Configuring Visualize Boost

For most networks, the default settings are sufficient to configure a computer for Visualize Boost, but if your network environment requires other settings, follow these steps to manually configure a computer.

To configure a computer to be part of a rendering cluster in Visualize Boost:

  1. Do one of the following:
    1. If your system is running SOLIDWORKS Visualize Boost, double click the Visualize Boost shortcut icon on your desktop or open a browser and enter the URL: http://localhost:8993/config.html.
    2. If you are on a different system, open a browser and enter the URL: http://<IP Address>:8993/config.html or http://<DNS name>:8993/config.html.
  2. Select your Language from the drop-down list in the upper right corner of the screen.
  3. Click the Setup tab to configure the Visualize Boost node.
  4. In the Cluster Name field, specify a computer name, such as Superfast Render, Presentation Cluster, or 4th Floor Computers.

    The cluster name displays in SOLIDWORKS Visualize Professional as a cluster profile. To render an image, users running SOLIDWORKS Visualize Professional select a cluster profile from a list of available Boost clusters.

    It is recommended that you specify the cluster name on the Visualize Boost computer, rather than locally on the Visualize Professional computer, so that all Visualize users have access to the same cluster names in their Visualize Boost Profiles list.
  5. Enter the Cluster Client Access Port.
    This is the port that computers running SOLIDWORKS Visualize use to connect to the Boost cluster. The default cluster client access port is 8998.
  6. In the Networking Mode area, select an option based on your network environment:
    • Select No Networking to prevent this computer from belonging to any other cluster. This mode is useful for troubleshooting issues with Visualize Boost.
    • Select UDP Multicast Mode if your network supports UDP Multicast. Visualize Boost will search the network and form a cluster of all computers using UDP Multicast Mode on the same port. This mode is recommended, if your network supports it.
    • Select TCP Mode with Discovery (Default) if you cannot use UDP Multicast mode. Visualize Boost will search the network and form a cluster of all computers using TCP Mode with Discovery on the same port.
    • Select TCP Mode if you need to create an explicit list of the computers in the cluster, because the other modes are not successful in finding the computers you want to include. This mode requires additional work to configure and is not recommended if either UDP Multicast or TCP Mode with Discovery are available.
  7. If you select UDP Multicast Mode or TCP Mode with Discovery, enter the Cluster Discovery Address.
    This setting must be an IP address and a port above 1024. The default port varies among the networking modes:
    • 8994 for UDP Multicast
    • 8995 for TCP Mode with Discovery
    • 8996 for TCP

    These ports are used for Visualize Boost computers to connect with each other. All computers configured with the same Cluster Discovery Address and that are on the same local network will form a cluster.

  8. If you select TCP Mode:
    • Enter a Cluster Access Port. This is the port that Visualize Boost nodes in the cluster use to communicate with each other. The default port for TCP Mode is 8996.
    • If this machine is going to be the "head node" of the cluster (the machine that coordinates the work of the cluster), use the Cluster Address List field to list the IP addresses of other nodes in the cluster. Each IP address (such as 192.168.0.100:8996) must include the Cluster Access Port configured for all nodes in the cluster. Leave the field blank if this machine is not going to be the head node of the cluster.
  9. Click Save Configuration. Visualize Boost saves the new configuration, then stops and restarts the service.
  10. Click the Status tab. If the status is Ready, the screen displays the computers connected in the cluster and the Sessions (jobs) assigned to the cluster.