Reasons I don't like BOINC!

[PieDerro]

OK, SETI was hard enough to get running over my several workgroups, but BOINC is a whole new learning curve! The ten reasons I probably won't be BOINCing are:

1. SETIQueue saved me a million times when the Berkeley servers died. Unless there is a similar BOINCQueue, to allow me to use the internet connection when no-one else is using the PCs, i don't think I will be allowed to run BOINC.
2. SETI was hard enough to distribute across 200 workstations. BOINC will be harder because I'll have to learn how to do it with BOINC, and if I run into issues (which I no doubt will) then that'll be a major hassle.
3. I understand SETI Stats and how SETI works. I don't understand BOINC and it's going to take a whole lot of time to learn.
4. I would go on but I don't have time right now...

So basically guys, BOINC is a real pain in the butt for some of those with bigger fleets. It's a real pity that they don't just keep the original project going...

For those of you who know me, the reason I output a fairly large amount is because I work at several schools with reasonable-sized networks. For the last few months I have been trying to get some new schools to work for (in addition to the ones I'm already at) and if they come on board, my Fleet size as it stands at the moment, will be less than 10% of the total computational power I've had access to.

I've been dreading the end of SETI1... but I guess, in a few months after lurking around here and seeing the problems with BOINC gradually ironed out, my stats addiction to will take the better of me and pursuade me to setup BOINC!

Cheers,
PD

P.S. I'm amazed at how many brilliant stats sites and SETI add-ons will go to waste with BOINC! What a crying shame!

 

[Rattledagger]

1; BOINC has built-in caching, but #938 "transfer files only between X and Y hours" isn't implemented yet.
2; #1116 "Implement unattended installation script for Windows" is also in the taskbase...
3; Start with one machine you've got atleast daily access to, and learn... :beer:

As for monitoring, log-in to the web and follow the progress to all your computers... If example uses cache 1-2 days every machine should normally connect once per day, so the line "last time contacted server" will show if someone haven't reported back as they should...
There's also monitoring tools like boinc-spy...

 

[dringdahl]

Just move those 200 machines over to FaDs then...

 

[Rattledagger]

Originally posted by: dringdahl
Just move those 200 machines over to FaDs then...

Well, will he not hit the same problem here, with has to learn something new...

BTW, BOINC also has built-in service-install, so atleast on this point it's better than seti-classic. :thumbsup:

 

[Hellburner]

As with any change, adaptation can be stressful.

Don't underestimate the power of enthusiasts, "impossible" is a challenge not a prohibition :evil:

 

[Smoke]

Ditto :evil:

 

[PieDerro]

Ah as always the TeAm can shed a positive out of any hopeless-looking situation!

I have been considering Folding or D2OL for when SETI1 ends, but Rattledagger, your wealth of knowledge even at this early stage (and all those goodies you're talking about) want to make me stick around and see it through!

I'm still not a happy camper... as with all changes, they should have phased it in more evolutionarily, and then maintained some degree of backward compatibility! Ahh!

 

[Rattledagger]

Well, hopefully folding@home will also start using BOINC. Climateprediction should start beta-testing next month, and Predictor@home is currently doing alpha-testing.
Some other projects is also planning to use BOINC...

Till they're finnished making the separate gui they'll keep seti-classic around, so there's still some time left. But still you can start the learning-process.

Just remember, atleast multi-project-support will probably be changed, so start out light with one project.

And appart for a couple bug-fixes the taskbase has many planned "goodies".

 

[Freewolf]

I have an easy answer for my machines called lifemapper, d2ol, and TSC.

 

[scoser]

*coughfindadrugwouldlovetohaveyoucough*

1 & 2. But on a less throat-straining note, Find-a-Drug can be set up to use one or two computers as central queue servers that can cache tons of workunits, so only that computer would actually have to connect to the internet, the others could just connect to that computer to get their data You can also set up scheduled times to submit workunits and to an extent, download more workunits.

3. FaD points may be a little more complicated than SETI, I grant you that, but you'll get your points based on your production, not waiting to average the scores of other people on your jobs.

 

[Freewolf]

Originally posted by: scoser
*coughfindadrugwouldlovetohaveyoucough*

1 & 2. But on a less throat-straining note, Find-a-Drug can be set up to use one or two computers as central queue servers that can cache tons of workunits, so only that computer would actually have to connect to the internet, the others could just connect to that computer to get their data You can also set up scheduled times to submit workunits and to an extent, download more workunits.

3. FaD points may be a little more complicated than SETI, I grant you that, but you'll get your points based on your production, not waiting to average the scores of other people on your jobs.

I might have to check it out once we reach 200k . I like the q part of it.

 

[amdxborg]

After I hit 50k in SETI, I'll be deviding my fleet between Lifemapper, Community TSC, Find-a-Drug and DPAD...so far. So although I love running SETI...I'll give boinc a while to settle in before using it.

 

[RaySun2Be]

I'm trying SETI BOINC on 1 PC. So far, ok. The main issue I have is that I tried the CLI service install, wich seemed to work fine. But when I tried to start the service, it gives me an error and doesn't start.

Running WinXP Prof.

 

[Rattledagger]

It looks like XP installs the service as a network-account or something... Try changing to "localsystem" and it should work.

 

[RaySun2Be]

Originally posted by: Rattledagger
It looks like XP installs the service as a network-account or something... Try changing to "localsystem" and it should work.

Yep. That did the trick. Thanks!

:beer:

 

[ProviaFan]

I gave BOINC a run for a day on my main PC, and while it could still use a bit of polish, I didn't encounter those kind of problems (then again I don't need to net-deploy to 20(00) PCs). The stats, however, are totally weird... I certainly hope that F@H does not start using BOINC for a while, because some things that I take for granted in the F@H CLI would be sorely missed in BOINC. Not to mention that we lost our stats once with the F@H v1 to v2 transition, and I would hate to lose them again.

 

[GLeeM]

/..meekly/ p2p-community is going to overtake us (F@H) in 31 days /meekly.../

 

[scoser]

Don't worry, you guys'll get pimpage in my "TeAm's Teams Report" again today.