Shared Storage
Flamenco needs some form of shared storage: a place for files to be stored that can be accessed by all the computers in the farm.
Basically there are three approaches to this:
Approach | Simple | Efficient | Render jobs are isolated |
---|---|---|---|
Work directly on the shared storage | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
Create a copy for each render job | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
Shaman Storage System | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
Each is explained below.
Working directly in the shared storage is the simplest way to work with Flamenco. You can enable this mode by pointing Flamenco at the location of your blend files.
As an example, if S:\WorkArea
is where your blend files live (or in a
subdirectory thereof), you can update your flamenco-manager.yaml
like this:
shared_storage_path: S:\WorkArea
shaman:
enabled: false
When you submit a file from the shared storage, say
S:\WorkArea\project\scene\shot\anim.blend
, Flamenco will detect this and
assume the Workers can reach the file there. No copy will be made.
The “work on shared storage” approach has the downside that render jobs are not fully separated from each other. For example, when you change a texture while a render job is running, the subsequently rendered frames will be using that altered texture. If this is an issue for you, and you cannot use the Shaman Storage System, the approach described in this section is for you.
As an example, if C:\WorkArea
is where you work on your blend files, and
S:\Flamenco
is the shared storage for Flamenco, you will automatically use
this approach. You can update your flamenco-manager.yaml
like this:
shared_storage_path: S:\Flamenco
shaman:
enabled: false
As you can see, you do not have to tell Flamenco about C:\WorkArea
, it’ll
automatically detect which storage approach to use from the path of the blend
file you’re submitting.
This requires a bit more to explain. See Shaman Storage System.