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Deadline Admin Docs

Deadline Addon - 0.1.4

Preparation​

For AWS Thinkbox Deadline support you need to set a few things up in both AYON and Deadline itself

  1. Deploy AYON executable to all nodes of Deadline farm. See Install & Run

  2. Create a new AYON Bundle with Deadline Addon version.

  3. Set up Deadline Web API service. For more details on how to do it, see here.

  4. Provide values for all Deadline servers you want to use in ayon+settings://deadline

Webservice url

Where field on the left is label (descriptive name) of Deadline server
`Url` - is IP or host name including port (example of locally running DL `http://127.0.0.1:8081`)
`Require authentication` - DL webservice could be protected by username/password (set in Deadline Monitor in `Tools > Configure Repository Options > Web Service Settings > Require Authentication`)
`Don't verify SSL` - if your Dl webservice is using SSL (eg. on https://) self-signed certificates might trigger an error. Disable verification of certificate here.
`Default user name` - if `Require authentication` is enabled, this and next field provides possibility to fill single credentials for all artists publishing to Deadline.
    (If every artist should have separate credentials, they need to provide them in `Site Settings` (on `Studio Settings` page

  1. Select which Deadline server should be used for project in ayon+settings://deadline/deadline_server?project=YOUR_PROJECT

  2. Install our custom plugin and scripts to your deadline repository. It should be as simple as copying content of ayon/modules/deadline/repository/custom to path/to/your/deadline/repository/custom.

  3. Create service account on Ayon server http://YOUR_AYON/settings/users , Generate new key and store it, you would need it in Deadline plugin configuration.

guide

You could check deadline guide for more detailed steps and additional tips.

Configuration​

AYON integration for Deadline consists of two parts:

  • The AYON Deadline Plug-in
  • A GlobalJobPreLoad Deadline Script (this gets triggered for each deadline job)

The GlobalJobPreLoad handles populating render and publish jobs with proper environment variables using settings from the AYON Deadline Plug-in.

The AYON Deadline Plug-in must be configured to point to a valid AYON executable location. The executable need to be installed to destinations accessible by DL process. Check permissions (must be executable and accessible by Deadline process)

  • Enable Tools > Super User Mode in Deadline Monitor

  • Go to Tools > Configure Plugins..., find AYON in the list on the left side, find location of AYON executable. It is recommended to use the ayon_console executable as it provides a bit more logging.

  • In case of multi OS farms, provide multiple locations, each Deadline Worker goes through the list and tries to find the first accessible location for itself.

  • provide your Ayon server address and API key for service account generated in step 6 of Preparation

Configure plugin

AYONTileAssembler Plugin​

To setup tile rendering copy the OpenPypeTileAssembler plugin to the repository; [AYON]\ayon\modules\deadline\repository\custom\plugins\OpenPypeTileAssembler > [DeadlineRepository]\custom\plugins\OpenPypeTileAssembler

Pools​

The main pools can be configured at ayon+settings://deadline/publish/CollectDeadlinePools, which is applied to the rendering jobs.

The dependent publishing job's pool uses ayon+settings://deadline/publish/ProcessSubmittedJobOnFarm. If nothing is specified the pool will fallback to the primary pool above.

maya tile rendering

The logic for publishing job pool assignment applies to tiling jobs.

Authentication​

Deadline supports username and passwords authentication to protect webservice from unwanted requests. (In Deadline Tools>Configure Repository Options>Web Service Settings>Require Authentication)

For this admin needs to enable authentication requirement for DL in ayon+settings://deadline/require_authentication.

Artists then need to provide their credentials in Site Settings.

Publish Plugins​

Process submitted job on farm​

It submits a dependent AYON Job to publish the rendered images.

  • Find the setting at: ayon+settings://deadline/publish/ProcessSubmittedJobOnFarm

  1. Department
  2. Pool
  3. Group
  4. Priority
  5. Skip integration of representation with ext: list of extensions that shouldn't be published.
  6. List of family names to transfer to generated instances (AOVs for example): Ensure the AOV instances have these families if present.
  7. Reviewable products filter: Add review for specific aov names.
    1. AOV Filter
      1. host_name: Pipeline integration name supplied by an AYON addon.
      2. AOV Regex: AOV regex patterns for AOV filters.
      3. + icon: Add more AOV regexes
    2. + icon: Add more filters

Add AYON server to farm job​

Setting Location: ayon+settings://deadline/publish/CollectAYONServerToFarmJob

tip

This feature is handy for submissions from a separate AYON dev server.

When enabled, submit your current AYON_SERVER_URL with the job to enforce using your current server. This requires modifying the Deadline AYON plugin configuration (Deadline monitor > Tools > Configure Plugins > AYON) to add additional AYON servers.

Additional servers should follow this format: {server url}@{token}, e.g., http://11.2.3.47@myapikey1.

Troubleshooting​

Publishing jobs fail directly in DCCs​

  • Double check that all previously described steps were finished
  • Check that deadlinewebservice is running on DL server
  • Check that user's machine has access to deadline server on configured port

Jobs are failing on DL side​

Each publishing from AYON consists of 2 jobs, first one is rendering, second one is the publishing job (triggered after successful finish of the rendering job).

Jobs in DL

  • Jobs are failing with AYON executable was not found error

    Check if AYON is installed on the Worker handling this job and ensure AYON Deadline Plug-in is properly configured

  • Render jobs are failing with Got invalid credentials. Invalid API key for... error

    If you are sure that you provided correct AYON API key in Deadline Configure Plugin, check if you have enabled Deadline Secrets Management.

    You will need to grant access to secrets to user or machine.

    You will need to run this command on Deadline Server machine:

    deadlinecommand secrets GrantKeyAccessToServer {SECRETS_USER} defaultKey {NODE_ID}

    See more details Deadline Secrets Management - GrantKeyAccessToServer

  • Publishing job is failing with ffmpeg not installed error

    AYON executable has to have access to ffmpeg executable, check AYON ayon+settings://ayon_third_party

    FFmpeg setting

  • Both jobs finished successfully, but there is no review on Ftrack

    Make sure that you correctly set published family to be send to Ftrack.

    Ftrack Family

    Example: I want send to Ftrack review of rendered images from Harmony :

      - `Host names`: "harmony"
      - `Families`: "render"
      - `Add Ftrack Family` to "Enabled"

    Make sure that you actually configured to create review for published product in ayon+settings://deadline/publish/ProcessSubmittedJobOnFarm

    Ftrack Family

    Example: I want to create review for all reviewable products in Harmony :

    - Add "harmony" as a new key an ".*" as a value.

  • Rendering jobs are stuck in 'Queued' state or failing

    Make sure that your Deadline is not limiting specific jobs to be run only on specific machines. (Eg. only some machines have installed particular application.)

    Check ayon+settings://deadline/publish/HarmonySubmitDeadline

    Deadline group

    Example: I have separated machines with "Harmony" installed into "harmony" group on Deadline. I want rendering jobs published from Harmony to run only on those machines.