Apple Qadministrator 4 User Manual

Apple Qadministrator 4

User Manual

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Contents

Welcome to Apple Qadministrator5Preface

About Apple Qadministrator5
About the Apple Qadministrator Documentation6
Additional Resources6

Using Apple Qadministrator9Chapter 1

The Apple Qmaster Distributed Processing System10
Creating Clusters with Apple Qadministrator11
Modifying and Deleting Clusters with Apple Qadministrator14
Monitoring Cluster Activity15
Accessing Activity Logs16
Setting Preferences16

3

Welcome to Apple Qadministrator

You can use This Computer Plus and QuickClusters for most distributed processing needs.
Apple Qadministrator allows you to manually create and manage specialized clusters.

This preface covers the following:

• About Apple Qadministrator (p. 5)

• About the Apple Qadministrator Documentation (p. 6)

• Additional Resources (p. 6)

About Apple Qadministrator

The Apple Qmaster distributed processing system provides an efficient solution to your
transcoding and rendering needs, handling all the work distribution and processing for
you, behind the scenes. Apple Qmaster and the Apple Qmaster features of Compressor
manage the processing across designated computers. They subdivide the work for speed,
route the work to the computers with the most available computing power, and direct
the processing.

Preface

The Apple Qmaster system uses the processing capacity of your network computers for
a wide range of tasks, including transcoding and rendering for digital visual effects software
packages such as Apple Shake, Adobe After Effects, and Autodesk Maya.

Compressor includes This Computer Plus and QuickCluster features that make it easy and
quick to set up a distributed processing system that meets the needs of most users. It
also includes Apple Qadministrator for those users in large facilities that need to set up
dedicated distributed processing systems shared with multiple clients.

Important: Apple Qadministrator 4 is designed to work closely with Final Cut Pro X and

later and Motion 5 and later. All mentions of Final Cut Pro and Motion in this document
refer to these versions.

5

About the Apple Qadministrator Documentation

The Apple Qmaster distributed processing system comes with various documents that
help you get started as well as provide detailed information about each of the applications.
(To access onscreen help for an application, open the application and choose the
application’s help from the Help menu.)

• Compressor User Manual: This comprehensive document describes the Compressor
interface, commands, and menus and gives step-by-step instructions for using
Compressor and accomplishing specific tasks. It is written for users of all levels of
experience. The “Apple Qmaster and Distributed Processing” chapter is the primary
documentation for the Apple Qmaster distributed processing system. The chapter
explains how to set up and maintain a distributed processing network for use with
Compressor or digital visual effects software packages. It includes information on
preparing a distributed processing network, creating and administering clusters of
computers, monitoring batches, and using the system from the command line. The
Compressor User Manual is available in Compressor Help.

• Apple Qadministrator User Manual: This document describes the Apple Qadministrator
application, providing details on creating and managing specialized clusters. The
Apple Qadministrator User Manual is available in Apple Qadministrator Help. (To open
Apple Qadministrator, choose Administer Clusters from the Apple Qmaster menu in
Compressor.)

• Share Monitor User Manual: This brief document describes how to usethe Share Monitor
application to monitor the transcoding progress of batches and jobs. The Share Monitor
User Manual is available in Share Monitor Help, Compressor Help, and Apple Qmaster
Help. Share Monitor is also included with Final Cut Pro and Motion.

• Apple Qmaster User Manual: This document describes the Apple Qmaster client
application only. This is a specialized application for submitting jobs with Shake,
Autodesk Maya, and other digital visual effects software packages. The Apple Qmaster
User Manual is available in Apple Qmaster Help. ( To open Apple Qmaster, choose Create
Rendering Jobs from the Apple Qmaster menu in Compressor.)

Additional Resources

Along with the documentation that comes with the Apple Qmaster software, there are
a variety of other resources you can use to find out more about the Apple Qmaster
distributed processing system.

Compressor Websites

For general information and updates, as well as the latest news on Compressor, go to:

• http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/compressor

6 Preface Welcome to Apple Qadministrator