Deploy Flamenco renderfarm on cheap hourly cloud rentals with VPN setup

Script tested on AWS, Google, Azure, Vultr, TensorDock, Vast

[ WORK IN PROGRESS, Alpha v0.2 ]

WARNING: Bootstrap scripts take over the entire Linux device. Will BREAK a Linux already in use.

• Flamenco provides the actual renderfarm functionality while these scripts complement it with network storage, security and cli deployment.
• Meant to help an artist scale up render resources quickly and cheaply
• Bellarender 25.3.0, Blender 5.1.0 are installed on workers

Renderfarms have a lot of moving parts; these parts are wrangled down to 4 scripts.

bolstersecurity.sh = create VPN keys on your computer_{(Mac/Win/Linux)}

bootstrapmanager.sh = VPN router, network share and flamenco-manager _(Linux)

bootstrapworker.sh = VPN and render node_(Linux)

joinfarm.sh = connect to VPN on your computer_{(Mac/Win/Linux)}

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Computers Needed

• Device A => your Mac/Win/Linux Blender workstation
• Device B => AlmaLinux 8.x/9.x/10.x
  • Doesn't render, just adds network storage and dispatches jobs
• Device 1-100 => cpu/gpu AlmaLinux 8.x/9.x/10.x . Spin machines up and down to match your needs.

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Run scripts in terminal/cli

• bash scripts run natively on MacOS/Linux
• Windows requires git-scm to get bash

1. bash bolstersecurity.sh on Device A ^{(Mac/Win/Linux)}

   • generate Nebula VPN keys, encrypts with openssl
   • Drop encrypted bundles to Google Drive, "Anybody with link" share to easly deploy to Flamenco-manager and all Flamenco-workers

2. bash bootstrapmanager.sh on Device B^(Linux)

   • install Nebula VPN router
   • starts flamenco-manager
   • adds network share

Rough guide of things to be done on flamenco manager server. Heed warnings and follow instructions.

dnf update -y 
dnf install git -y
git clone https://github.com/oomer/oomerfarm-flamenco.git 
cd oomerfarm-flamenco
bash bootstrapmanager.sh

3. bash joinfarm.sh on Device A^{(Mac/Win/Linux)}

   • Get VPN ip address 10.88.10.1

   • mount smb://10.88.0.1/oomerfarm Mac/Linux

     • mount \10.88.0.1\oomerfarm Windows - map this as the O: drive

   • Network share username:oomerfarm password:oomerfarm

   • Connect to Flamenco Manager at http://10.88.0.1:8080

   • Submit jobs using Blender->Flamenco add-on

   • Or via REST API http://10.88.0.1//api/v3/jobs

4. bash bootstrapworker.sh on Computer 1-100 hourly rentals^(Linux) [ Fresh Linux install only, messes production machine ]

   • joins Nebula VPN
   • starts flamenco-worker
   • installs Blender and Bellarender

Rough outline of things to be done on each worker node. Heed warnings and follow instructions.

dnf update -y
dnf install git openssl -y
git clone https://github.com/oomer/oomerfarm-flamenco.git 
cd oomerfarm-flamenco
bash bootstrapworker.sh

Summary

4 bash scripts for jumpstarting your personal renderfarm.

• bolstersecurity.sh ^{Mac/Win/Linux}
• bootstrapmanager.sh ^{Linux management/storage server}
• joinfarm.sh ^{Mac/Win/Linux}
• bootstrapworker.sh ^{Linux render worker}

Tips

• reboot after bootstrap scripts
• Heed bootstrap script warnings and follow instructions.
• Store your farm.encrypted.keys and worker.encrypted.keys on Google Drive. "Anyone with a link" share

Compute Charge Caveat

• You will be charged the the hour or by the month if you forget to destroy your Virtual Machines. Remember to destroy.

Security notes ^{( review source code )}

• Uses Nebula to overlay a private network across the internet to hide your (http) flamenco-manager and (smb) network storage access.
• servers and workers enforce SELinux and any traffic other than 22/tcp and 42042/udp are dropped by the firewall
• Your workstation's VPN is alive only while joinfarm.sh runs.
• Each worker has ALL worker keys to simplify mass deployment. They are trusted as a group.
• not all cloud vendors scrub their drives after each rental allowing the next renter to possible retrieve passwords and keys present on the disk