BOINC + RAMdisk on Linux/Windows [Tutorial]

[Evantaur]

BOINC + RAMdisk[Tutorial]

Why? Well to improve your SSD/HDD's lifespan (or allow you to run your system from USB stick), also it's a lot faster, consumes less electricity than a mechanical drive, and it's fun . Only downside is(was) you'd lose all your data every time you restart, and I've already fixed that issue.



so what you need:
- RAM (depending on your distro ~1.5gb + 125mb/thread), i'd recommend 4G for 8 threads
- BOINC

LINUX
There are two ways of doing this (for fresh install), depending how you install your BOINC client

- Way of the Warrior (Download client from Boinc site)
- Easy way (apt-get way)
if you have already installed boinc you should use "Existing system" instead

Windows

[Evantaur]

1. Way of the Warrior (Download client from BOINC site)

Step 1 - Installing BOINC

cd /tmp
wget http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dl/boinc_7...c-linux-gnu.sh
chmod +x boinc_7.0.65_x86_64-pc-linux-gnu.sh
./boinc_7.0.65_x86_64-pc-linux-gnu.sh
cd BOINC
sudo cp boinc /sbin/boinc; sudo cp boinccmd /sbin/boinccmd; sudo cp boincmgr /sbin/boincmgr
sudo mkdir /var/lib/boinc-client
sudo chown $(whoami) /var/lib/boinc-client

Step 2 - Creating file structure for BOINC

boinc --dir /var/lib/boinc-client

on debian/ubuntu server it whined about libXss.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

you can fix it simply with

sudo apt-get install libxss1

you should see something like this



you're done with that part... exit with CTRL + C

your file structure should look something like this:

evantaur@ubuntu:~$ ls /var/lib/boinc-client
all_projects_list_temp.xml  client_state_prev.xml  client_state.xml  daily_xfer_history.xml  gui_rpc_auth.cfg  lockfile  notices  time_stats_log

Step 3 - Setting up the RAMdisk

mkdir /var/lib/boinc-client/slots
sudo nano /etc/fstab

add this line to the end

none /var/lib/boinc-client/slots  tmpfs  nodev,nosuid,noexec,nodiratime,size=2G 0 0

adjust size=2G accordingly, 2G is fine for 8 threads
press CTRL + X and save it

then run

sudo mount -a

df -h should print out something like this

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1       2.0G  971M  910M  52% /
none            4.0K     0  4.0K   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
udev            174M  4.0K  174M   1% /dev
tmpfs            37M  288K   37M   1% /run
none            5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
none            183M     0  183M   0% /run/shm
none            100M     0  100M   0% /run/user
none            200M     0  2G 0% /var/lib/boinc-client/slots <----

Step 4 - Setting up init script

cd
wget http://nikita.tnnet.fi/~evntr/scripts/ramboinc/ramboinc
nano ramboinc

find BOINCUSER= and change boinc to your username


now it's time to install it

sudo cp ramboinc /etc/init.d/
sudo update-rc.d ramboinc defaults
sudo chmod +x  /etc/init.d/ramboinc

you should now be able to start boinc with

sudo /etc/init.d/ramboinc start

[Evantaur]

2. Easy way (apt-get way)

Step 1 - Installing Boinc

sudo apt-get install boinc && sudo apt-get clean
sudo /etc/init.d/boinc-client stop && sudo update-rc.d -f boinc-client remove
sudo mv /etc/init.d/boinc-client ~/boinc-client.old

Step 2 - Setting up RAMdisk

mkdir /var/lib/boinc-client/slots 
sudo nano /etc/fstab

add this line to the end

none /var/lib/boinc-client/slots  tmpfs  nodev,nosuid,noexec,nodiratime,size=2G 0 0

adjust size=2G accordingly, 2G is fine for 8 threads
press CTRL + X and save it

then run

sudo mount -a

df -h should print out something like this

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1       2.0G  971M  910M  52% /
none            4.0K     0  4.0K   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
udev            174M  4.0K  174M   1% /dev
tmpfs            37M  288K   37M   1% /run
none            5.0M     0  5.0M   0% /run/lock
none            183M     0  183M   0% /run/shm
none            100M     0  100M   0% /run/user
none            200M     0  2G 0% /var/lib/boinc-client/slots <----

Step 4 - Setting up init script

cd
wget http://nikita.tnnet.fi/~evntr/scripts/ramboinc/ramboinc
nano ramboinc

find BOINCUSER= and change boinc to your username


now it's time to install it

sudo cp ramboinc /etc/init.d/
sudo update-rc.d ramboinc defaults
sudo chmod +x  /etc/init.d/ramboinc

you should now be able to start boinc with

sudo /etc/init.d/ramboinc start

[Evantaur]

Existing system


Way of the warrior (BOINC site) WARNING!... i have not tested this!

before we even start anything, we need to know where your boinc data is stored..for example if you downloaded boinc_x.x.x.sh to your home dir and ran it there it would be /home/<user>/BOINC

you can check if it exists with

f [ -d ~/BOINC ]; then echo -ne "\nyes\nyour boinc data is most likely stored in:\n/home/$(whoami)/BOINC\n\n"; fi

to make it easier we'll make variable for this path now

BOINCDIR=/insert/your/boinc/data/folder/here

Step 1, stop boinc

boinccmd --quit

move current slots to backup

sudo mv -r $BOINCDIR/slots BOINCDIR/slots_backup

Step 2 - Setting up RAMdisk

mkdir /var/lib/boinc-client/slots
sudo nano /etc/fstab

add this line to the end

none /var/lib/boinc-client/slots  tmpfs  nodev,nosuid,noexec,nodiratime,size=2G 0 0

modify /var/lib/boinc-client/slots to your data directory, (/home/user/BOINC/slots) and size=2G, 2G is fine for 8 threads
press CTRL + X and save it

then run

sudo mount -a

df -h should print out something like this

Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
none            200M     0  2G 0% /home/user/BOINC/slots <----

Step 4 - Setting up init script

cd
wget http://nikita.tnnet.fi/~evntr/scripts/ramboinc/ramboinc
nano ramboinc

find BOINCUSER= and change boincto your username
and BOINCDIR=/var/lib/boinc-client should be where your BOINC data is stored

now it's time to install it

sudo cp ramboinc /etc/init.d/
sudo update-rc.d ramboinc defaults
sudo chmod +x  /etc/init.d/ramboinc

you should now be able to start BOINC with

sudo /etc/init.d/ramboinc start

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Easy way (apt-get way)
Step 1, stop boinc

sudo /etc/init.d/boinc-client stop

remove/move boinc-client init script

sudo update-rc.d -f boinc-client remove
sudo mv /etc/init.d/boinc-client ~/boinc-client.old

moving current slots to backup

sudo mv -r /var/lib/boinc-client/slots /var/lib/boinc-client/slots_backup

now go to "Easy way, step 2"

[PoppaGeek]

Nice work

[BlindFreddie]

Only downside is (was) you'd lose all your data every time you restart, and I've already fixed that issue.

Can't see the fix, but I haven't been following this topic. (Link?) Do you periodically suspend BOINC and copy a snapshot of the data onto non-volatile storage, or does the RAMdisc driver automatically do journalling onto a n-v medium?

In your `df -h`output, the "Size" of the ramdisc is shown as 200M not 2G ... ?? ( none 200M 0 2G 0% /var/lib/boinc-client/slots <---- )

[OT] BTW, lots of this Linux stuff is mumbo-jumbo to me, though I've used and administered *nix systems in the past. (Had a user a/c on the 2nd machine in the continent to run genuine Unix - version 6 on DEC PDP-11/70)
Had a first dabble with BOINC on Linux a few days ago when my 2600K with XP-64 crashed. Thought it was hardware, but it eventually responded to a repair reinstall of XP - PITA. While it was offline, stuck in my 16G USB stick that's got Kali installed. Got the libsso problem with the Berkeley BOINC 7.0.64, but apt-get fetched & installed 7.0.27 from the supplied repositories. Though the machine was online & could surf the net, BOINC would do nothing except say "Update requested by user" when urged. Maybe there is a problem because I installed Kali & BOINC on my C2D lappie, where it did download WCG tasks, but BOINC didn't like swapping machines. Anyway, I gave up, and a very flaky XP-64 is running again. Linux seems not user-friendly at all, and to be a huge learning curve.[/OT]

[Evantaur]

Can't see the fix, but I haven't been following this topic. (Link?) Do you periodically suspend BOINC and copy a snapshot of the data onto non-volatile storage, or does the RAMdisc driver automatically do journalling onto a n-v medium?

yes, the fix is my customized start up/shut down script that copies it from/to hard drive before shutting down, and back to ram before starts boinc... you'll still lose your running data if hard reset (downloaded but not yet started WUs remains since only slots directory is in RAM)

In your `df -h`output, the "Size" of the ramdisc is shown as 200M not 2G ... ?? ( none 200M 0 2G 0% /var/lib/boinc-client/slots <---- )

tempfs("ram disk") is dynamic filesystem and increases only as it needs to, also might have something to do with it that i made this tutorial in a virtual machine (to ensure that everything works and i'm not missing anything)

Linux seems not user-friendly at all, and to be a huge learning curve.

it really depends a lot of distro, ubuntu used to be user friendly back when it still had gnome desktop (now uses unity that is more for a laptops IMO), for starters i'd recommend linux mint or xubuntu(ubuntu with XFCE desktop environment . just try it in Live CD or virtual machine firts

[OldChap]

Zorin is probably the most "Windows like" distro for day to day but I use Mint Cinnamon and find it not too big of a problem most of the time

Evantaur: Do you think it may be worth using Cron to do an auto backup every few hours?

[Evantaur]

Evantaur: Do you think it may be worth using Cron to do an auto backup every few hours?

every 2 hours maybe... it takes about 2 hours to finish a WU, i personally wouldn't bother with it but i can add backup command if needed

[Yeroon]

Thank you for this.
Fixed my issue with a temp cruncher dropping the threads due to the slow i/o of a usb linux install. Wasnt an issue on the tri core, but the new machines 8 core was too much.

[Evantaur]

you're welcome , it makes me happy when someone finds my stuff useful

[Evantaur]

for windows

STILL CLEANING UP!!!!!

STEP 1

Install boinc as you normally would

after that install Softperfect RAMdisk

STEP 2

make sure BOINC is not running

STEP 3

delete BOINC from startup

XP/VISTA/7

press win + r and type msconfig
[IMAGE OF MSCONFIG]

8/8.1/10

CTRL+SHIFT+ESC

Click "More Details"
go to "start-up" tab
find any boinc related program and make sure you set it disabled

[PICTURE OF TASKMANAGER]

STEP 4

download BOINC_silent.bat and copy it to your c:\program files\BOINC

@echo off
start /b "BOINC" "c:\Program Files\BOINC\boincmgr.exe" /s
exit

open softperfect RAMdisk

click image -> Create image
image file name "C:\ProgramData\BOINC\slots.img" (doesn't matter really but i'd use this path so it's easier when taking backups)

filesystem "NTFS"
set label if you wish

click "done"

click Disk -> add boot disk

set path to your image file C:\ProgramData\BOINC\slots.img
set drive letter to Q (you can use something else too but you'll need to replace it later when making symbolic link)
tick [x] save contents to image

click ok

you should now have your boinc drive mounted

click tools -> applications
click add

use "c:\program files\BOINC\BOINC_silent.bat"

press win+r and type in C:\ProgramData\BOINC\slots

copy everything inside it to your new ramdisk, after you're done delete slots from C:\ProgramData\BOINC\

now run cmd as admin
copy paste this in it, it'll create symbolic link to your ramdisk

cd c:\programdata\BOINC\
mklink /d slots q:

STEP 5
reboot
?
profit

[D_A]

I'm experimenting with this in Slackware. It's a little bit different than how Ubuntu works, but seems to be running happily enough so far. I'll see how it goes and either share what I've done or go back to ye olde fashioned way.

[=[PULSAR]=]

I have a few boxes running off 8gb sticks, great move considering the savings is like $40 per box and noiseless.

[D_A]

Ok, had this up and running for a few days now. It seems to be returning more points than before. Not bucket loads, just a little up-kick on the graph within BOINC manager. I haven't shut the machine down for anything yet, so I'm still not 100% certain how the control script will behave but so far so good. CPU v elapsed time is at 98.5% roughly for the units as well.

[Red Maw]

http://nikita.tnnet.fi/~evntr/scripts/ramboinc/ramboinc is unreachable for me. Anyone got a copy they can send me?

[D_A]

#!/bin/bash
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          RAM boinc disk
# Required-Start:    $remote_fs $syslog
# Required-Stop:     $remote_fs $syslog
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Start daemon at boot time
# Description:       Enable service provided by daemon.
# Version            0.1
### END INIT INFO
# BoincRAM disk script by Evantaur @xtremesystems
# http://www.xtremesystems.org
# ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
# Config Part here
#___________________________________________________________

#Boinc data directory 
BOINCUSER=boinc
BOINCDIR=/var/lib/boinc-client

# Ok that's enough :)=
#___________________________________________________________


#copying slots
start() {
if [ $(pidof boinc) ]; then
echo "boinc is already running"
exit 0
fi
SLOTSEXIST=$(ls -1 $BOINCDIR/slots/ | wc -l)
if [ "$SLOTSEXIST" -gt "0" ]; then
echo "slots already copied"
else
	if [ -d $BOINCDIR/slots_backup ]; then
	echo "Copying Backup to ramdisk"
	cp -r $BOINCDIR/slots_backup/* $BOINCDIR/slots/
	chown -hR $BOINCUSER:$BOINCUSER $BOINCDIR
	else
	echo "no backup found...starting without"
	fi
fi
echo starting boinc
su $BOINCUSER -c "boinc --dir $BOINCDIR --daemon && if [ -d $BOINCDIR/slots_backup ]; then rm -r $BOINCDIR/slots_backup; fi"
}

stop() {

if [ $(pidof boinc) ]; then
echo "boinc is running"
boinccmd --quit
fi
if [ -d $BOINCDIR/slots_backup ]; then
echo "Removing Existing Backup"
rm -r $BOINCDIR/slots_backup
fi
echo "Copying ramdisk to backup"
mkdir $BOINCDIR/slots_backup
cp -r $BOINCDIR/slots/* $BOINCDIR/slots_backup
chown -hR $BOINCUSER:$BOINCUSER $BOINCDIR/slots_backup
echo "Copying done"
}

case $@ in
	start )
        	start ;;
	stop )
	        stop ;;
       restart )
		stop && sleep 15; start ;;
	*) echo "Usage: $0 start|stop|restart" ;;
esac

[Red Maw]

Thanks D_A and jeanguy2, and of course Evantaur.