SMP-install guide

[sc00p]

Before you do anything it is essential to be logged into Windows with administrator rights which has password (or trouble will arise at step 8)

This is guide is done with Windows XP 32Bbit.
So time to upgrade the smp-client to version 6.22. Old expires 2nd of August!
No I will only install MPICH -version since it is working with my machine now ok.
Do not know much install actually differs from XP32bit, this client should work in
Windows XP/2003/Vista/2008.

STEP 1:
Get it here
Copy it for example to the desktop, size 4.9MB.


STEP 1.1: (or two )
Double click the installer which just downloaded. Start installing, "welcome"

By sc00p at 2008-07-31
next


STEP 2
Readme information... keep this summary in mind, there is an error. Between 3. and 4. should be something which we'll come later on (at step 9)!

By sc00p at 2008-07-31
next we press for now...


STEP 3:
For all users, why not?

By sc00p at 2008-07-31
and then next


STEP 4:
I strongly suggest (or even insist) that you create a somewhat similar and easy place to remember for install location, but do not install it under program files! This is exceptionally important in Vista. In Vista should install under users-location.

By sc00p at 2008-07-31
next


STEP 5:
Nothing special...

By sc00p at 2008-07-31
next


(At this stage I had old client still at that folder... installer detects it and... yes of course uninstalled the old version... and needed to restart windows after that... )


STEP 6:
Extraction (installation) finished...

By sc00p at 2008-07-31
finish


STEP 7:
(now we remember step 2)
Next we run install.bat located in folder where we installed the client

By sc00p at 2008-07-31
double click


STEP 8:

By sc00p at 2008-07-31
(my domain/user are what they are... most important they have administrator rights)
account:... just press enter
input your password
and again (yes it isn't supposed to show, stays black while you type it in)
If everything is fine... press then key... and now MPI is satisfied.

(...if your windows account do not have proper rights or password... then this MPI will whine about IIRC
invalid account credentials... can't remember exact words)
(and I believe this part could be tricky with Vista... somebody could chime me in with this one )


STEP 9:
Remember that I told in step 2 there is an error. Before we can run the client we have to make sure that we put our f@h account detail and create few shortcuts with flags (for example -smp-flag ).
We run the client but WITH -CONFIGONLY-flag at first. There are few ways to run exes with flags (or arguments) but I tell just how I do this.
I make, like I said, few shortcuts (and there are few ways to make shortcuts too )...

By sc00p at 2008-07-31
Drag with right mouse button down the fah exe to desktop, from the folder I installed my f@h
(one solution to run the client straight out of the box... is to open fah.exe via Start->Run->*open f@h exe from the fah folder and then add the essential flags like -smp*->OK)


STEP 10:

By sc00p at 2008-07-31


STEP 11:
then right click to properties of the shortcut which just made

By sc00p at 2008-07-31


STEP 12:

By sc00p at 2008-07-31
this is the line where we add all sorts of flags or arguments or switches or...
Looks like this... no need of (quotes=)" " cause there is no gaps between words... but one space is needed before the actual flag!

By sc00p at 2008-07-31


STEP 13:
(BTW: I renamed that sc to that 6_22_smp_configonly for the convenience...)
Double click to run client configuration (with -configonly sc). This is how I did set it up, you put of course your own account details:

By sc00p at 2008-07-31
(interesting here is cpu affinity lock part which I might have to come back later...as well machine IDs if you run other fah clients too and then comes -local-flag into play also)


STEP 14:
Now we're almost there... at least one shortcut to do, the one which launches the glory

By sc00p at 2008-07-31
I just tend to drag&drop with right mouse button these icons... and cloned that exe... (can use any other method to make shortcuts for exes).


STEP 15:
Now put the -smp -verbosity 9-flag there

By sc00p at 2008-07-31

If you want to try DEINO, but previously been folding MPICH-version of the client, you cannot do this in the middle of a wu. Run what you got right now with -oneunit-flag make sure it has been uploaded back to Stanford CS=Collection Server. After that I strongly suggest to delete Work-folder, queue.dat, unitinfo- and FAHlog-text files, to avoid any conflicts with another type of client.
If all set for DEINO... just add -smp -deino -verbosity 9-flag to the shortcut.
I don't use deino, on my experience it's considerably slower client On the other hand it could be more stable.


STEP 16:
renamed it as well

By sc00p at 2008-07-31



STEP 17:
NOW! Happy folding!


Double clicking that shortcut, and...

By sc00p at 2008-07-31
...everything is fine... cpu usage 100%... takes almost one gig of ram in total...


First procent already folded...

By sc00p at 2008-07-31





Congratulations!!! You have made it through!




BTW: I have couple shortcuts more on my desktop...

e.g. -send all, -onenit...

[sc00p]

Few links:
List of nown bugs
The initial discussion thread of the 6.22-client




BTW: I prolly know what was the problem with Synththetickiller's installing... probably what I and Marvin expected.

[sc00p]

Like Marvin already tried... dirty install or only upgrading to the newest exe works fine with me too
Get it here... drop it to that fah-folder and delete those work-folder, queue.dat, unitinfo, etc

[Marvin_The_Martian]

No need to delete them! Just let them be, it will run the config on it's own even I think since I didn't run -config it just detected it had some config info missing but that I am not sure of 100%.

Edit: but do not do this while working on a wu, run the client with -oneunit and then upgrade when done. And you still need to make your own shortcut or edit the existing one. This will also only work if you already have deino or mpi installed and want to keep using what you got.

[sc00p]

No need to delete them! Just let them be, it will run the config on it's own even I think since I didn't run -config it just detected it had some config info missing but that I am not sure of 100%.

Edit: but do not do this while working on a wu, run the client with -oneunit and then upgrade when done. And you still need to make your own shortcut or edit the existing one. This will also only work if you already have deino or mpi installed and want to keep using what you got.

Good points Marvin... but I deleted those cause e.g. work-folder gets filled with all of shait files

And yes of course... not middle of of a wu .

You know I'm tired... have to go to sleep soon

[Marvin_The_Martian]

yeah but one wu later those stray files will be there again, and the next wu will just overwrite them with new junk files so in the end you're worried about nothing ( though it could prevent people keeping an old core version... good point which I didn't think off )

Edit: still que.dat would be a bad idea if you got wu's in que!! Same for work folder and the nvidia submission server has been having issues so I do not recommend anyone to clean their workfolders or que.dat untill they know there are no stuck wu's.

[MikeB12]

quick ques... are we still running dual clients with affinity changer on quads, or is this the new core that was supposed to be better at using all cpu cycles...
and if so what kind of ppd are yall seeing on a single quad client...

I'm gonna do all mine tomorrow and sat as they finish their wu's... delete everything in the current smp folders, and install fresh... my question is 1 or 2 clients on the quads... all 3 of my quads are running dual 5.91 smp's w/AC now....

[Marvin_The_Martian]

Ppd didn't change for me at all, cpu usage also didn't change but it was pretty optimized already. And please do check for wu's which didn't upload there is allot off people complaining about it and you might miss it if you don't follow your stats closely ( which I actually am guilty off ).

Edit: and about AC.

I don't like it. One of the virtues of fah is having the wu's returned as quick as possible. Yes dual smp has a point since it's not efficient enough otherwise the ppd wouldn't change from one client to two, but you're still introducing more lag into the system.

I seen a question about caching... I been reluctant to enter that thread because I'm afraid of two things, what I'll see and how I react.

[[XC] Synthetickiller]

i was putting quotes where I shouldn't have been. I remember doing that before. Strange, lol.

Its running.

I'll upgrade my other installation of 5.91 once it submits and install 6.22 as well.

Just wondering, how much of a hit does each SMP take? One instances folding a WU in 24hrs (give or take), so with two, it'll take longer?

[MikeB12]

I'll just have to test it tomorrow then.. if one client can turn +3000ppd on a 3.4ghz q6600 then I'll be happy with one... but if it's not, then I'm going to try 2 w/ac...
the deadlines aren't an issue... a 2665's preferred and final deadline is 6 days, running duals, my quads turn in wu's about every 30 hrs... so about 115hrs early.

[Marvin_The_Martian]

It will cause a 12% drop in return times as tested months ago but curently idk if the improved cores made that diffrence already bigger. Look it's also because I'm not running a folding farm but a daily user. If I invested my money into farming I would just expect them to fix the point system ( something which is always under debate ) and think 'what gives more points must be better for science'.

If you got a quad close to 3.6 or higher and run dual smp I seen the return times on certain projects be quicker then a single instance on a stock quad so it's not easy to answer anyway imo. Just, my gut tels me not to run two instances.

Edit: Mike you will have to go with two instances then, think it will be around 2.4k depending on the project and os/other instances ect.

[[XC] Synthetickiller]

Currently, I'm getting 9400 ppd on my quad @ 3.6ghz and my 8800gts OC.

8800gts: 5760ppd
SMP 5.91: 2267ppd
SMP 6.22: 1372 ppd

I think the SMP clients will balance out after a while, I hope.

[MikeB12]

ok, that was easier than I thought... just converted 1 quad...

now on dual smp 6.22 mpich.... both shortcuts using flags -smp -local...
one thing I did notice is in advanced questions of config, one of the questions was "Disable cpu affinity lock?", I said YES because I'm running AC... locking them would be a no no with AC... the default was "NO", so if you're using AC I'd suggest running through a config on bothe clients and disabling affinity lock... I don't know for sure, but my spidey sense kicked in when I saw that question in adv config...

anyway it is nearly identical to the 5.91 installs, just a different .exe and some new questions in config...
I'll post the ppd later....
*Q6600@3.4ghz | GA-P35-DS3L | 2x1GB Gskill | 8800GT | Antec EW 430w | Raidimax 921WB | Scythe Mugen

[Marvin_The_Martian]

Are you running gpu2 from the cores you're running 6.22 with? Could explain the diffrence certainly if you're not making sure the largest and the smallest thread should share one core and the middle two can share the thread with gpu2. AC is not able to keep up with the client and core updates. another reason I don't recommend it.

[MikeB12]

OK, started a fire for nothing... the threads corrected themselves and all is peachy again... frame times improved... it's actually about the same or a little better than 5.91's and AC... this is the saem PC, I just posted above. now on dual 6.22 mpich w/AC and a GPU2 with higher core priority in Vista.

[Marvin_The_Martian]

Post a ss of taskman ( not that I don't believe you but always need to check right? ).

Vista handles 4 thread and a gpu thread better, not 8 threads and a gpu thread. And like I said AC isn't able to keep up with client changes which don't always get reflected in the options ( eg lock to core might not be the only optimization being thrown in?? ) so maybe it's AC messing up not vista on it's own.

Another option would be running a vm with two cores and run smp inside that ( could do linux then and make some more ppd? ).

[MikeB12]

bump... I edited my post above and put the ss in it instead of replying here, marv.. it looks good now. just took about 20 min for it to spread out with AC running...

I'll convert the other 2 quads tomorrow.. they're all vista... my only linux box is an old x2.... I need vista for gpu and dual smp's, plus my personal pc is vista for all the media center tv it rocords. so linux is a nono for my quads... at least since gpu came along...

I'm happy with 6.22
it's running like it should (above ss).

[Marvin_The_Martian]

That's allot better and I see AC has learned to manage threads better might look into running this if I can keep within 80% return time.

[sc00p]

Sticky worthy... ???

Please tell me if there is anything that needs to be altered/added... in the first post...

[Marvin_The_Martian]

Definetly sticky worthy. Maybe asking for somoene who still needs to upgrade to include screenshots of how to run a clean DEINO install?

Idk who to ask atm to sticky it thoug :o

[sc00p]

Definetly sticky worthy. Maybe asking for somoene who still needs to upgrade to include screenshots of how to run a clean DEINO install?

Idk who to ask atm to sticky it thoug :o

Well... upgrade and clean terms are a bit contaradicting words (semantics I know)
Changing from MPICH to DEINO should be easy for old fah_fart
Clean DEINO install is the same as with MPI but have to just add -smp -deino-flag ?


Yes no-one to pm right now for sticky... wouldn't bother admins with this... I'll wait...

[Marvin_The_Martian]

idk I feel uncomfortable asking anything atm, I'm just weird I guess

Deino is the same, mpi setup is diffrent though iirc. Deino needs an empty username ect, can't exactly remember since I only looked at it once and didn't need it since I was already succesfully running mpi.

[sc00p]

Deino needs an empty username ect, can't exactly remember since I only looked at it once and didn't need it since I was already succesfully running mpi.

Ooh I forgot... I'll see into that when come back home... "working" now
...maybe with more screenshots... just don't now yet how to actually edit it... without making the guide a mess

[Marvin_The_Martian]

I'm unable to help since I'm stuck on x64, but I can look later on if I can scavenge the pics from other people

[sc00p]

Thankx Movieman



I just hope this thread is helpful to everyone... if
something still left unsure...

...keep asking people