[Paraview] parallel paraview: display not updated

[Randall Hand]

(repost: First was rejected for size-limits.. Trimming off some of the
original)

I feel your pain buddy, honestly. .We've been grappling with the same
troubles here, but here's what we've learned:

In running basic Client-Server model, the following seems to work:

1) On the server:  mpirun -np <number> pvserver --use-offscreen-rendering
--render-module=MPIRenderModule
2) On the client:   pvclient --server-host=<servername>

The Server will be doing the Data Processing, Computation, & Rendering, and
images will be sent back to the client.  Without the
--use-offscreen-rendering option it will attempt to open X display windows
for the graphics.  This is alot faster than offscreen (typically done with
Mesa), but has problems when the windows overlap.  Hopefully you can
distribute it across enough nodes to offset the performance penalty you pay
for using offscreen.  Also, without the --render-module like it will only
send back the first display (in our tests) and kinda forget about the
compositing part.

If you have to use reverse-connection (the Server connects to the client),
then use the following:
1) On the client: pvclient -rc
2) On the server: mpirun -np <number> pvserver --use-offscreen-rendering
--render-module=MPIRenderModule -rc -ch=<clientname>

the PVX file only seems to be necessary when working with a "fully
distributed" system (eg, separate Data Servers, Render Servers, and
Client).  We've cracked some of the dark mysteries of the PVX file here, and
if necessary I'm happy to share what little we know.

On 2/8/06, Stefan Friedel <stefan.friedel at iwr.uni-heidelberg.de> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
> after sucessfully compiling paraview 2.4.2 (w/ mesa 6.4.2,
> offscreen-rendering/osmesa on) I'm not sure how to start the parallel
> application and if the client is working at all:
>
> 1) (after reading the [deprecated] 1. edition of the ParaView Guide...) I
> should be able to start in stand-alone mode on two dual nodes with 4
> processes
> just by starting the paraview binary:
>
> ${pathtompirun}/mpirun -np 4 -machinefile ./machines
> ${paraviewpath}/paraview
>
> A paraview (client) window comes up, 4 processes are running (two per
> node, cpu
> usage~100%, fine) but regardsless of which kind of data/file/demo I load,
> the
> 3D view window on the right is not updated (partially snapshots of
> overlayed
> windows are visible). Probably this is due to the lack of an option to use
> offscreen-rendering?
>
> 2) Then I tried to guess which kind of server has to run on which node for
> client/server mode:
>
> ${pathtompirun}/mpirun -np 4 -machinefile ./machines
> ${paraviewpath}/pvdataserver [mach_def.pvx?]
> ${pathtompirun}/mpirun -np 4 -machinefile ./machines
> ${paraviewpath}/pvrenderserver [--use-offscreen-rendering?] [mach_def.pvx?]
> ${pathtompirun}/mpirun -np 1 -machinefile ./machines
> ${paraviewpath}/pvclient [-crs?] [mach_def.pvx?]
>
> I tried this with/without a pvx/xml file (see output below): no success,
> but
> now I got a second small window (titled "Visualization Toolkit OpenGL",
> looks
> like a forgotten/not withdrawn Tcl/TK root window?), and the 3DView-Part
> of the
> Paraview client windows stays gray (but it is updated now - unlike the
> last
> start in stand-alone mode)
>
> 3) I also tried to start pvserver (instead of pvrender/pvdataserver), no
> success (more/other errors about socket comm tags like:
> ERROR: In /home/thor2/sfriedel/SOFTWARE/paraview/paraview-2.4.2/VTK/Parallel/vtkSocketCommunicator.cxx,
> line 671
> vtkSocketCommunicator (0xaef65f8): Could not receive tag. 8843
> ERROR: In /home/thor2/sfriedel/SOFTWARE/paraview/paraview-2.4.2/Servers/Common/vtkPVClientServerModule.cxx,
> line 378
> vtkPVClientServerModule (0xaef8238): Connection ID mismatch.1073833280 !=
> 0
> )
>
> Now this is the output after starting the client and loading the demo
> (from the
> Help menu) in client/server mode:
>
> * two nodes (node255/node256), connection: Myri/gm
>
> * mpi machinefile testmach:
> sfriedel at node255:~/TMP/paraview-test$ cat testmach
> node255
> node256
>
> * xml/pvx file:
> sfriedel at node255:~/TMP/paraview-test$ cat machdef.pvx
> <?xml version="1.0" ?>
> <pvx>
>   <Process Type="client" />
>   <Process Type="data-server">
>     <Machine Name="node255" />
>     <Machine Name="node256" />
>   </Process>
>   <Process Type="render-server">
>     <Machine Name="node255" />
>     <Machine Name="node256" />
>   </Process>
> </pvx>
>
>
> #######################################
> sfriedel at node256:~/TMP/paraview-test$
> ~/TMP/mpichgm_gccwssh/bin/mpirun.ch_gm --gm-tree-spawn -np 4 -machinefile
> ./testmach /export/system/paraview/bin/pvrenderserver
> --use-offscreen-rendering "machdef.pvx"
> Listen on port: 22221
> RenderServer: Waiting for client...
>
> connected to port 22221
> .... (snip) ....
>



--
Randall Hand
Visualization Scientist,
ERDC-MSRC Vicksburg, MS
Homepage: http://www.yeraze.com
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