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if the server doesn't traffic any sensitive information?

I am currently doing a college project for a client where I need a dedicated server with a graphics card. As far as I know no such hosting options exist. The server will be used as a headless 3d rendering engine. The operation conducted by the server is also not mission critical, so if it fails somehow it will be mostly an inconvenience.

Thanks

  • Many rendering engines don't even care if there's a graphics card attached. Which one are you using? – Jim Zajkowski Nov 15 '09 at 01:37
  • JMonkeyengine or Java3D. Java3D as far as i can tell has a bug that cannot allow it to be run in headless mode. –  Nov 15 '09 at 01:39

3 Answers3

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You don't outline the details of the project, but if the project is for the client, why would they object to hosting a server if that's what the solution entails?

Here are some questions to consider...

Have you approached the client with the possibility that the solution will entail a dedicated server at their site?

Is this project a long-term thing or a short term project? If it's long term, you may have to work with their IT people because the system may need to be put on their domain, they would need to see if the server is configured to their specs, and be put into the backup system, and there may be issues with allowing you access to their network.

Have you looked at other rendering engines that don't require the graphics card to be installed?

Have you tested with different forms of virtualization that may be usable until a hosting solution instead, like VMWare?

Can you use a colocation service with an ISP or provider in the area?

Asking SF about this isn't going to give a definite answer...we're not the client. No doubt people here have had clients that would say yes and clients that would say no, and it would depend on the policies of the client. Is it okay to ask? Yeah, sure, if that's what the project requires and you've taken reasonable measures to find alternatives that would work for them that wouldn't inconvenience them.

Final answer...go ahead and ask them.

Dennis Williamson
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Bart Silverstrim
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I assume the project you are doing is for the client doing the hosting. Why would they mind hosting their own server, with their own data? I would think they would mind more if you took their server and their data elsewhere.

Whose is the server in question? If it is theirs, then I don't see an issue, if it is yours then how come you haven't needed hosting before? What changed?

Dennis Williamson
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Alex
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There are a number of companies that sell CPU time on their render farms. If what your client is doing isn't sensitive or have high guarded intellectual property, you might want to look at outsourcing them.

sheepbrew
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  • -1. Not answering the question asked. There are very good reasons for not doing that, including for example delivering multi gigabit of data (or updating thousands of gigabyte of data store) which simply is not feasible. In a place for professionals you can assume the poster is not too stupid to have evluated this before asking. – TomTom Dec 31 '13 at 20:20