Apple Compressor (4.0) - Manual (Page 217)

Chapter 8 Use Apple Qmaster to set up a distributed processing system 217
Distributed processing basics
Computers that submit batches to the Apple Qmaster distributed processing system are called
clients. A client computer can be any computer that has Compressor installed and is on the same
network (subnet) as the cluster controller. Multiple client computers can be on the same subnet,
using the same cluster to do the processing for various applications.
An Apple Qmaster job is a processing task in the form of a project shared by Final Cut Pro or
Motion, a Compressor or Apple Qmaster batch, a Shake file, and other application files, that
includes settings such as rendering instructions, file locations, and destinations.
Batch of
processing jobs
Client computer
Jobs are submitted.
Destination folder
Files are placed at
specified destination.
Processed
files
Apple Qmaster cluster
Processing is
performed by cluster.
Network
A batch is one or more jobs submitted for processing at one time. The procedure is analogous
to printing multipage documents from a word-processing application; the files are spooled and
processed in the background. Although a batch can include just one job, you’ll typically want
to submit several jobs at once for processing. Similarly, several people can use the same Apple
Qmaster system at the same time, with several client computers sending batches in the same
time frame.
Batches are managed and distributed by the computer that’s designated as the Apple Qmaster
cluster controller. When a client sends batches to the Apple Qmaster distributed processing
system, all the processing and subsequent moving of any output files is performed by a group
of Apple Qmaster–configured computers called a cluster. You can create one or more clusters of
service nodes, with one cluster controller included in each cluster. Each computer in the cluster is
connected to the other computers in the cluster through a network connection.
Cluster
controller
Service
node
Service
node
Service
node
Example of a cluster
The client computer, the service nodes, and the cluster controller are often on separate (but
network-connected) computers, for the most rapid processing potential. However, the cluster
controller could be on a client computer or a service node. For more information about this
scenario, see
Examples of distributed processing systems on page 219.