Handling different versions of software

Deadline
1

We are updating our render farm currently, and are debating keeping Nuke 6.0v5 and the new Nuke 6.1v3. Since Nuke installs into folders with the version number in the folder name allowing you to have any version of Nuke installed at the same time, is there a way our render farm could have both 6.0v5 and 6.1v3 on each node usable by deadline? In the Nuke submitter (located IN Nuke), you have the option of choosing a build (32 or 64 bit). In the submitter found in the Job Monitor you get the choice of choosing Nuke 4, 5 or 6. There is never a place to specify a more exact build. In the plug-in configuration we can very easily list both versions (C:\Program Files\Nuke6.1v1\Nuke6.1.exe AND C:\Program Files\Nuke6.1v3\Nuke6.1.exe). How does Deadline decide which version to render if the plug-in is configured for both versions AND both versions are installed on the render node? I would assume priority is the first listed in the plug-in configuration? Is there a way to specify which version to use?

Most likely we are going to just go with 6.1v3, but your input/suggestions on this topic could help how we do things in the future.

thanks!
brad

2

Hey Brad,

We designed our plugins to explicitly support major releases only because in some cases (like Maya back in the day, and Nuke today), there are just too many minor releases to keep up to date with. When a job is submitted from directly within Nuke, the major version is included in one of the job files. When submitting from the Monitor, the number selected in the Version drop down is included. This tells the Nuke plugin for Deadline which version to use.

Both our Nuke submission scripts and our Nuke plugin are all written in a scripting language, so you could edit them to specify the major and minor version of Nuke when submitting, and then use the appropriate version when rendering. It will take a bit of work to implement this, so if this is the route you want to take, we can provide some pointers.

Cheers,
Ryan