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System Requirements


Deadline Client

The requirements for today's 2D/3D applications go far beyond the requirements of the Deadline Client software, so if a machine is powerful enough to be used for rendering, it is more than capable of running Deadline.

Windows

The Deadline Client applications run on 32 and 64 bit Windows, and the following operating systems are supported:

  • Windows XP
  • Windows Vista
  • Windows 7

Deadline requires that the Microsoft .NET Framework Run-Time v2.0 SP1 be installed. The .NET 2.0 Framework SP1 redistributable packages can be downloaded from here:

Linux

The Deadline Client applications run on 32 and 64 bit Linux, and the following operating systems are supported:

  • Red Hat
  • Fedora
  • CentOS
  • SuSE
  • OpenSuSE
  • Debian
  • Ubuntu

Deadline requires that Mono be installed. Different versions of Deadline require different versions of Mono, which are listed below:

  • Deadline 4.1 - Mono 2.6.x
  • Deadline 4.0 SP1 - Mono 2.6 to Mono 2.6.3
  • Deadline 4.0 - Mono 2.4.x
  • Deadline 3.x - Mono 2.2.x

Mono can be downloaded from here:

Note that if Mono isn't available for your distribution of Linux, you may have to build it from source.

Mac OSX

The Deadline Client applications run on Intel Mac OSX. While we have successfully run the Deadline applications on PPC Mac OSX in the past, it is no longer an officially supported platform. The following operating systems are supported:

  • Tiger (10.4)
  • Leopard (10.5)
  • Snow Leopard (10.6)

Deadline requires that Mono be installed. Different versions of Deadline require different versions of Mono, which are listed below:

  • Deadline 4.1 - Mono 2.6.x
  • Deadline 4.0 SP1 - Mono 2.6 to Mono 2.6.3
  • Deadline 4.0 - Mono 2.4.x
  • Deadline 3.x - Mono 2.2.x

Mono can be downloaded from here:

Deadline Repository

Deadline coordinates network rendering via reading and writing files to a shared directory on the network. Because of this, the repository can basically be installed to any type of share on any type of operating system. Note that it is not necessary to have the Deadline Client installed on the machine which hosts the repository.

Common repository choices include:

  • Windows 2000, 2003, or 2008 Server
  • Any x86-based *nix OS with Samba (we recommend FreeBSD if one has a choice)

If installing the repository on a non-Server Windows Operating System (2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7), note that in standard configuration these operating systems will not allow more than 10 incoming connections without purchasing additional user access licenses from Microsoft. Microsoft explains the situation in these knowledge base articles:

Deadline Repository Installer

While the Deadline Repository can be installed on any operating system, the Repository installer is only available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX. Note though that machine that you run the Repository installer on doesn't have to be the same machine you're installing the Repository to. For example, if you have an existing share called \\my_server\Repository on a server running FreeBSD, you can run the Repository installer on another machine and choose \\my_server\Repository as the install location.

For Windows machines, the Repository installer requires that the Microsoft .NET Framework Run-Time v2.0 SP1 be installed. The .NET 2.0 Framework SP1 redistributable packages can be downloaded from here:

For Linux and Mac OSX machines, the Repository installer requires that Mono be installed. Different versions of Deadline require different versions of Mono, which are listed below:

  • Deadline 4.1 - Mono 2.6.x
  • Deadline 4.0 SP1 - Mono 2.6 to Mono 2.6.3
  • Deadline 4.0 - Mono 2.4.x
  • Deadline 3.x - Mono 2.2.x

Mono can be downloaded from here:

Note that if Mono isn't available for your distribution of Linux, you may have to build it from source.

License Server

Deadline ships with Windows, Linux, and Mac OSX versions of the FLEXlm license manager. The license server applications are extremely lightweight, so you just need to choose a machine that is reliable and is rarely taken offline.

  • Windows: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 (only the 32 bit binaries are shipped, but these work fine on 32 and 64 bit)
  • Linux: Red Hat, Fedora, CentOS, Suse, openSuse, Ubuntu, and Debian (32 and 64 bit)
  • Mac OSX: Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard (Intel and PPC)