From: Gary Jaeger <gary@(email surpressed)>
Subject: aerender CS5 write permissions
   Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2011 12:37:23 -0500

So we're having an odd thing with CS 5:

aerender Error: After Effects error: Error in output for render queue item 1, output module 1. Can not create a file in directory /foo/bar Try checking write permissions.
aerender version 10.0x458

what makes it odd is that in fact those machines have no trouble writing files to that directory. In fact they are writing files just fine in other frame batches. It seems random, and re-queing (sometimes more than once) it will eventually "stick" and render out fine, often with the same machine that gave the earlier permissions error. It appears random, though I think it's happened to every machine we have at least once.

Does aerender prefer to not have multiple instances running at the same time? Can't quite figure out why this would happen.

. . . . . . . . . . . .
Gary Jaeger // Core Studio
86 Graham Street, Suite 120
San Francisco, CA 94129
(Tel# suppressed)
http://corestudio.com	

Gary Jaeger wrote:
> [posted to rush.general]
> 
> So we're having an odd thing with CS 5:
> 
> aerender Error: After Effects error: Error in output for render queue =
> item 1, output module 1. Can not create a file in directory /foo/bar Try =
> checking write permissions.
> aerender version 10.0x458
> 
> what makes it odd is that in fact those machines have no trouble writing =
> files to that directory. In fact they are writing files just fine in =
> other frame batches. It seems random, and re-queing (sometimes more than =
> once) it will eventually "stick" and render out fine, often with the =
> same machine that gave the earlier permissions error. It appears random, =
> though I think it's happened to every machine we have at least once.
> 
> Does aerender prefer to not have multiple instances running at the same =
> time? Can't quite figure out why this would happen.

	Permission issues? Hmm, tell me more about your render node/file server
	config:

		1) What OS on the file server (Mac OSX 10.??, Linux, Netapp, etc)
		2) What OS on the render nodes?
		3) What file network system (NFS, SMB/CIFS, AFP, etc)

	I've seen this problem appear with AE only where the issue is with
	the file server, and not an AE problem. (AE just seems to be good
	at exacerbating it). In particular with the file server is OSX
	(specifically, Snow Leopard) with both NFS and Samba.

	In the case of NFS, checking the system.log showed weird errors from,
	IIRC, gssd, that lead to some kind of default behavior of stock OSX nfs
	which tries to involve kerberos, and under very light load would fail,
	causing random perm errors. If you have OSX as your file server, check
	look in your system.log (and perhaps others in /var/log) for OS errors
	around the time of the failures (use the 'Frames' report 'Start Time'
	column to determine the approx time the frame ran and failed to correlate)

	In the case of SMB, check your samba logs on the server for any weird errors
	on or around the time of the failed render.

	BTW, paste the complete frame log here showing the perm error
	so we can see some context.

-- 
Greg Ercolano, erco@(email surpressed)
Seriss Corporation
Rush Render Queue, http://seriss.com/rush/
Tel: (Tel# suppressed)ext.23
Fax: (Tel# suppressed)
Cel: (Tel# suppressed)

Gary Jaeger wrote:
> On Mar 7, 2011, at 10:16 AM, Greg Ercolano wrote:
> 
>> 1) What OS on the file server (Mac OSX 10.??, Linux, Netapp, etc)
> 
> OSX 10.6 Server
> 
>> 2) What OS on the render nodes?
> 
> 10.6

	So far, sounds like the exact combo where I've seen be a problem.

	I assume you've been using AE for a while, and only noticed this
	recently. Did the problem show up after a recent upgrade of either
	the server to 10.6, or AE to CS5?

	By the sounds of it (random permission errors), it sounds like
	the file system or operations related to the file system
	(eg. authentication)	

>> 3) What file network system (NFS, SMB/CIFS, AFP, etc)
> 
> AFP

	Hmm, first time of heard of the issue with AFP, so there
	might be a subtle difference.

	Funny thing is, it's only been in the last few weeks this
	problem was popping up, I can't tell if it's something that
	changed in AE that exacerbates the problem, or a 10.x update.
	My bet is on a 10.x update, since the time scale is so narrow,
	and the common factor has been a 10.6 server.

	Sniff around in the server logs (and perhaps, client logs as well)
	to see if there are any complaints about the network file system.

	Due to the intermittent aspect of the permission related errors,
	it would be random behavior of the either the network file system,
	or related subsystems eg. authentication (LDAP, NIS, Kerberos..)

-- 
Greg Ercolano, erco@(email surpressed)
Seriss Corporation
Rush Render Queue, http://seriss.com/rush/
Tel: (Tel# suppressed)ext.23
Fax: (Tel# suppressed)
Cel: (Tel# suppressed)