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Deadline Monitor User Guide (Windows Only)


The Deadline Monitor

The Deadline Monitor application offers detailed information and control options for each job and slave in your Deadline Repository. It provides normal users a means of monitoring and controlling their jobs, and it gives administrators options for configuring and controlling the individual slaves.

The Deadline Monitor consists of a few lists that display different information. These lists include The Job List, The Task List, The Slave List, The Pulse List, and the The Limit Group List.

It is also possible to remote into slave machines directly from the Monitor using VNC, RDC, or Radmin. More details can be found in the Remote Access documentation.

The Deadline Monitor allows you to access several options, which are split into general and administrative options. Administrative options require the user to be in Super User mode, which is done by selecting Tools -> Super User Mode (the color of the Monitor will change). Note that Super User mode can be password protected, which is specified in the Repository Options.

General Monitor Menus and Options

File Menu

Change Repository

Allows you to connect to a different repository.

The toolbar button can also be used to change the repository.

Change User

Allows you to change the current user that is logged in. You have the choice to change the user or create a new one.

View Menu

Refresh

Refresh the entire Monitor, or individual lists. The tool bar button can also be used. Select a refresh option to choose which option is performed when you hit F5.

Toolbars

Allows you to display or hide the Main toolbar and the Job Filter toolbar.

Layout

Allows you to change the Job and Task list layout, as well as display or hide the Slave list and the Limit Group lists. The toolbar buttons can also be used to toggle the layout options.

Ego Centric Sort

If enabled, the current user's jobs will always be displayed at the top of the jobs list. The toolbar button can also be used to enable or disable the ego centric sort.

Offline Slaves

Allows you to display or hide slaves in the slaves list that are offline.

Disabled Slaves

Allows you to display or hide slaves in the slaves list that are disabled.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Allows you to enable or disable the use of keyboard shortcuts.

Grid Lines

Allows you to display or hide the grid lines in the lists.

Submit Menu

Allows you to submit jobs to Deadline for different rendering plug-ins. More information regarding the Monitor submission scripts for each plug-in can be found in the Plug-ins Guide. You can also add your own submission dialogs to the submission menu. Check out the Monitor Scripting documentation for more information.

Scripts Menu

Allows you to run general scripts that you can create. Check out the Monitor Scripting documentation for more information.

Tools Menu

Super User

Allows you to turn super user mode on and off. While in super user mode, you can access the administrative Monitor options. Note that super user mode can be password protected, which is specified in the Repository Options.

Launch Job Monitor

Launches the Job Monitor application, which allows you to monitor the progress of specific jobs without having to refresh the Monitor.

Options

Allows you to modify Monitor options and user settings.

Monitor Options

  • Image Viewer (for viewing images from the tasks list):
    • Custom Image Viewer Executables: You can enter up to three viewers to use to view output images from the tasks list.
    • Preferred Image Viewer: The viewer that will be used by default. This can either be the output image's default viewer, or one of the custom viewers.
  • Remote Monitoring:
    • Custom Radmin Viewer Executable: The path to the Radmin viewer executable you want to use. If left blank, the executable specified in the repository options will be used.
    • Custom VNC Viewer Executable: The path to the VNC viewer executable you want to use. If left blank, the executable specified in the repository options will be used.
  • Start Up:
    • Completed Job Warning Days: A warning will be shown at startup when you have completed jobs older than this many days. Specify 0 to disable this feature.
    • Remember Last Repository: If true, the Monitor (upon startup) will connect to the last repository you were connected to before closing the Monitor.
    • Start In Super User Mode: If true, the Monitor will start-up in Super User mode. If a password is required, you will be prompted for the password.
  • User Interface:
    • Allow Drag & Drop Job Dependencies: If set to True, you can set job dependencies by using drag & drop in the job list.
    • Auto Refresh Period: The amount of time that will elapse between automatic Monitor refreshes.
    • Histogram Type: The type of histogram to show for the Task render time, CPU usage, and memory usage statistics.
    • Maintain List Selection After Refresh: If True, the current selection in the lists in the Monitor (Jobs, Slaves, etc) will be maintained after refreshes.
    • Super User's Highlight Color: The color used as a highlight when in super user mode.
    • Task Double-Click Action:
      • SlaveVNC: Double clicking a task will VNC into the slave that is rendering or has rendered the task.
      • ViewImage: Double clicking a task will display the image for that task if it exists.
      • Automatic: Double clicking a task will VNC into the slave if the task is rendering. If the task is complete, the image for that task will be displayed if it exists.
    • Use 24 Hour Clock: Whether or not the times in the jobs list will be displayed using a 24 hour clock.
    • Use Time Format 00h00m00s: If true, times will be displayed in the Monitor as "00h 00m 00s", otherwise they will be displayed as "00:00:00".
    • User's Job Background Color: The color used as a background for the user's jobs, tasks, and slaves which are processing the user's jobs.

User Settings

  • Notification Settings:
    • Email Address: Address where job notifications (if the job completed or failed) will be emailed to.
    • Machine: machine that the user works at (for Netsend notifications).
    • Preferred Notification Method: preferred method of receiving job notifications.

Help

Online Manual

Launches the online manual.

The toolbar button can also be used to launch the online manual.

Technical Support

Launches the online technical support page.

The toolbar button can also be used to launch the online technical support page.

Debugging Tools

Some debugging tools that are used by the Deadline support team.

About

Shows the "About" message. Included at the bottom of the "About" message is the list of FLEXlm servers that Deadline is aware of for this client machine.

The toolbar button can also be used to show the "About" message.

Miscellaneous

Job User Hightlight

From the toolbar, you can modify the user that the Monitor highlights jobs for.

This determines which user's jobs are displayed at the top when the ego centric sort option is enabled, as well as which user's jobs are displayed when modifying the job filters.

Administrative Options (must be in Super User Mode)

Tools Menu (Super User)

View History

Allows you to view the repository's history. This includes when jobs were submitted, when settings were modified, etc.

View Power Management History

Allows you to view the Power Management history. This includes when and why slaves were started up and shutdown.

Manage Users

Allows you to add and remove users from the repository and change their notification settings. The notification settings include:

  • Email Address: Address where job notifications (if the job completed or failed) will be emailed to.
  • Machine: machine that the user works at (for Netsend notifications).
  • Preferred Notification Method: preferred method of receiving job notifications.

You can also specify if a user is a Normal or Power user. Initially, Power users have the ability to control jobs for all users, and perform some administrative actions that Normal users do not have access to. You can control what actions Normal and Power users can perform by selecting Tools -> Manage User Command Permissions, which is detailed below.

Manage User Command Permissions

Allows you to control what actions Normal and Power users can perform. Each item in the User Commands lists represents a Menu Item that is available in the Monitor, and each item in the Job Properties lists represents a job properties in the Modify Job Properties dialog.

Manage Pools

Allows you to add and remove pools from the repository. More information on pools and how they affect job scheduling can be found here.

Manage Groups

Allows you to add and remove groups from the repository. More information on groups and how they affect job scheduling can be found here.

Explore Repository Root

Allows you to explore the Deadline Repository directory.

Cleanup Completed Jobs

Use this to automatically delete or archive jobs that have completed before a certain date.

Undelete Jobs

Use this as a last ditch attempt to restore jobs that have been deleted.

Check For Stalled Slaves

Scans all slaves in the repository to see if any have stalled. Stalled slaves appear red in the slaves list in the Monitor. Normally, the slaves themselves handle stalled slave detection automatically.

Empty Trash Bin

Empties the trash folder in the repository. Normally, the slaves themselves handle emptying the trash bin automatically.

Suspend All Active Jobs

This acts like a big Pause button that suspends all queued, active, and pending jobs in the queue. The list of the jobs that are suspended using this command are stored so that they can later be resumed by using the Resume Previously Suspended Jobs option.

Resume Previously Suspended Jobs

Resumes all the jobs that were suspended using the Suspend All Active Jobs command. Suspended jobs that were not suspended using the Suspend All Active Jobs command will not be affected.

Configure Repository Options

Allows you to modify the repository options, enable error reporting, and setup mapped paths for Windows. Most of these are the same options you can access by running the Repository Setup Wizard.

The only exception to this is the Mapped Paths settings for Windows (these have to be modified from the Monitor). Here you can define paths that get mapped during rendering, which is useful if you're running the Deadline Launcher as a service.

Configure Plugins

Allows you to modify the settings of the Deadline plug-ins. Check out the Plug-ins Guide for details about the configuration for each plug-in.

Configure Network

This launches the Deadline Configuration application.

Configure Power Management

Allows you to configure the Power Management settings, which are explained in detail in the Power Management documentation.