Keeping track of farm with Boinctasks via mobile

[PoppaGeek]

I have been using Boinctasks for several years to keep track of my crunchers. It is still in development and has regular updates that usually add new features.

One nice feature is you can access it via another PC, tablet or even phone via the IP# of the PC Boinctask is running on. It is default web port 80 so just open browser and enter the IP#

Only downside is I feel it tries to cram too much info on a small screen. I am still playing with it on my 7" Kindle but at the very least I can check if all cruncers are up and crunching.

In Bointasks goto Extra > BoincTasks Settings > Mobile. Check Enable Mobile. Enter a different port like 8080 if there is another http server running on that machine and the use IP#:8080

I have run Boinctasks on WIndows and Linux and understand it does on Mac OS as well. For Mac and Linux click here.

[Rob_B]

I had found mobile version last week too. Worked good to check but somehow I couldn't abort wu's.

But there is a cloud version too. http://efmer.com/b/boinctasks_cloud
And that does every thing I need at the moment.

[PoppaGeek]

Very nice Rob_B. With the cloud you would not need to open your firewall when away from the local network.

[jeanguy2]

Hello PG and Rob,

BoincTasks is a good application. It does a good job of managing the BOINC client. I have used it to manage four BOINC rigs on my local farm, one BOINC instance on a remote server in France as well as two more remote BOINC rigs at my children residences with success.

About 3 weeks ago I came across an application called "TeamViewer" I have been using it ever since almost exclusively, instead of BoincTasks. The TeamViewer application is free for personal use and it has versions for Windows, Linux, iOS and mobile. It is very versatile and gives you access to the full BOINC Manager as well as all other PC applications & settings. Here is a link to their website:

http://www.teamviewer.com/en/download/windows.aspx

In summary, TeamViewer gives full access to all connected rigs and allows you to control all settings and applications including BOINC. It must be install on all of your rigs. I now use BOINC Tasks to provide me with an overall picture of all my rigs. Once a problem is denoted or a change is needed I then access that specific rig through TeamViewer. I am successfully using the Windows version of TeamViewer as well as its mobile APK.

FYI

[PoppaGeek]

Thanks Jeanguy2. Have seen it mentioned before but going to give it a try now. Getting too hard to climb steps and this might make it easier for me to check problems on daughters PC upstairs. Also daughter in Ky has had PC problems for sometime and is bringing it down for me to work on. So Boinc has not been running on it for over a month. :-( Maybe this will help there as well.

[PoppaGeek]

So do you use the VPN for remote locations and Remote Control for local network?

[jeanguy2]

Thanks Jeanguy2. Have seen it mentioned before but going to give it a try now. Getting too hard to climb steps and this might make it easier for me to check problems on daughters PC upstairs. Also daughter in Ky has had PC problems for sometime and is bringing it down for me to work on. So Boinc has not been running on it for over a month. :-( Maybe this will help there as well.

That is exactly what I like about the TeamViewer apllication, it allows me full access to the remote computers of my son, daughter & grandkids. I can then fix/set BOINC or any other problems they might have without having to drive 200K / 120 Miles. I also like the fact that there are no ports to set. Basically if a computer can connect to the internet TeamViewer server can remotely access it after its application has been installed.

So do you use the VPN for remote locations and Remote Control for local network?

I do not use an external VPN sevice PG, everything is done through the TV server. When you installed TV on your PC you will be given the option to do a base or a remote install. I did a base install on my main PC and the remote install on the rest of them. (Do not worry you can mod these choices afterwards.) Similar to BOINC your first install will have you create an acount on the TV web server. When you install TV on other PCs you simply use the login and password of that original TV account to tie all of your rigs together under one network.

I initially used exclusively the "control remote computer" option for the local farm as well as remote computers. I then found out that everytime you re-start the TV application, manual or re-boot, a new TV remote control password is issue for that rig. This is OK for local rigs but a pain for remote ones. Fortunately if you click on the bottom right "Computers & Contacts" tab it opens an additional small windows that list all of the rigs on your network. You can then double click on an active computer to be linked remotely to it via the TV server without being ask for a password. Remember to go into TV settings (called "Options") on all installs and set "start Team Viewer with Windows" as well as "allow unattended remote access".

Sure hope for you that the TV Linux version works as well as their Windows version.

[Mumak]

TeamViewer has a big advantage - unlike the Windows Remote Desktop for example, TV doesn't grab the GPU when connected. So if your remote machine is running GPU apps and you connect to it via TV, the GPU work won't be interrupted. I use TV to control all my machines remotely and BoincTasks to control my local network which is at a different location/net. I also had the idea of integrating HWiNFO sensor monitoring into BoincTasks, so it would be great to watch all sensor values remotely inside the BoincTasks window. I asked the author of BoincTasks about this and he thought it's a good idea, but he's currently very busy..

[PoppaGeek]

I guess we can consider this thread derailed although the topic has not changed much.

I have been playing with it and when setup as Jeanguy2 said it is working very nice here at the local network. Will install it on the PC in Ky when she brings it down this weekend.

All the linux boxes are within easy reach so no need there, can also just use SSh for them. I did install it on my Kindle 7". Runs well.

I asked about the VPN as it is an option on the main screen. I assumed it is offered for security since they do connect to the cloud and over the internet if not on local network.

[Rob_B]

Thanks jeanguy2. I will have a look at teamviewer. That looks like something I can use.

Boinctasks works great for Boinc as it is very easy to see what is happening on all crunchers. But teamviewer looks like what I want to keep an eye on the different systems.

[jeanguy2]

Here is a lenghtly but thorough video that explain the TeamViewer app in details. (33 Minutes)

This technical video is a quite detailed video that is aimed at computer technicians. First 5 minutes is an intro to suffer through. The 5 to 19 minute bracket explains "Attended Access". This is nice to know but not what we want. The 19 minute mark to the end covers "Unattended Access" through a web browser from any computer in the World as well as access from any of your own computers through the Team Viewer server via the "Computer & Contacts" listing" on the right hand small panel : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3dyNcXZVlM

FYI