cr_headless.md
            
          
    GUIDE: How To create a headless blender renderserver with CrowdRender addon

Requirements


any headless Linux server
Blender v2.79 or v2.80 - v2.93 (from package manager or blender.org)
latest version of CrowdRender addon
optional: GPU drivers for GPU-rendering

install and activate addon

for blender <= 2.79

$ blender -b --python-console
(InteractiveConsole)
>>> import bpy
>>> bpy.ops.wm.addon_install(overwrite=True, filepath="/path/to/folder/addon.zip")
>>> bpy.ops.wm.addon_enable(module='crowdrender')
>>> bpy.ops.wm.save_userpref() 
>>> exit()

for blender >= 2.80 (thanks to @Marcus-Zhu)

$ blender -b --python-console
(InteractiveConsole)
>>> import bpy
>>> bpy.ops.preferences.addon_install(overwrite=True,filepath='/path/to/addon.zip') 
>>> bpy.ops.preferences.addon_enable(module='crowdrender')
>>> bpy.ops.wm.save_userpref()
>>> exit()

start server

for Crowdrender <= 0.1.6

$ blender -noaudio -b --python ~/.config/blender/2.79/scripts/addons/crowdrender/src/bl_2_79/serv_int_start.py -- -t "server_int_proc"
Crowd Render Server Interface Process ready

for blender v2.80 you will need to change the path to serv_int_start.py accordingly
for Crowdrender >= 0.1.7 / Blender <= 2.79

$ blender -noaudio -b --python ~/.config/blender/2.79/scripts/addons/crowdrender/src/py_3_5_3/serv_int_start.py -- -t "server_int_proc"

for Crowdrender >= 0.1.7 / Blender >= 2.80

$ blender -noaudio -b --python ~/.config/blender/2.80/scripts/addons/crowdrender/src/py_3_7/serv_int_start.py -- -t "server_int_proc"

for Crowdrender >= 0.3.0 / Blender >= 2.80

$ blender -noaudio -b --python ~/.config/blender/2.80/scripts/addons/crowdrender/src/cr/serv_int_start.py -- -t "server_int_proc"

now it should show the IP address of your server and you should be able to connect to the server via any client running in the same network
additional CLI arguments


-p false - if you're using a virtual machine from a cloud provider, you may not want to permanently store it in your crowdrender account as if you do, each time you use a vm from a cloud provider, you'll get a different vm and they'll start to pile up in your account.
-ak - called the access key, if you setup multiple vm's on your own servers, best give them each a unique access key. This can be literally anything, but its important if you're using containerisation or vms on your own hardware since if you do, chances are the hardware id of those vm's containers could be the same, which totally prevents you from connecting to more than on of them at once, defeating the purpose of using our software.
-ct - authorisation token of your Crowdrender cloud account. Using this allows the vm's / containers to post to your cloud account on our servers when they are alive. This means you'll actually be able to see which of them are alive and able to be used and which are offline (or just not posting cause they're not logged in).

you can run the process in the background by using screen and detatch it with Ctrl + a + d
$ screen blender -noaudio -b [...]
create systemd service for automatic startup and restart (thanks to @jan-thoma)

(Blender 2.80)
You create a unit /etc/systemd/system/crowdrender.service
[Unit]
Description=CrowdRender service
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/path/to/blender -noaudio -b --python /home/example/.config/blender/2.80/scripts/addons/crowdrender/src/py_3_7/serv_int_start.py -- -t "server_int_proc"
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

for Blender 2.79/2.81 etc. you need to change the path to the addon in ExecStart
To start the demon you run:
systemctl start crowdrender.service
To start at boot you enable it:
systemctl enable crowdrender.service