LP_
06-27-2006, 03:55 AM
This is an attempt to explain how credits work on CPDN and Boinc.
From the CPDN forum- Link (http://www.climateprediction.net/board/viewtopic.php?p=27864#27864)
This post is an attempt to explain the trickle and result reporting sequence and how they relate to credits and the result's server state, outcome and client state.
To avoid any possible confusion I'll refer to a result running on a client as a model.
Trickles
A model generates a trickle to upload to the CPDN scheduler every 10802 timestep. These tell the server that the model is still running and generate the credits for the result (94.5175 cobblestones per trickle and 6805.26 for a completed run).
At the end of each phase the model generates a 'mega-trickle' containing the list of global mean annual averages for temperature and precipitation. These are used to generate the graphs that can be viewed on the result's page on the CPDN website.
It is not essential that trickles are uploaded immediately. Many users on dial-up systems who are only running CPDN choose to delay uploading their trickles until they have completed the model, but they should bear in mind that the scheduler may not accept all of the trickles in one batch. See here, for further details (it is possible that ths problem was fixed in the recent server upgrade, but that has yet to be confirmed).
Results
When a client finishes processing a model it generates 5 result files and the local status on the client is set to 'Uploading'. Once the result files have been sent to the required upload server they are deleted and the local status on the client is changed to 'Ready to report'.
The next scheduler request will cause the server to update the status information on the result's page on the website. The sheduler's acknowledgement of the result completion causes the client to clear the model to from its work list.
The status information for a result doesn't rely on the scheduler having received all 72 trickles.
Result status information
Server state
The server state of a result can have any of the following values:
* Inactive The result is not ready to send (e.g. its input files are not yet available).
* Unsent - The result is waiting to be sent to a client for calculation.
* In Progress - The result has been sent to a client and the server is waiting to be notified of its completion.
* Over - The result has been sent to a client and has either been completed or passed its reporting deadline.
Outcome
The outcome of a result is only defined if its server state is Over. It can take the following values:
* Success - The result was completed successfully by a client.
* Couldn't send - The server wasn't able to send the result to a client (perhaps because the resource requirements were too large for the client).
* Client error - The result was sent to a client and an error occurred.
* No reply - The result was sent to a client but was not returned within the reporting deadline.
* Didn't need - The result wasn't sent to a client because enough other results were returned for this work unit.
Client state
The client state of a result indicates the has the following values:
* New - The result has yet to be sent out or is being processed by a client.
* Done - The client has successfully completed the result.
* Downloading - The client couldn't download the application or input files.
* Computing - An error occurred during computation on the client.
* Uploading - The client couldn't upload the output files.
From the CPDN forum- Link (http://www.climateprediction.net/board/viewtopic.php?p=27864#27864)
This post is an attempt to explain the trickle and result reporting sequence and how they relate to credits and the result's server state, outcome and client state.
To avoid any possible confusion I'll refer to a result running on a client as a model.
Trickles
A model generates a trickle to upload to the CPDN scheduler every 10802 timestep. These tell the server that the model is still running and generate the credits for the result (94.5175 cobblestones per trickle and 6805.26 for a completed run).
At the end of each phase the model generates a 'mega-trickle' containing the list of global mean annual averages for temperature and precipitation. These are used to generate the graphs that can be viewed on the result's page on the CPDN website.
It is not essential that trickles are uploaded immediately. Many users on dial-up systems who are only running CPDN choose to delay uploading their trickles until they have completed the model, but they should bear in mind that the scheduler may not accept all of the trickles in one batch. See here, for further details (it is possible that ths problem was fixed in the recent server upgrade, but that has yet to be confirmed).
Results
When a client finishes processing a model it generates 5 result files and the local status on the client is set to 'Uploading'. Once the result files have been sent to the required upload server they are deleted and the local status on the client is changed to 'Ready to report'.
The next scheduler request will cause the server to update the status information on the result's page on the website. The sheduler's acknowledgement of the result completion causes the client to clear the model to from its work list.
The status information for a result doesn't rely on the scheduler having received all 72 trickles.
Result status information
Server state
The server state of a result can have any of the following values:
* Inactive The result is not ready to send (e.g. its input files are not yet available).
* Unsent - The result is waiting to be sent to a client for calculation.
* In Progress - The result has been sent to a client and the server is waiting to be notified of its completion.
* Over - The result has been sent to a client and has either been completed or passed its reporting deadline.
Outcome
The outcome of a result is only defined if its server state is Over. It can take the following values:
* Success - The result was completed successfully by a client.
* Couldn't send - The server wasn't able to send the result to a client (perhaps because the resource requirements were too large for the client).
* Client error - The result was sent to a client and an error occurred.
* No reply - The result was sent to a client but was not returned within the reporting deadline.
* Didn't need - The result wasn't sent to a client because enough other results were returned for this work unit.
Client state
The client state of a result indicates the has the following values:
* New - The result has yet to be sent out or is being processed by a client.
* Done - The client has successfully completed the result.
* Downloading - The client couldn't download the application or input files.
* Computing - An error occurred during computation on the client.
* Uploading - The client couldn't upload the output files.