3DMax - Net Rendering with big servers ?

More from the vray help file:

Installation notes
See the distributed rendering section in the install instructions. Note that if you create a fresh install of 3ds Max on a machine, you will need run at least one Backburner job with this machine as a server, before you can use the machine for distributed rendering.

How to test
First start with the testing of the render server:

Start the vrayspawnerXX.exe program from the Start menu (Start menu > Programs > Chaos Group > V-Ray for 3dsmax > Distributed rendering > Launch V-Ray DR spawner). It will automatically try to find the 3dsmax.exe file and start it in server mode. You should end up with 3dsmax minimized down in the task bar. It should have the title "vraydummy.max". If 3ds Max stays there alive without closing then you have the Render Server part working. If you see the a 3ds Max window flashing on the taskbar and then disappearing, right-click on the V-Ray DR spawner icon in the taskbar tray, select exit to close the DR spawner, and try running a regular Backburner job with this machine as the server. After that, try to start the V-Ray DR spawner again.

Now test the render client:

Open your 3ds Max as you normally would.
Open a scene you would like to render (preferably a simple one for this test).
Choose V-Ray as your current renderer and make sure you have checked Distributed Rendering ON in the V-Ray System section.
Press the Settings button in the Distributed Rendering section.
Add the machines used for rendering - either with their IP address or their network name and close the dialog.
Render the scene as you normally would. You should see the buckets rendered by the different servers.
If something fails
Practically every action taken by V-Ray DR is logged. You can find all the log files in the C:\ directory and find out what has failed. If you do not understand the problem you can compress and send the files to us to analyze them and eventually try to help - vray@chaosgroup.com

If any of the servers fails, you should get a notification and the render client will try to reassign the buckets to another server.

Distributed rendering settings
The Distributed rendeing settings dialog is accessible from the System rollout of the renderer settings.

Add server - this button allows you to manually add a server by entering its IP address or network name.

Remove server - this button deletes the currently selected server(s) from the list.

Resolve servers - this button resolves the IP addresses of all servers.

Restart slaves on render end - enabling this option will cause the 3ds Max copy on the render slaves to be restarted once a DR rendering is finished. This may help to make distributed rendering more stable.

Notes
Every render server must have all the plugins and texture maps in their proper directories loaded so that the scene you are sending will not cause them to abort. For example having a PHOENIX plugin used in the scene will cause a server failure in any of the servers that do not have the PHOENIX plugin installed. If you have mapped your object with a file named JUNGLEMAP.JPG and you do not have that map in the BITMAPS directories of the render server installation - you will get bucket rendered at that machine as if the map was turned off, unless you also turned on the Check for missing files option in the V-Ray System rollout, in which case the render server will refuse to render the scene.

When you cancel a DR rendering, it may take some time for the render servers to finish working and they may not be immediately available for another render.

Default lights are not supported in DR mode and will not render. If you need any lighting in the scene, you should add it explicitly.