I have 5 school PC Labs with around 100 computers. What do I need to do to start them crunching for WCG?
A beginers guide with pictures please!
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I have 5 school PC Labs with around 100 computers. What do I need to do to start them crunching for WCG?
A beginers guide with pictures please!
First, read Sierra's guide on BOINC/WCG in general:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=230613
Next, when you understand the basics, you can tackle a mass install on the PCs (if you have permission.) A mass install is the only way to go due to the sheer quantity of computers (unless you're a person of power at the school and can rally students/staff to help.) Here's the guide from WCG:
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/bg...assInstall.pdf
Happy crunching! :up:
Three choices:
1) Install one at a time
2) deploy across network
3) Stick the install file on a bunch of usb sticks and enlist some buddies to help
Oh, can I say :clap: for helping!:up:
I am the network manager so what I say goes, aswell as the high school teacher. I have staff to install the software so I dont get my hands dirty. Was thinking of using it as I High School Student Project as part of their studies.
Ni hao! Installing 400 Boinc installs is a task but easy enough to accomplish. I would make sure to install the latest boinc 6.10.58 because it has good options available, use CPU when computer is inactive, or when other works is above a certain % or during certain times of day. Good luck!
Permission, it doesn't matter that you're the 'network manager'. You rank below the school budgeting board/comission/governmental director.Quote:
Originally Posted by chinaguy
The bill payer.
Network managers have been canned before for crunching on their network
::puts down his shotgun:: Awwwww... smelled like zombies in here........ get that permission in writing, and make sure they understand that the power consumption will rise, but i love the idea of using it as a teaching tool/project.
That part is worth repeating!Quote:
Originally Posted by GreyPaws
Yeah it sounds great! Just verify it is all OK, don't want you to get in trouble with the higher-ups.
Or lose your job.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparky
Dont forget your hand lotion. All that clicking is going to ruff up those pretty fingers.
記住啊, 一定要得到許可先可以裝boinc^^
.. and to use it after seeing the view of 500 computers crunching WCG:rofl:Quote:
Originally Posted by HuffPCair
Well the PCs are ON from 8am to 5pm and never used 100% of the time. The PCs goto sleep after school hours. The extra cost of running a PC crunching and standing with a screen saver working is not going to bother us. At the moment its Lunch Time here and 40PCs are just sitting there doing nothing till afternoon class start.
The last time I did something like this was when we where looking for LGM for CETI. The programe ran as a screen saver application. So if it is as simple as that it shouldn't be a problem, but we wait and see.
I will run the software on a few PCs and see how it goes. Then I can try more PCs till one Lab is fully crunching. Most of the PCs are the Intel E6550 based IBM Think Centers so they can do some serious number crunching.
Make sure to read this guide . This is the absolute fool-proof guide, you got this.:up:
By the way, when it comes to downloading (picture four on the guide), don't install the old client. Download the latest client here, it will yield more points and maybe make the system more stable.
HAVE FUN!
Oh, and make sure to join our team.:D
Fixed :cord:Quote:
Originally Posted by lkiller123
Oh, and make sure to join our team:D
Oh, and make sure to join our team
Oh, and make sure to join our team
Oh, and make sure to join our team
Oh, and make sure to join our team
Oh, and make sure to join our team
:rofl: well put everyone
You can set specific from - to time in the profile options. Even if you leave the default profile and the PC uses 100% of its CPU the users will not notice the difference (it is using spare CPU cycles).Quote:
Originally Posted by chinaguy
Glad to have you on board. :up:
Whether they PCs are used or not makes no difference, You NEED to get permission from your superiors to make sure its ok in writing.Quote:
Originally Posted by chinaguy
Your making the common mistake of thinking because your an admin your god.
You are a long way from being god as their are alot of people higher than you and if you put it on the network and their Power bill goes up substantially which it will you could very quickly find yourself out of a job.
Remember that a computer at idle draws quite a bit less than one at load. While there is computer time available, is the electricity to go around? A second concern may be the power infrastructure: a standard 110Vac outlet can only supply 15-20A. If the computers draw 100W when idle and 150W at load, that MIGHT start blowing fuses or tripping circuits. As others have said, get permission in writing since the power bill will go up. The school will pay for the extra power drawn to power the computers as well as the extra power required to cool the room.
I'm thinking of a few ways to deploy this. The easiest way might be to use network storage and install BOINC there. That should keep the manager running and without data loss even through PC reimages.
I would explain the benefits of helping cure diseases. Plus, do one lab at a time to gently raise that electric bill. Keep an eye on it so you can make adjustments as you go. You fire up all those computers at once and they will notice that juice bill.
Engineers are the true gods of the network. Admins just look pretty for the customer...:rofl:Quote:
Originally Posted by Scubar
If they're like the engineers I've had to deal with, they were the ones trying to look pretty for management while I (the lowly tech) actually built everything and made it WORK after fixing their ill conceived designs.
There are different sorts of engineers. A head technician might be called a project engineer and may well be the head (non-management) honcho of a data center.Quote:
Originally Posted by D_A
Gee, calm it down:rolleyes: This guy is just trying to help for the cause, why are you being so flamey?Quote:
Originally Posted by Scubar
He's not. It's a really big issue. People (read sys admins) have lost their jobs more than once for installing DC projects on systems they controlled but didn't have written permission from the actual owners of the machines. In the US you can actually be charged (not sure what states, sorry) for theft of company resources if you use company computers to work on your own projects, DC work (like WCG, F@H etc) included, without the right permissions.
Also remember he is opperating in China which is an entirely different country with different customs and labor laws. We have done enough to bring the potential consequences to his attention and China-guy has already confirmed he feels it is not an issue and he has done similar DC projects in the past.
I understand this huge issue.. But check out the bolded parts of the post, it almost sounds like an insult - at least to me.
BTW, here's a good read. Arizona School Employee Loses Job Searching for Aliens
Chinaguy, I understand that you are really want to help for the cause. But make sure, MAKE SURE ask for permission first; inform them that this will slightly increase power draw. We don't want to make you lose the job (or be broke) from the Krunching Addiction :D
This program will stress the computers a lot more than their daily tasks so if you run the computers at 100% load the heatsinks MUST be able to handle the extra wattage. The constant load on the system will cause the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (Windows boxes) if the bios settings are not right, but this you already know. You might want to test a couple at different CPU load settings and see what temps the cores are running with the installed heatsinks, just a suggestion. You know your situation better than we do, please do what you know will not get you into trouble. We appreciate the help and ALL THOSE COMPUTERS but we DO NOT want to see you get into trouble.
And yes, PLEASE DO join our team. One computer or hundreds, you will
be welcomed here. :up:
I recommend this program to monitor CPU core temps...
http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/
You can adjust the profile of the PC's so they dont run at 100% capacity all the time. That cuts down on heat load decently when the machine performance relative to duty life or prerequisite duties is in question.
Not being Flamey, just trying to make a point that if he does go ahead and do it he could very quickly find himself out of a job if he doesnt get permission as its happened plenty of other places before and we dont want that at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by lkiller123
Well looks like it will become a student project, as some students need some extra hours on their Public Service Awards to graduate at the end of the year. So looks like I will get 3-4 little helpers to do the Donkey work. So since its a student programe I will have 'permission' from the 'suits in the office'.
Many Thanks..Quote:
Originally Posted by chinaguy
Just so that some of the emotion you see here makes sense, a long time back when we were doing another app 2 guys "borged"( used without permission) 100's of machines at a college.
The fallout over that was a real mess and many remember it well.
I know thats not your situation but anytime someone mentions bringing "100's)of machines into the team this brings up those memories.
Again, many thanks and good luck on your project.:up:
Darn, I forgot: Do you need a login/pw for my..I mean an account to put them on?..:wasntme:
Since it's in China................best to get written permission and make a copy.........."and he was never heard from again":rofl:
Or "last seen repairing the Great Wall of China"..:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Kingcarcas
Bottom line guys is that Chinaguy is a pretty sharp guy, knows his stuff and probably thought of all these comments before they were posted here.;)
Nice!
May I inquire what kind of machines we are talking here? :)
You didn't know?Quote:
Originally Posted by jcool
It's 100 SR2 machines with hexes..:rofl:
...hooked up to a mass watercooler and OCed to 4Ghz+ no less :rofl:
Dream on :p:
Fixed..:rofl:Quote:
Originally Posted by jcool
Heh.. I can't even do 4.5 24/7 on mine and I use chilled water :(
Would have to be all 5690's then :p:
Dang, we are going slightly OT AGAIN :sofa: :rofl:
They're core 2 duos. Thanks chinaguy, don't forget to join our team please!
:clap: Very nice!Quote:
Originally Posted by chinaguy
e6550's iirc. If they ran 24/7@100%, they'd net about 666ppd (BOINC) each.Quote:
Originally Posted by shoota
At the moment I am building a new server and domain as the old one kind of 'burnt out! Its at these time you are thankful for Veritas and HP 400GB tape streamers. All the network printers have stopped as a result and we have no Outlook in school. So time to try out the crunching will have to wait a week or 2. Also my office PC has died on me and the wifes left me for a week looking after the baby!!!
Thanks for all the information on WCG and will be using it soon!
Sorry to hear.. BUT one can turn lifes misfortunes into positive experiences..Quote:
Originally Posted by chinaguy
Maybe a dualie 1366 for your new personal machine..:wasntme:
Well we lease all our PCs on a 4 year purchase/maintainance contract. So the best I can hope for is the IBM engineer comes and repairs it within 3 working days of me calling them and giving some verbal abuse. So no chance of a 1366 base system for me.......
The Server is out of contract so its down to me and my guys doing the repair work. But at least we got a nice new IBM 3650 M3 out of the burn up. It has nice 2.5 inch SAS hard drives built in so no need for the seperate DS300 DiskRack.
PS I am writting this as the RAID5 is installed and setup......better bring the camp bed this my take some time!!!!
Your making the common mistake of thinking because your an admin your god.
Well when the Domain Server goes up in Blue Smoke, I am god of the back up tapes. Just got the RAID5 built on the new server, now I only have to wait for the Accounts Department to give me a copy of the MS Server 2003 Licence so I can install the software, as I am not trusted to keep such important documents.....incase we give the licence number out over the internet.:shakes:
But they can't find it......:clap:
Looks like they will have to buy me a new Server 2008 one instead :up:
Or should I mention the fact I have a photocopy or the original Licence agreement.......:ROTF:
You can usually install it without a key, and register it later.Quote:
Originally Posted by chinaguy
I know this but they don't. JUST GETTING SOME PAY BACK on the tight "£$£^^%%$$ in the accounts office who make my work harder. They did not pay the service renewal with HP on time so we broke the terms and conditions of our contract. We had a problem with one of our A3 colour printers and it cost us $1200 Parts+Man hrs to get it repaired. The cost of the maintance contract for the whole school was only $1500/year and we have 23 HP printers. So now I have to get every single repair OK before work is carried out, so this means a printer is offline for weeks instead of a few days. Not to mention the extra cost of spares and repairs!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobsama
Bean counters are the same the world over :shakes:
so... when are you doing the installation and join the Xtreme madness?:D
My Dr says I need something to compensate for the Crack Addiction I have so WCG will do as a sub while I get over my drug addiction.
Next Wednesday afternoon we have Attivites with students so the madness will start then........
I'm not sure which is worse! :) (a WCG addiction can be harder on the wallet :rofl:)Quote:
Originally Posted by chinaguy
But much better for your health. :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by trn
But much more addicting. :shakes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Otis11
Before you know it, you'll be asking the bean counters to let you replace 20-40 C2D's with Core i7-950 boxes and you'll stick WCG on there too!
They don't fire you for that over there?:ROTF:
Well C2Ds aren't nearly powerful enough for modern day programs!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobsama
Word is so much faster with 8 threads - it's all about productivity :rofl:
Show them that and you're golden :rofl:Code:i7 975 Review:
This CPU's performance is simply amazing.
As soon as I'd finished my build and installed the OS,
I booted up calc and entered 98 x 44. It answered with 4312,
just like that! No lag or wait whatsoever!
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/abstraction.png
If I'm such a god, why isn't Maru *my* cat?
I haven't seen my wallet since I got married........:shrug:Quote:
Originally Posted by trn
Amen Brother! :ROTF:Quote:
Originally Posted by chinaguy
But please, don't let them read "The Disclaimer". :eek:
I have joined up as Chinaguy and joined the XS team. Only one PC running with the screen saver at the moment to see how it goes.
I think the screen saver will best method for us. I will add a few more PCs to se how it goes. Have to check out internet load over our system, but I can configure the PCs to only use the internet at lunch time and after school time.
Good news CG. Hope it all works out ok that's alot of crunching power at your disposal
Good news and no matter how it turns out,one machine or 60,we're glad to have you with us.Quote:
Originally Posted by chinaguy
Also if I didn't say it before,always liked your avatar..:up:
My avatar was draw by one of my students during one of my stymulating lessons. It was draw in Paint and it does look like me! He had to give me a copy with full rights or he would get a detention.
The kid in question is now working as a Graphic Artist earning some big $$$!
Paint, that's impressive! :up:
I doubt internet load should be an issue. WCG isn't very bandwidth-heavy. Granted, 100 installations could create some traffic, but I wouldn't think it would be too much in the grand scheme of things on a school network.Quote:
Originally Posted by chinaguy
The Clean Energy Project can have some pretty big up-loads. The project specs list them as being up to 80MB a shot, so consider if that will be an issue.
Oh... I did not know that. Hm good thing I'm not running it then, my connection would puke over them.
3 PCs by my classroom desk now crunching away. I can keep an eye on them and see how it goes. I am sure someone will let me know how my scores are doing.
It will take a few days for stats to clear up.
Statistics chinaguy
Total Run Time (y:d:h:m:s) (Rank) -:---:--:--:--
Points Generated (Rank) 0
Results Returned (Rank) 0
Avg. Run Time Per Calendar Day (y:d:h:m:s) -:---:--:--:--
Avg. Run Time Per Result (y:d:h:m:s) -:---:--:--:--
Average Points Per Hour of Run Time 0
Average Points Per Calendar Day 0
Average Points Per Result 0
Avg. Results Per Calendar Day 0
Last Result Returned (UTC) Never
Device Installations 0
Registered Member Since 29.9.10
:up:
Well I ended up setting up 7 PC for WCG as I had to install some software for a maths teacher for him to use tomorrow morning.(SOME more warning next time might help maths department!!!) :D
May just install it on the other 12 PCs in the Lab tomorrow if I can't be bothered to mark any student books......last day before a week off school.:up:
what name are you crunching under? I'm curious to see what type of PPD your school machines put out.
edit: just saw that chinaguy joined the team, nevermind! good luck and welcome to the team :)
:up:Quote:
Originally Posted by sierra_bound
nice litle project, desided to join my self aswell to wcg.
getting laptop to run it till i get my amd machine ready for it
I'm curious to see how many school machines it takes to match an SR-2 :D :sofa:
Welcome chinaguy :up:
Edit: And Welcome rintamarotta :clap:
welcome guys (or gals) :)
At 4200MHz, a single i7 w/ HT would do about 4554 BOINC. Times three and that's 13662 BOINC for a single SR-2 with a pair of hex-cores at 4.2.Quote:
Originally Posted by jcool
A single Conroe/Allendale at 2333MHz would do about 733 BOINC. So that's about 18.63 E6550's at stock to match ONE overclocked SR-2 w/ hexes.
Looking at newer Pentium E6800's ($100/ea), those will produce about 1152.27 BOINC so it'd take about a dozen to match the same SR-2.
I Highly suggest you unvolt your CPU.Quote:
Originally Posted by rintamarotta
It seems every laptop I unvolt I can shave off .3 volts. :up:
Which translates to ~10 C
how do you undervolt a macbook pro? :sofa:
Submerge it in water, turn it on. It will either undervolt or massively overvolt. I figure a 50-50 chance.Quote:
Originally Posted by shoota
A few minutes of googling I found this: http://www.coolbook.se/CoolBook.htmlQuote:
Originally Posted by shoota
Only works with Core2Duo's.
thanks for the link i might give that a tryQuote:
Originally Posted by Kurz
shoulda known that was coming lolQuote:
Originally Posted by MrMojoZ
I can undervolt my laptops cpu by 0.2volts, under that it goes unstable, ran 24hours of LinX and errors came out after 20hours with 0.3volt undervolt, but with 0.2 volt undervolt i havent seen any problems.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kurz
Running 80celcius showing in coretemp and no additional cooling under laptop, with normal voltages its 94celcius so it really does help a bit, gonna buy later laptop cooler to get it down to 72's (i had one but fans that are not replaceable broke).
Maybe i could put my Intel and AMD desktops later to WCG, the ones on signature, that would be some serious grunching but i dont usually keap those machines up 24/7 due massive power draw, 980x + 3 gtx480's + p2 1090 + asus ares are damn power hungry :)
I would also have couple of servers, 4 machines with dual quad-core xeons but those things do something else and i dont want disturb them.
Well WCG doesn't use GPUs, so if you're not using them for GPUgrid or something like that the power draw would be less than you expect. I don't know how much they draw at idle, though.
Im going to put at least nVidia GPU's to GPU crunching duties, think GPUGrid is the thing, also in Boinc Manager project list there is some projects listed as "ati gpu capable" so think thats where im going to put my asus ares.
edit: think crunching bug has bitten me :clap:
Hey man, remember to set CPU usage to 100% :D
Oh thanks from reminding, it was doing 60% cpu usage at best times and saying "cpu usage too high" so just put to 100% from bowth settings, now its running nice :)Quote:
Originally Posted by lkiller123
100% load, 71 celcius, 2.2ghz AMD Turion RM-75 0.9volts
I bought 4 AMD Opteron 8358 2.4Ghz Quad-Core CPU's (80€ each) and ARIMA Quad-Socket F motherboard (70€). And waiting for delivery, allready got ram, psu and hdd's.
This beast going for WCG use :).
There's another setting in there that will stop the client if CPU usage from other service goes over xx%. The default is 25%. If you set it to 0 it disables it so the BOINC client never suspends (at least not due to that) or you can set it to whatever suits you.
Yeah i have it at 0, and the other setting at 100%.
Running fine :)
rintamarotta, where did you get Arima board for 70€ in EU? (I'm only guessing EU)
Friend had one, he didnt have cpu's for it so he sold it.
My AMD Turion RM-75 2.2 Ghz laptop is doing atm 1266 PPD so e6550 should do alot of more than that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobsama