HQueue and heterogeneic farms

[barad_dur]

Hello all,

I am becoming increasingly confused as to what type of platforms I can use with HQueue. I have a HUGE potential farm available to me and many many HBatch licenses. All of the computers, save 1, are Windows based. The one other computer is my Linux machine and that runs the license server and HQueue.

I am hearing conflicting reports that I cannot use ANY of the Windows machines as clients to run HBatch in the context of using HQueue. For example, Here are different statements made on the subject:

From SideFX.com Forums: A SFX developer says, "To set up a local renderfarm, you can install HQueue on a sever and then use the "Local Farm" tab of the Hqueue rop to submit jobs to it. Linux HQueue servers are currently supported and we're adding support for Mac and Windows servers. HQueue clients (the other machines in the farm) can be running Linux, Mac, or Windows.

From SideFX.com Customer Support: "Unfortunately, in Houdini10.0, both server and clients have to run linux..."

So, the questions become the following:

Is there anyone here that, in as clear a language as possible, can clear up whether or not I can use HBatch running on Windows machines to receive jobs from HQueue for a distributed simulation? If not can you provide some insight as to why?

Is there anyone here that, in as clear a language as possible, can clear up whether or not I can use HBatch running on Windows machines to receive jobs from HQueue for a distributed render? If not can you provide some insight as to why?

I really do appreciate anyone who would spend their time answering this. I would hate to not be able to build this farm with the resources that I have available to me. Thank you in advance.

David