The Nodes Window

The Nodes window discovers, monitors, and manages every node on the network. Open it from Window > Nodes. Use it to assign the Director and Asset Manager, watch hardware performance and asset transfers, and run node operations. The node setup workflow and the operations themselves are covered in Network Setup. This page is the window reference.

Window Layout

A vertical splitter divides the window into the node list (left) and a detail pane (right), each at least 200 pixels wide. Select one node and the detail pane shows Node Properties. Select none or several and it shows the Node Metrics dashboard.

The info icon at the top of the list toggles compact (host name and service icons) and expanded (also IP addresses, download progress, and warnings) views.

Node List

Each node shows its host name and service icons (Director, Runner, Asset Manager, Asset Watcher, MIDI Bridge, LTC Bridge, NMOS Controller). The node running Producer is highlighted.

A known node that is powered off appears dimmed. A node the show needs that is not responding appears with a red border and background.

  • Filter — All, Active in Show, or Referred by Show.
  • Refresh — re-checks connectivity. Nodes that respond flash green for about 10 seconds.
  • Select — click, Ctrl+Click to toggle, Shift+Click for a range, Ctrl+A for all.

A node running a different WATCHOUT version than Producer, or a Runner running a different show than its Director, shows a warning here.

Node Properties

For a single node, the detail pane lists its status:

  • System — host name, License Key, software version and services, last seen, the Director's and Runner's loaded shows, machine ID, Windows Hardware Errors, and Pixel Usage.
  • NTP — sync mode, offset, and server. Protocols — toggles for Art-Net, OSC, PosiStageNet, Web UI, WATCHOUT 6 protocol, and WATCHOUT 7 protocol.
  • Addresses and Downloads — network interfaces and current transfer progress.
  • Hardware charts — CPU, Memory, GPU, Drive (read and write), Network (Send and Receive), Framerate (with dropped media and capture frames), Capture, and Audio.

On non-NVIDIA GPUs, temperature and GPU memory are not reported. GPU usage and the video encoder and decoder charts still appear.

Node Operations

The Node Properties panel and the right-click menu group the operations you run on a node: System (Rename, Restart Services, Restart, Shut Down, Change Working Directory, Sync Settings, Network Interfaces), Director (Use Director, Close Director, Startup Action), Asset Manager (Use Asset Manager, Close Asset Manager, Asset Watcher), Runner (Local Asset Cache, Splash Screen On/Off), Other (MIDI Bridge, LTC Bridge), and Software (Update Software).

Some operations appear only for matching nodes: Wake Up (a powered-off node with a stored address), ST 2110 Interfaces, WATCHPAX Config and Switch to WATCHOUT 6 (WATCHPAX hardware), and NMOS Controller. All node operations are documented in Node Management and Maintenance.

Node Metrics Dashboard

With no node or several selected, the detail pane shows a grid of live charts across all active nodes, grouped by CPUs, Memory, GPUs, Networks, Drive Reads, Drive Writes, Render Info, and Audio. Each card names its node and metric and has a fullscreen button.

Click the pin icon to enter pin-editing mode, click charts to pin them, then the checkmark to save. Pinned charts stay visible as you change the selection. Restore clears them.

Empty State

When no nodes are found, the window shows No Nodes. Is Manager running?. See Network Issues.

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