StudioSysAdmins 2 nd Annual SIGGRAPH Birds-of-a-Feather John Hickson - 08/09/2011

StudioSysAdmins 2nd Annual SIGGRAPH Birds-of-a-FeatherJohn Hickson - 08/09/2011

PROJECTS


Studio StandardsDocumentation Projects:

Stereoscopic WorkflowsOutline solutions for working in Stereo across all departments

Monitors, Glasses, Projectors, Applications, etc.


Studio StandardsDocumentation Projects:

Stereoscopic WorkflowsOutline solutions for working in Stereo across all departments

Monitors, Glasses, Projectors, Applications, etc.

Building a Studio from ScratchOutline all aspects of building a studio from finding a location to production

Need to show differences for types and sizes of studiosKeeping solutions in mind for potential growth


Studio StandardsInstallation Projects:

OS & Application DeploymentQuickly automate deployment of operating systems and applications

Keeping software standards within your studiosKeeping machines up-to-date with patches new software etc.





Virtualization of the Render FarmUse of Virtualization to get the most use out of your render resources

Changing the way clusters are seen by your queue managerChanging the way you report render usage





Virtualization of the Render FarmUse of Virtualization to get the most use out of your render resources

Changing the way clusters are seen by your queue managerChanging the way you report render usage

Going GreenPowering on/off machines when required to reduce costs

Solutions that use less power but still give required performance


Studio StandardsBenchmarking Projects:

Standard Hardware & Software Performance Testing• Create real-world benchmark tests for new hardware/software relevant to studios

• Create tests and reports based on multiple sizes to show ranges• Example: Storage tests against 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 nodes etc.

• Allow studios to make decisions based on their size and potential growth

• Suggest potential fits of new products to help improve studio workflows


Studio StandardsMonitoring Projects:

Standard Hardware & Software Monitoring• What products are your using today?• Most people using free monitoring tools (with personal customizations?)

• Work together to help install and configure and update free solutions• Receive additional support and knowledge from the StudioSysAdmins community

• Share reporting data, tools, scripts, and forms for cross studio comparisons• Example: Studio A and Studio B have same hardware – test should show same result


Volunteers?We need your help to get these projects started!


Volunteers?We need your help to get these projects started!

How can you help?


Sharing InformationE-Mails, Blogs, WIKIs, Uploads

Share your documentation, test results, research findings, etc…


PROJECTScontinued…


Operating Systems(For Desktops and Render nodes)

Most studios have Windows and/or OSX – that’s easy…



But what about Linux?!?!?!




Which one(s) do you use?




What makes the one you picked better? or Why did you pick it? Was it… Compatibility? Support? Price? Comfort Level?




Think of the benefits of a single distribution for studios.




A distribution that meets all our requirements…




A distribution that works for everyone…




A distribution that meets our schedules…




What should we use? or Should we build our own?

Creating a Standard Linux Operating System: CreateOSJohn Hickson - 08/09/2011


Why a Standard OS?Issues with long term projects and in-house toolsets do not easily allow

new versions or complete change of an OS to be easily accepted.

Operating System choices have different life-cycles than your productions making it difficult to maintain support with vendors.

New software and hardware are usually only qualified for the latestand greatest version of Operating System distributions (and not all).

It can be a challenge to purchase new hardware in mid-production and get support for new drivers for your out-of-date operating systems.

How much testing needs to be done before a new OS can be used?


Potential BenefitsCertification

Need to get vendors (hw + sw) on board for qualificationsThe goal is have all your applications under support on the same OS.

Better ApplicationsLess quality assurance testing spent on multiple operating systems for vendorsGive time for vendors to fix known issues and add new features to applications

PerformanceOS tuned to give performance for the applications used by studios

Distribution should only contain what is required – no extra junk like current offerings.


Potential BenefitsReliability

Drivers to be made available as new hardware comes to marketNeeds to be backwards compatible to maintain older hardware and software

Needs extended life cycle compared to current OS offerings (for longer productions)

SupportBetter support for studios - more users using the same standard operating system

Better support from vendors as all software to be qualified on a single Linux platform

StandardNeeds to be the standard OS across the Entertainment Industry

More people using – More vendors supporting


Outstanding QuestionsWhich current distribution to base from?

What are most people currently using -CentOS, Debian, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, OpenSUSE, Redhat, Fedora, SELinux, Ubuntu?

What operating system vendors are willing to help build us our own distribution?Novell, Redhat, Ubuntu? … Or do we do it ourselves?

Where do we start?List of reasons from for previous choices made, applications used, etc…

Who’s in?What studios are willing to test and support a new OS distribution?

(larger studios give the biggest credibility, smaller studios could get the biggest benefit)

What vendors are willing to qualify their hardware and/or software?


399 Studios, Production Training and Visualization Labs

STUDIOS820 members

Members like you!That support and guide your companies in making proper purchase decisions

Working together! Think about this…Together we have the potential of helping influence vendor decisions on new products and/or features



Questions

Documents

StudioSysAdmins 2 nd Annual SIGGRAPH Birds-of-a-Feather John Hickson - 08/09/2011