Does a single Node-Locked Houdini Engine license support multiple concurrent Deadline tasks?

[PW_Bene]

Hi,

I have a machine with a single Node-Locked Houdini Engine license. I am using Deadline as my render manager.

If I set the Concurrent Tasks to 2 for a single Worker on this machine, will it be able to run two separate render commands simultaneously using that single license?

The commands are executed via Deadline's plugin using hrender_dl.py (which launches hython background processes), for example:
"/var/lib/Thinkbox/Deadline10/workers/s55/plugins/.../hrender_dl.py" -f 16 16 1 -g -d /obj/FX/export_smoke_vdb/render ...

Will the single node-locked license allow both hython processes to run at the same time, or will the second process fail with a license checkout error because each independent batch/hython instance requires its own Engine license?

Thanks!

PW_Bene

 

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[Phuong Ta]

Worth separating two systems here: Deadline's Concurrent Tasks setting only controls how many Worker processes Deadline itself launches on that machine - it has zero visibility into what license the underlying hython/hrender processes actually manage to check out. Those are two independent gatekeepers, and Deadline happily launching both processes doesn't guarantee the second one succeeds against the license server.

Whether the second concurrent hython grabs a license or fails on checkout comes down to how many seats that specific node-locked key was provisioned for, not Deadline's setting. A single-seat node-locked license typically enforces one active session per checkout, so a second simultaneous hython launch on the same box would be expected to fail on license acquisition, independent of what Deadline reports.

Quick way to isolate it: launch two hython/hrender_dl.py processes manually outside of Deadline, same machine, same license, same time. If the second one fails with a license error there too, you've confirmed it's the SideFX license limit and not a Deadline/Worker config issue.