For use directly from USB stick it is good to set BOINC
to write to disk "at most every 10 minutes" (not 1 by default)
to minimize the wear of flash memory.
[pre] [/pre]
- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
so far it seems to be working. I have boinc installed on the hard drive to keep it simple(r).
Basically I stop boinc on the internet computer, move the data directory to a temp holding directory. stop boinc and Grab the data directory from the non net machine, throw it into where the data directory was on the internet machine, start boinc up, let it report, get new tasks, download, whatever it needs, once I got the new files in that directory, stop boinc again, move them back to non internet machine, restart that and it's good to go, then move original internet data files back to their proper directory restart and it's back on track.
It sounds difficult but honestly, this is a 5 minute chore at best, the longest time is copying the files to the flash drive and back.
It was said to change settings to write to disk every 10 minutes to prevent wear and tear on the usb stick.... They wear out that fast? Honestly, are they that sensitive to read / writes, i figured being solid state they'd last a good long time...
Again thank you for all your help everyone.
Aaron
If god meant for us not to BOINC he'd have made our #$%^%^ shorter!!
It was said to change settings to write to disk every 10 minutes to prevent wear and tear on the usb stick.... They wear out that fast? Honestly, are they that sensitive to read / writes, i figured being solid state they'd last a good long time...
We had a good discussion on the effective lifetime of SSD's a while back.
Cheers, Mike.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal
perhaps I messed something up in the file transfer however I was pretty positive I kept them seperate. I am swapping the entire data directory between the machines, and now I got a message saying results not accepted, already reported?
I do not recall reporting the files. This leads me to a question. If / when my machine talks to the boinc/einstein server and sees that machine number 12345 has xx task on it, then 15 minutes later it restarts talks to the server and sees that machine number 12345 has yy task on it, does it somehow dump the previous xx and reassign it to someone else?
I have both machines running files now and the names are VERY different so tomorrow morning when I try again ill know for sure if it is something with swapping files around or I goofed up, just trying to look ahead and see what could possibly be causing this. I really want to be able to utilize the machines not net connected but not sure if it is working or not.
Aaron
If god meant for us not to BOINC he'd have made our #$%^%^ shorter!!
2 identical CPUs with different Computer IDs.
(the CPU shown is the one that get/report work (the Net-CPU), not the one that really computed it)
Check on the 2 computers (the Net-computer & NoNet-computer)
in BOINC Data directory
in client_state.xml that you have different , e.g.:
3595679 (on the first computer)
3777888 (on the second computer)
Of course look a few lines up that you look the for the wanted project:
If you use the same ID then the Net-computer talks to server and server sees
that some tasks assigned to this ID are missing on the computer (you moved them to another)
and re-sends (some of) the lost tasks (so both computers compute in fact the same tasks)
If is not different on the 2 computers you have to start fresh (stop and discard the work on the NoNet (or try to report it for the last time)).
On the Net-computer:
1) Exit BOINC
2) Move the BOINC Data directory to a safe place (e.g. C:\Local_BOINC_Data_Save\BOINC)
3) Install BOINC (this will create new "empty" BOINC Data directory in the same place where it was - check in the #3 screen of the installer)
4) Start BOINC
5) Attach to project ("Yes, existing user") (will create ...\BOINC\projects\einstein.phys.uwm.edu & new computer ID) (wait for downloads to finish)
6) Exit BOINC
7) Check in client_state.xml that you have new different
Now you are OK for your routine move to/back:
8) Move the BOINC Data directory to a USB stick (and to the NoNet)
9) Move back the BOINC Data directory from C:\Local_BOINC_Data_Save\BOINC to its usual place.
...
For every new NoNet machine (if you have e.g. NoNet_1, NoNet_2, NoNet_3, ...)
repeat the procedure (1...7) for BOINC re-installation and attach to get new ID
[pre] [/pre]
- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
ok, im seeing what you mean now. It would create a 'new' machine for me in my profile and I have been merging them, I won't do that anymore. Another thing I am going to do, which appeared to work last time is, wait for BOTH computers to be totally completely done with all their assigned tasks, then report, that way I am not transferring halfway done tasks from one machine to another and then getting it duped back on the internet machine because it now sees it is 'missing'.
Thanks again for putting up with me.
Aaron
If god meant for us not to BOINC he'd have made our #$%^%^ shorter!!
ok, im seeing what you mean now. It would create a 'new' machine for me in my profile and I have been merging them, I won't do that anymore. Another thing I am going to do, which appeared to work last time is, wait for BOTH computers to be totally completely done with all their assigned tasks, then report, that way I am not transferring halfway done tasks from one machine to another and then getting it duped back on the internet machine because it now sees it is 'missing'.
Thanks again for putting up with me.
Aaron
"wait for BOTH, ... transferring halfway done tasks":
No need to wait, No problem transferring half done tasks (together with the full BOINC Data directory) -
if the computers have different IDs they will have different tasks.
( Server will think that you have 2 different but with identical hardware/OS computers -
they will never receive the same tasks.
)
What is the CPU, GPU and OS of the NoNet computer?
(the Net is (I think): Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor 1.60GHz, Windows XP Home x86 Edition, Service Pack 3)
The only problem with transferring half done tasks (and continue the computation on the other computer)
is if the Net & NoNet are too different (e.g. 32 vs 64 bit OS, SSE vs SSE3 CPU).
To avoid that half done tasks continue the computation on the other computer -
Always before you exit (any) BOINC Suspend the computation from the Activity menu.
(only activate it again (Activity -> Run ...) if you see tasks that belong to the computer you are on at the moment)
Did you check in client_state.xml for both computers?
(e.g. Open client_state.xml in Notepad and Search (Find...) )
Yes those ID's would be the two different computers.
They are both Intel's I believe, . I do know one is a single core the other a dual,the off net is the dual, so I make sure i throw two tasks onto the dual. On net is running xp, the off net windows 7 starter. So far I have not seen any problems with being too different from each other. Both are 32 bit.
I have been suspending all work and internet access and shutting boinc down totally when swapping files so as not to 'bleed' between both. When I transfer the files I make sure they ARE the correct ones in the directory before starting it up again.
I have temp directories i put data in to transfer it. TO o net computer and From o net computer so I know exactly which way the current data batch is going.
Typically what Ill do is, flush the on net, suspend work and tell it get no more tasks, upload and report any stuff on it, once comms are done suspend internet suspend all tasks / work and shut down boinc and shut down internet. Ill move that directory to a temp holding directory.
for the off net computer, ill suspend everything, tell it to stop working, shut down boinc and move entire data directory to on net computer. Ill then restart boinc on On net with off net data in it, tell it to unsuspend internet and let it upload / report / fetch any tasks. once its loaded up with new work, shut everything down, move back to off net, start off net back up and let it start grinding. then put on net directory back where it originally came from, unsuspend restart and let it get any new tasks or whatever it needs for the directory that originally was it's that is now replaced.
I think what my problem was is that Id look in my profile and I would see two different ID's for the same computer and Id tell it to merge them. As you said they both can't have the same ID so I think that is what threw the wrench in it. When I uploaded this morning it worked well. As soon as they are ready for a new batch of work ill go ahead and try it again however think I finally got the hang of it.
Thanks again
Aaron
If god meant for us not to BOINC he'd have made our #$%^%^ shorter!!
So, now that you know it's working you can minimize the manual work
of transferring data to/from by setting to get more work (only for the NoNet)
and do the transfer only once per 7-10 days.
Go to the NoNet:
in BOINC Manager - menu Advanced -> Preferences... -> tab network usage
set "Additional work buffer" to 10 days
(before you press [OK] check all the parameters in the 3 tabs
that they have values which you want - all these values will be in effect
for this computer (the NoNet)
)
These local Preferences are remembered in global_prefs_override.xml
[pre]
.....
10.000000
.....
[/pre]
so they will travel with the NoNet's BOINC Data directory
and you will get enough tasks (~10 days) for the NoNet only
You don't need to "flush the on net, suspend work and tell it get no more tasks"
- You can just stop the computation (before you exit BOINC Suspend the computation from the Activity menu, no need to suspend anything more)
no matter if you have started/unstarted tasks.
(Everything is preserved in the Net's BOINC Data directory
so when you move it back in place (from your save/temp dir)
and start BOINC you will see that all (tasks in any state, Preferences)
will be the same (as it used to be for the 'Net').
)
[pre] [/pre]
- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)
Ok another stupid question.
I installed Boinc onto a stick and put it into a totally different machine.(well actually I copied an entire boinc directory from another machine onto the stick and plugged it in to see how it'd work)
Everything *looks* ok, it seen the new machine, made a new account for it, did the initialization, downloaded the files for it's new tasks.
Now the tasks appear to be running, it communicated with the server and all that stuff fine. but, the tasks are 'running' and have been for a long time, however are not showing any progress on them. If I exit and restart, it shows restarting the tasks but they restart from the beginning again and no work is accomplished.
Any ideas on this?
Aaron
If god meant for us not to BOINC he'd have made our #$%^%^ shorter!!
For use directly from USB
)
For use directly from USB stick it is good to set BOINC
to write to disk "at most every 10 minutes" (not 1 by default)
to minimize the wear of flash memory.
[pre] [/pre]
so far it seems to be
)
so far it seems to be working. I have boinc installed on the hard drive to keep it simple(r).
Basically I stop boinc on the internet computer, move the data directory to a temp holding directory. stop boinc and Grab the data directory from the non net machine, throw it into where the data directory was on the internet machine, start boinc up, let it report, get new tasks, download, whatever it needs, once I got the new files in that directory, stop boinc again, move them back to non internet machine, restart that and it's good to go, then move original internet data files back to their proper directory restart and it's back on track.
It sounds difficult but honestly, this is a 5 minute chore at best, the longest time is copying the files to the flash drive and back.
It was said to change settings to write to disk every 10 minutes to prevent wear and tear on the usb stick.... They wear out that fast? Honestly, are they that sensitive to read / writes, i figured being solid state they'd last a good long time...
Again thank you for all your help everyone.
Aaron
If god meant for us not to BOINC he'd have made our #$%^%^ shorter!!
RE: It was said to change
)
We had a good discussion on the effective lifetime of SSD's a while back.
Cheers, Mike.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal
perhaps I messed something up
)
perhaps I messed something up in the file transfer however I was pretty positive I kept them seperate. I am swapping the entire data directory between the machines, and now I got a message saying results not accepted, already reported?
I do not recall reporting the files. This leads me to a question. If / when my machine talks to the boinc/einstein server and sees that machine number 12345 has xx task on it, then 15 minutes later it restarts talks to the server and sees that machine number 12345 has yy task on it, does it somehow dump the previous xx and reassign it to someone else?
I have both machines running files now and the names are VERY different so tomorrow morning when I try again ill know for sure if it is something with swapping files around or I goofed up, just trying to look ahead and see what could possibly be causing this. I really want to be able to utilize the machines not net connected but not sure if it is working or not.
Aaron
If god meant for us not to BOINC he'd have made our #$%^%^ shorter!!
You can't have 2 computers
)
You can't have 2 computers with the same ID
If you do the things right you will have to see in the list of your computers:
http://einsteinathome.org/account/63786/computers
2 identical CPUs with different Computer IDs.
(the CPU shown is the one that get/report work (the Net-CPU), not the one that really computed it)
Check on the 2 computers (the Net-computer & NoNet-computer)
in BOINC Data directory
in client_state.xml that you have different , e.g.:
3595679 (on the first computer)
3777888 (on the second computer)
Of course look a few lines up that you look the for the wanted project:
http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/ ......
If you use the same ID then the Net-computer talks to server and server sees
that some tasks assigned to this ID are missing on the computer (you moved them to another)
and re-sends (some of) the lost tasks (so both computers compute in fact the same tasks)
If is not different on the 2 computers you have to start fresh (stop and discard the work on the NoNet (or try to report it for the last time)).
On the Net-computer:
1) Exit BOINC
2) Move the BOINC Data directory to a safe place (e.g. C:\Local_BOINC_Data_Save\BOINC)
3) Install BOINC (this will create new "empty" BOINC Data directory in the same place where it was - check in the #3 screen of the installer)
4) Start BOINC
5) Attach to project ("Yes, existing user") (will create ...\BOINC\projects\einstein.phys.uwm.edu & new computer ID) (wait for downloads to finish)
6) Exit BOINC
7) Check in client_state.xml that you have new different
Now you are OK for your routine move to/back:
8) Move the BOINC Data directory to a USB stick (and to the NoNet)
9) Move back the BOINC Data directory from C:\Local_BOINC_Data_Save\BOINC to its usual place.
...
For every new NoNet machine (if you have e.g. NoNet_1, NoNet_2, NoNet_3, ...)
repeat the procedure (1...7) for BOINC re-installation and attach to get new ID
[pre] [/pre]
ok, im seeing what you mean
)
ok, im seeing what you mean now. It would create a 'new' machine for me in my profile and I have been merging them, I won't do that anymore. Another thing I am going to do, which appeared to work last time is, wait for BOTH computers to be totally completely done with all their assigned tasks, then report, that way I am not transferring halfway done tasks from one machine to another and then getting it duped back on the internet machine because it now sees it is 'missing'.
Thanks again for putting up with me.
Aaron
If god meant for us not to BOINC he'd have made our #$%^%^ shorter!!
RE: ok, im seeing what you
)
"wait for BOTH, ... transferring halfway done tasks":
No need to wait, No problem transferring half done tasks (together with the full BOINC Data directory) -
if the computers have different IDs they will have different tasks.
( Server will think that you have 2 different but with identical hardware/OS computers -
they will never receive the same tasks.
)
What is the CPU, GPU and OS of the NoNet computer?
(the Net is (I think): Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor 1.60GHz, Windows XP Home x86 Edition, Service Pack 3)
The only problem with transferring half done tasks (and continue the computation on the other computer)
is if the Net & NoNet are too different (e.g. 32 vs 64 bit OS, SSE vs SSE3 CPU).
To avoid that half done tasks continue the computation on the other computer -
Always before you exit (any) BOINC Suspend the computation from the Activity menu.
(only activate it again (Activity -> Run ...) if you see tasks that belong to the computer you are on at the moment)
Did you check in client_state.xml for both computers?
(e.g. Open client_state.xml in Notepad and Search (Find...) )
I think the 2 computers involved are: Net - ID: 3678871 ; NoNet - ID: 3688103
http://einsteinathome.org/account/63786/computers
Am I right?
[pre] [/pre]
Yes those ID's would be the
)
Yes those ID's would be the two different computers.
They are both Intel's I believe, . I do know one is a single core the other a dual,the off net is the dual, so I make sure i throw two tasks onto the dual. On net is running xp, the off net windows 7 starter. So far I have not seen any problems with being too different from each other. Both are 32 bit.
I have been suspending all work and internet access and shutting boinc down totally when swapping files so as not to 'bleed' between both. When I transfer the files I make sure they ARE the correct ones in the directory before starting it up again.
I have temp directories i put data in to transfer it. TO o net computer and From o net computer so I know exactly which way the current data batch is going.
Typically what Ill do is, flush the on net, suspend work and tell it get no more tasks, upload and report any stuff on it, once comms are done suspend internet suspend all tasks / work and shut down boinc and shut down internet. Ill move that directory to a temp holding directory.
for the off net computer, ill suspend everything, tell it to stop working, shut down boinc and move entire data directory to on net computer. Ill then restart boinc on On net with off net data in it, tell it to unsuspend internet and let it upload / report / fetch any tasks. once its loaded up with new work, shut everything down, move back to off net, start off net back up and let it start grinding. then put on net directory back where it originally came from, unsuspend restart and let it get any new tasks or whatever it needs for the directory that originally was it's that is now replaced.
I think what my problem was is that Id look in my profile and I would see two different ID's for the same computer and Id tell it to merge them. As you said they both can't have the same ID so I think that is what threw the wrench in it. When I uploaded this morning it worked well. As soon as they are ready for a new batch of work ill go ahead and try it again however think I finally got the hang of it.
Thanks again
Aaron
If god meant for us not to BOINC he'd have made our #$%^%^ shorter!!
So, now that you know it's
)
So, now that you know it's working you can minimize the manual work
of transferring data to/from by setting to get more work (only for the NoNet)
and do the transfer only once per 7-10 days.
Go to the NoNet:
in BOINC Manager - menu Advanced -> Preferences... -> tab network usage
set "Additional work buffer" to 10 days
(before you press [OK] check all the parameters in the 3 tabs
that they have values which you want - all these values will be in effect
for this computer (the NoNet)
)
These local Preferences are remembered in
global_prefs_override.xml
[pre]
.....
10.000000
.....
[/pre]
so they will travel with the NoNet's BOINC Data directory
and you will get enough tasks (~10 days) for the NoNet only
You don't need to "flush the on net, suspend work and tell it get no more tasks"
- You can just stop the computation (before you exit BOINC Suspend the computation from the Activity menu, no need to suspend anything more)
no matter if you have started/unstarted tasks.
(Everything is preserved in the Net's BOINC Data directory
so when you move it back in place (from your save/temp dir)
and start BOINC you will see that all (tasks in any state, Preferences)
will be the same (as it used to be for the 'Net').
)
[pre] [/pre]
Ok another stupid question. I
)
Ok another stupid question.
I installed Boinc onto a stick and put it into a totally different machine.(well actually I copied an entire boinc directory from another machine onto the stick and plugged it in to see how it'd work)
Everything *looks* ok, it seen the new machine, made a new account for it, did the initialization, downloaded the files for it's new tasks.
Now the tasks appear to be running, it communicated with the server and all that stuff fine. but, the tasks are 'running' and have been for a long time, however are not showing any progress on them. If I exit and restart, it shows restarting the tasks but they restart from the beginning again and no work is accomplished.
Any ideas on this?
Aaron
If god meant for us not to BOINC he'd have made our #$%^%^ shorter!!