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Posts by WB8ILI

Posts by WB8ILI

1) Message boards : Number crunching : Server Status page questions (Message 68603)
Posted 18 Mar 2023 by WB8ILI
Post:
I think the Status Page is OK.

As mentioned, there are little if any tasks being sent out or being returned right now. So a user count of of 1 in the last 24 hours makes sense to me.

An average run time of a task over the last 100 tasks reported of 100 hours also makes sense to me.

Last year on this date there were about 31K tasks in progress. Today there is about 26K. There are always a lot of tasks in progress. Many, if not most, never to be returned for various reasons.

Dave - It would be hard to compare in-progress counts on other projects to CPDN. Other projects have due dates in days rather than a year. It is not clear if CPDN "deletes" tasks when the due date (1 year typically) is reached. Sometimes I think they do, but other times I don't think so. Other projects would go to zero in-progress tasks in a few days because all overdue tasks would be cancelled.
2) Message boards : Number crunching : The uploads are stuck (Message 67864)
Posted 18 Jan 2023 by WB8ILI
Post:
The 100 GB limit is -

If you DO NOT check the "Use no more than XXXX GB" box, the default value is 100 GB.

In other words, checking the box with a value of 100 GB is the same as not checking it at all.
3) Message boards : Number crunching : The uploads are stuck (Message 67558)
Posted 11 Jan 2023 by WB8ILI
Post:
Fix for - Need more disk space. You currently have 0.00 MB available.

In the BOINC Manager, Options -> Computing Preferences -> Disk and memory -

Check the box "Use no more than" and put a number in the number box equal to about 3/4 of your disk size (or some other number you are comfortable with).

If you leave it this box UNCHECKED, it is the same as having it checked with 100 (GB) in the number box.

At least that is how it works for me.
4) Message boards : Number crunching : Lost tasks (Message 65844)
Posted 16 Aug 2022 by WB8ILI
Post:
KAMasud -

This probably won't solve your problem, but you might want to merge your computers. Do you really have 27 different computers that have contacted the CPDN website in the last 30 days?

Blue screen of death sounds like a non-CPDN issue.

Go to your Homepage on the CPDN website.
Click on Computers on this account.
At the bottom there is a "Merge by name" feature.

After this you might try the "Remove project/Add Project" again
5) Message boards : Number crunching : Lost tasks (Message 65841)
Posted 15 Aug 2022 by WB8ILI
Post:
KAMasud -

If by "in limbo", you mean the tasks are no longer shown on your computer but the CPDN website shows them on your computer, then -

1) Go to the Projects tab, select climateprediction.net, then click on Remove.

2) Wait 30 seconds, Select the Tools tab, Add the project back in.

This won't get your tasks back, but it should give someone else a shot at them.
6) Message boards : Number crunching : Tasks by application = hoarding (Message 64469)
Posted 16 Sep 2021 by WB8ILI
Post:
KAMasud -

As pointed out elsewhere, on WCC the Africa Rainfall Project does NOT have GPU tasks. Only the Open Pandemics Project does.

As far as your "ghost" tasks, I am not sure what you mean by your "accounts page".

According to the CPDN server your Computer #1 (the one with the GPU) has 1 task in progress, Computer #2 (I710750H) has 7 in progress, and Computer #3 (I7-8750H) has 6 in progress. All of these tasks were downloaded in the last month or two.

If the Tasks tab in the BOINC Manager on your computer shows more that these, you have "lost" or "ghost" tasks.

To clear this up, when you have NO tasks on your computer according to the CPDN Server, go to the Projects tab and Remove the project. Wait 10 minutes. Add the Project back. This has always worked for me.
7) Questions and Answers : Unix/Linux : Shutting down for re-boot. (Message 64047)
Posted 11 Jun 2021 by WB8ILI
Post:
I have had very good luck NOT crashing models when re-booting by first shutting down the boinc-client.

I am using UBUNTU, so I open a Terminal and enter "sudo service boinc-client stop", then Restart from the Desktop drop-down menu.

I have NOT been able to find any documentation to figure out what the difference between -

a) sudo service boinc-client stop, then Restart from the Desktop drop-down menu
b) Click on Restart Now from the Software Updater window (after an update)
c) reboot from the Terminal

Do either b) or c) do an orderly termination of the boinc-client?

When a computer crashes (locks up or freezes, or a power interruption, etc.) I expect model crashes and feel fortunate if they don't.
8) Questions and Answers : Unix/Linux : Missing options on current versions of BOINC (Message 63451)
Posted 1 Feb 2021 by WB8ILI
Post:
A solution (or maybe a work-around) is -

Go to Terminal

sudo service boinc-client stop

or

/etc/init.d/boinc-client stop
9) Message boards : Number crunching : AMD Ryzen 7 2700X taking 50 days to complete a project running 24/7 (Message 63245)
Posted 2 Jan 2021 by WB8ILI
Post:
Antkin -

You might want to consider only running 4 models concurrently on your 2700X.

The 2700X has 16MB of L3 cache and there was a discussion (which I can't find) about each model needing 4MB of L3 cache to run efficiently.
10) Questions and Answers : Unix/Linux : No WU's for Intel CPU's (Message 63149)
Posted 21 Dec 2020 by WB8ILI
Post:
Does CPDN check the amount of memory a computer (or VM) has before sending a task? Or any other characteristic such as CPU capability or disk space?

I notice that daanbusman has less than 2 GB of memory on his Linux "machines". Might he not meet some minimum requirement?
11) Message boards : Number crunching : Please fix the deadlines! (Message 63097)
Posted 4 Dec 2020 by WB8ILI
Post:
Regarding Task Scheduling -

Here is a link that describes BONIC scheduling

https://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/ClientSched

Near the top (#4 under goals) honoring resource share over the long term is mentioned.

Under Project Scheduling Priority is mentioned using REC (Recent Processing) and resource share to determine priority.

Not sure if this helps anyone or just muddies the situation more.
12) Message boards : Number crunching : Please fix the deadlines! (Message 63088)
Posted 3 Dec 2020 by WB8ILI
Post:
Peter -

Another option is to limit the number of tasks you want to run for each project of you computer.

For example, to limit the number of concurrent tasks for CPDN to 4 -

1. Navigate to /var/lib/boinc-client/projects/climateprediction.net
2. Create a file named app_config.xml
3. Place the following three lines in the file.

<app_config>
<project_max_concurrent>4</project_max_concurrent>
</app_config>

4. Save it.
5. In BOINC Manager - > Options, select Read Config files

Now the number of cores you have in excess of 4 will run non-CPDN tasks


Edit -

You wrote -
You should be able to set CPDN to 1 and another project to one, and it would do half of each,

I think Bonic also takes into consideration how much credit you have on each project.

If you have 1000 credit on project 1 and 1,000,000 credit on project 2, Bonic will try to have project 1 "catch up" to project 2.
13) Message boards : Number crunching : Please fix the deadlines! (Message 63082)
Posted 3 Dec 2020 by WB8ILI
Post:
Peter -

The deadline issue has been discussed repeatedly over the tears. Basically, if the CPDN is set short (say 6 weeks), CPDN can take over your computer.

Try changing the project priority for CPDN to 100.
Set the project priority for all other projects to 1.
14) Message boards : Number crunching : New work Discussion (Message 62999)
Posted 20 Nov 2020 by WB8ILI
Post:
Jean-David

I tried max_concurrent instead of project_max_concurrent and the Event Log clearly shows (highlighted in red) that the app_config.xml file is faulty.

A pointer is a "link to folder".
15) Message boards : Number crunching : New work Discussion (Message 62998)
Posted 20 Nov 2020 by WB8ILI
Post:
Jean-David

On my Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 8.2 (Ootpa) machine, it is in a skightly different directory. When I installed boinc and boinc manager, that is where they went.
# cd /var/lib/boinc/projects/climateprediction.net/
]# cat app_config.xml
<app_config>
<max_concurrent>4</max_concurrent>
</app_config>


It should be project_max_concurrent not max_concurrent

On my UBUNTU system there are folders boinc-client and boinc. The boinc folder is a pointer (or whatever it is called) to the boinc-client folder.
16) Message boards : Number crunching : New work Discussion (Message 62993)
Posted 19 Nov 2020 by WB8ILI
Post:
I am not sure what

<app_config>
<project_max_concurrent>4</project_max_concurrent>
</app_config>

is supposed to do.



It should limit the number of tasks running at once for that project to 4.


Either it does not work, or it must be set before the work-units are started, right?


No. It works and it can be "created" anytime. Make sure you put it in correct location, in this case the /var/lib/boinic-client/projects/climateprediction.net folder.

Then go to Options and Click on Read config files.

Check the log to make sure BOINC didn't find any errors. I have been down that path many times before.
17) Message boards : Number crunching : New work Discussion (Message 62991)
Posted 19 Nov 2020 by WB8ILI
Post:
Jean-David Beyer -

I think you wrote that my suggestion on how to get work was successful.

You did write that you are now running 14 CPDN tasks.

You should note that Les Bayliss has written several times that you need 4 Meg of L3 cache per task or progress slows WAY down. I think you have 16 MB of L3 cache which means 4 concurrent tasks might be optimal. But you will have to experiment to determine that.
18) Message boards : Number crunching : New work Discussion (Message 62984)
Posted 19 Nov 2020 by WB8ILI
Post:
Bryn Mawr -

Sorry to read you can't get any work. I have 5 or 6 computers and it has worked for me every time.

You have the same OS and AMD processors as me.There must be something that I haven't encountered yet.
19) Message boards : Number crunching : New work Discussion (Message 62982)
Posted 18 Nov 2020 by WB8ILI
Post:
I am using UBUNTU 20.04

To set the project limit -

1. Navigate to /var/lib/boinc-client/projects/climateprediction.net
2. Create a file named app_config.xml
3. Place the following three lines in the file.

<app_config>
<project_max_concurrent>4</project_max_concurrent>
</app_config>

4. Save it.
5. In BOINC Manager - > Options, select Read Config files
20) Message boards : Number crunching : New work Discussion (Message 62979)
Posted 18 Nov 2020 by WB8ILI
Post:
Here is what I do to download work.

1. Set CPDN to the number of tasks you want to run concurrently using the app_config file.
2. Set ALL projects to "No New Tasks"
3. Set the Computing Preferences to 10 days work + 10 days additional days.
4. Set CPDN to request new tasks.
5. Wait for CPDN to request new tasks (up to 1 hour).

It should now download some work unless there is some issue with your computer.

6. Set the Computing Preferences back to "normal" - for example 1 day + 0 additional.
7. Set the remaining projects back to request new work..

Now you should be good for 10 days or more (depending on your computer speed)

My observation is that when I have additional projects (besides CPDN) they keep my queue filled and when a request is sent to CPDN the queue doesn't need any more work. By briefly setting the queue to 20 days (10+10), it will always download CPDN tasks.


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