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I'm available for a new DC project, but there are restrictions (need input from those on different DC projects)

kranky

kranky

Elite Member
I would have bumped my previous post on the subject but it's already archived. (It has more details, check here if you would.)

I have about 40 rigs available but I have some restrictions I have to live with. The long version is in the link above, here's the short version:

There must be a program (proxy) that can issue the work to the rigs and collect it when done. The client must run on NT as a service (nothing in the systray). The rigs have no net access. I bring the work in from home to the proxy and take it back home to flush. RC5 was perfect for my situation because I could download in about 2-3 hours enough work to last a few days.

ECCp was suggested but I don't think it has a proxy to coordinate the work with the rest of the rigs. Going to each machine all the time is out of the question (except for setting up the client).

I don't want to stop working for TA if there is a project that works in my environment. I thank those who responded to my earlier thread, but there wasn't a really good answer so I'm trying again.
 
Seti for one will be able to do this. (I will post basics then if needed more detail and also links can follow 🙂)

You can set up a SetiQueue on one of the machines which is always on. If you have a laptop, you can set up a queue on that, and get the queue on the network to talk to the queue on the laptop, which will then connect to the internet to upload/download work units.

This can be run as a Service in NT, there are many people here who have written Service installers, to run it hidden.

Confused
 
There are two proxy apps that I know of for ECCp. I haven't used them, so caveat emptor.

proxy ala Ars

proxy ala DPC


ECCp-109 can been run as a service by using the official service client (notably slower for reasons I won't go into here), or by running an official/unofficial non-service client with something like FireDaemon.

If you get a proxy working, it will be less work sneakernetting. You only have to worry about taking work home, not bringing it in.
 
The flexinstaller would install the service clients for you in about 2 minutes no problem. Sounds like a perfect situation for SETIQ.
 
Thanks for the inputs, I started by checking out the ECCp information.

Maybe "proxy" was a bad term to use. RC5 had a pproxy program that let one computer serve as a clearinghouse for all the others, and that's the only machine I needed to visit to collect the output and supply new inputs. All clients sent results to, and got new work from, that one PC.

From what I can tell, ECCp has no such program? The links I saw refer to a proxy which is used to get around a firewall, is that correct? I need something that will coordinate all the work with the other clients automatically.
 
The fundamentally different thing with ECCp is that it doesn't download any work units. The units are created within the client and only sent out. Hence only outgoing proxy support is present on the client.
 
As far as I know, you just set up one of those proxy servers on a machine and then point all the clients on your network to submit to the proxy server. Then you can get take those from the proxy home and submit them with your client, or if the dplist isn't too big you can submit them manually via a web page.
 
How would he create the initial dplists without net access?
I suppose he could do it all on the computer at home... 40 different folders, burn all to a cd... bring the cd in...
hmmm

 
I don't know if I'm understanding your question.

The client automatically generates a dplist by a hash of the computer time and other factors if one does not exist.

My suggestion would be to make a 'distribution' comprised of the client (and cygwin DLL if needed), eccp109.ini, and a premade userinf.txt (& possibly any extra stuff necessary for a proxy setup). That's all you need. The eccinfo, plist and dplist files get generated automatically. This distro could then be copied to all computers.


Edit: By no net access, I am assuming that means no internet access. If the computers are not networked together, then yes, it would be much more difficult.
 
I have a better handle on the picture, I think. Installing a web server (to act as the collecting point) seems to be required according to the Ars page, and that might be more than I can get away with but it might be worth a try.

The PCs are networked, they just can't connect to the Internet. From what I read it looks like it could be possible for all the PCs to forward their completed work to the "web server". If so, I can take the file home to flush it as long as it isn't too big. I don't mind going to each PC to do the initial setup (I can do that on a Saturday) but after that it needs to be pretty much self-service.

I think I might try setting up a test using a couple machines and see if I can get it to work. I'll need to just make sure the client doesn't show up in the systray (so users aren't tempted to fiddle) and that it runs as a service under NT (so the client will still run even if no one's logged in to the machine). The machines are up nearly 24/7 even if no one is logged in.

Does anyone have an idea how big the output file (dplist, I think) is? Let's say for a 900mhz P3 running for 24 hours.
 
Each DP in the dplist is about 150 bytes. You can expect around 75 DP/day from a P3 900, giving a filesize for dplist around 11 kB.
 
Hey guys!

Sorry I haven't been around much, but this PeopleSoft project is still taking almost all my time. Good news is that we have launched and so far, pretty good. Of course there's always going to be a few bugs, but those will get worked out over time. Getting the users to get their heads out of their a$$es is another thing...

Anyway, on to the question at hand (and hope I'm not too late - just noticed the PM's Smokeball sent me 😉 )...

This would be a prime candidate for the flex installer. Kranky, all you would need to do is run SetiQueue on one main machine and distribute the service to all the other workstations from the same machine. It would take only a matter of minutes. At one time, I had over 200 clients running it. Ahh, those were the days... 🙂🙁

Unfortunately, it's been about 9 months since I installed it, so my memory is a bit hazy. Shuxclams can probably help you get started if you'd like to go that route.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help.

Indy

 
kranky: You seem to be focusing on trying to get the clients going with ECCp. Good luck with it but if it doesn't work out and you want to try SETI instead just ask. There's plenty of us here using networked clients with a proxy (SetiQ). My rigs all have 'net access so I wouldn't be the one to talk to as far as that goes but I know there are other members who have done just what you're looking at.

Glad you're sticking with a TA DC team and good luck! 🙂
 
kranky, A couple of questions for you:

1. What portable media do you have on a machine in your office that could be used to move WUs to an off-site location (home) with Internet access? (CD_RW, Zip, etc.)

2. Do you have a similar device at home?

3. What type of Internet connectivity do you have at home?

Now, you mentioned in the first thread that the existing systems will become P4s soon. Those new boxes could do 5 SETI WU per day for a daily total of 200 (40 * 5.) When the new machines are installed your daily WU download would be ~70MB, or ~490MB per week. Can the Internet connection and portable device asked about above handle that kind of volume? If you can handle this type of volume then let us know and we can suggest a SETIQueue based solution.

The flexi-installer mentioned for SETI is a really neat product. From one computer, you can "push" the client out over the LAN to all system on your network where they will be installed as a service. As others have indicated this can be accomplished in only a few minutes.
 
JW, you mention "pushing" the SETI client to LAN connected PCs. What would be the OS requirements for those clients? I'm assuming I'd need at least Win98 or higher?

The reason I ask is that my remote nodes are currently just floppy boot setups with minimal RAM. They were running KLINUX happily until RC5 finished.

What upgrades would I need for SETI Queue and/or the flexi-installer to work?

I have asked my SETI mentor the same question, but haven't gotten a response yet.
 
Flexinstaller doesn't work with Win98 it works with Win2K/XP.

There is a verison of Seti with a variant of Linux on it that is supposed to run off a floppy, but I have never tried it. You might want to start another thread and see who does use it.

SetiQ will run on any Windows Machine. You would need a hard drive to keep the WU Queue (remember each WU is about 350K I believe)
 
I don't know about NT, I will check with Bot when I get a chance. I think it does though.

EDIT: Actually I know it will work on NT because I have used it before.
 
1. What portable media do you have on a machine in your office that could be used to move WUs to an off-site location (home) with Internet access? (CD_RW, Zip, etc.)
Click to expand...

I can't attend to the project every day. Once or twice a week I'd want to go to the "central" machine which is collecting all the finished work and email it home as a zip file (if compressible) or in its native format (if not). That file would need to be about 3MB max. If the finished work file size is bigger than that, I'd have to burn a CD at work every couple of weeks and handcarry that home. I really don't want to go the CD route, though because I submit the work from my home PC and giant files would take forever (56k dialup).

2. Do you have a similar device at home?
Click to expand...
Really want to use email.

3. What type of Internet connectivity do you have at home?
Click to expand...
56k dialup, sadly.

Now, you mentioned in the first thread that the existing systems will become P4s soon. Those new boxes could do 5 SETI WU per day for a daily total of 200 (40 * 5.) When the new machines are installed your daily WU download would be ~70MB, or ~490MB per week. Can the Internet connection and portable device asked about above handle that kind of volume? If you can handle this type of volume then let us know and we can suggest a SETIQueue based solution.

The flexi-installer mentioned for SETI is a really neat product. From one computer, you can "push" the client out over the LAN to all system on your network where they will be installed as a service. As others have indicated this can be accomplished in only a few minutes.
Click to expand...

That amount of output would swamp me. I don't really mind going to each machine to do initial setup, it's that I don't have time to attend to them often. Even when I was doing RC5 sometimes the output file would get away from me (if I ended up getting a ton of small keys to crack, the output file was much larger per key). Even if I had net access at the herd, I'd still take the work home to flush just so no one could say I was using any bandwidth.

I do appreciate the suggestions!
 
kranky, Based on your answers it apprears that SETI will not work for you. Oh, well! 🙁

I sure hope you are able to find a DC project that will work!
 
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