LHC@home

I am running 4 machines on a Belkin 4 way KVM.
With the arrival of new machines, I want to try and work a KVM onto a KVM.
So I can still use just a single monitor.
...

Another way to use only one monitor if you have all the computers on a single network inside the house is to set up all but four of the boxes to run BOINC automatically on boot-up, then to control all the BOINC clients from a single BoincView.

It takes a little bit of setting up, on each computer the /boinc directory needs to have a password file and a remote gui file (the latter tells the client to allow remote boinc access from the IP address(es) specified in the file).

Then you have to set up the IP addresses and passwords in BoincView, and I found this easier by disabling DHCP and allocating each ost its own IP address manually.

End result is that I have ten boxes in my loungs, a mix of linux and thre versions of windows, and all controlled through the one BoincView gui.

I have a four way belkin KVM, which I use to switch between the four boxes I use for non-BOINC stuff, but never need to attach a monitor for the BOINC-only boxes.

Just a thought - it might save you maming Belkin any richer...

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I like the idea of the RealVNC or with boinc view.....

But , as we all know, some machines wont post without a mouse or at least a keyboard plugged in.
I know that some BIOS's will have a setting to allow for this, or some systems will have a jumper on the mobo to allow it to boot without mouse or KB .

Plus....i kinda like checking up on the machines and twiddling with them directly.

You know your a geek when you replace your toys with computers and servers and networking schtuff.

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I like the idea of the RealVNC or with boinc view.....

But , as we all know, some machines wont post without a mouse or at least a keyboard plugged in.
I know that some BIOS's will have a setting to allow for this, or some systems will have a jumper on the mobo to allow it to boot without mouse or KB .

Plus....i kinda like checking up on the machines and twiddling with them directly.

You know your a geek when you replace your toys with computers and servers and networking schtuff.

I could be wrong but I think the keyboard/mouse requirement is os based (windows for one). I have 4 boxes that run on linux with no keyboard, mouse or monitor, all of varying vintages.

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I could be wrong but I think the keyboard/mouse requirement is os based (windows for one). I have 4 boxes that run on linux with no keyboard, mouse or monitor, all of varying vintages.

The mouse/keyboard check is part of the BIOS POST... so OS independant. I've got several machines here and those above 266Mhz above have the option to turn the check off. I also have it written on each case whether it requires a keyboard and mouse to start up :p

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BOINC@Hull . xfire . mySpace

Contributing to the science of the project and the sense of working on something bigger than yourself in alliance with others, thats what boinc provides.
Spending thousands to buld PC's to dominate the stats isnt the goal of BOINC or of the science projects.
Building a new dual core dual proc for boinc is fun, rescueing an old server from a dumpster and rejuvenating it ...that is a hobby or borderline sickness, I havent figured that out yet.....but its fun. 8]

Feisal! The contribution of your 1.6 is as important as some modern dual core.

Being part of this is whats important.
Whether its a Pentium Pro 100 or a quad dual core opteron......
.........fire up that BOINC and get crackin!!!

Nicely put. I haven't got any farm either, or a state-of-the-art computer, just a single P3 900 MHz. But as long as it's working it's contributing to science, and that's good enough for me.

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Well the farm continues to grow and change.
My first "big" system was my quad P3 Xeon 550mhz.
It was great 2 years ago and learned much futzing with it.
Well finally, its time to retire a solid system to make way for new schtuff.
I retired "Quadzimodo" last night, transfered the data, formatted with a fresh OS install, and posted it for $250 on Craigslist.

The replacement...muhahhaahah!
A dual socket 603 system with a single Xeon 2.4mhz Hyper Threaded proc.
I am already source'ing another proc and have already upgraded the power supply to proper 24pin 550 watt Antec.

PS.....and NO....that freaking Quad Itanic still is not running !
The best thing is, it will have twice the data throughput and a third of the power consumption.

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...
My first "big" system was my quad P3 Xeon 550mhz.
It was great 2 years ago and learned much futzing with it.
Well finally, its time to retire a solid system to make way for new schtuff.
I retired "Quadzimodo" last night, transfered the data, formatted with a fresh OS install, and posted it for $250 on Craigslist.

you missed a trick there! reinstall BOINC, and let the new owner boost your stats

;-}

BUT seriously, this just goes to prove my point about second hand being good value for crunch power. I'd bid on that if it were this side of the pond.

Go on North American crunchers - don't let it go to a non-BOINCer who'll waste all those cycles
R~~

Just wondering what software everyone uses on their farms and why.

My main box runs xp and boincview, and at home my crunchers are headless and are only used for crunching so I've installed damn small linux on them with x0vncserver. I chose dsl because it's a minimal distro, if you can't run dsl on your box with full gui then it won't run boinc, and it'll run on old boxes too(486dx2 with 16meg). Boinc runs automatically on startup in gui mode, and I can vnc into xwindows display 0 for any maintenance - I've been spoiled by windows and avoid the command line wherever possible.

At work the boxes all run xp with boinc installed as a service, again I use boincview to manage the crunching.

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Apart from two Systems that run Win2000 SP4 (Gaming), everything setup with Linux (Console only, no Keyboard, Mouse, Floppy or Monitor). Optical Drive is installed for Installation process only, then removed.

I login via SSH to shut them down, reboot or do maintenance if needed.

I'm pretty much sticking with Fedora Core since Rel. 3 now, but there are a few other (older) Linuxes remaining that I never changed since they do the job as well.
As soon as Games don't support Win2000 anymore, those two remaining Windows systems will go Linux as well.

The Harddrives are variable (typical 80GB) and mostly much oversized for BOINC alone. I use them as Network attached storage for Backups from my main System as well.

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Scientific Network : 45000 MHz - 77824 MB - 1970 GB

I'm pretty much sticking with Fedora Core since Rel. 3 now, but there are a few other (older) Linuxes remaining that I never changed since they do the job as well.

Any particular reason why you've settled on Fedora? Does fedora have benefits over other distros for running boinc?

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Fedora Core was (after trying several) the first Distribution that I found

- easy, extremely comfortable and quick to setup from scratch
- very smart Install Options (Packages are sorted and grouped by key functions)
- based 100% on Open Source only
- gets frequent updates
- so far supported or cooperated with any (also very modern) Hardware I threw at it

Basically it worked like a champ for me on many Systems, so I just kept sticking to it (other Distro's may have evolved to offer the same by now, I just didn't check with them anymore).
Anyway, so far I don't regret that :)

Bare in mind though that I don't use it as a 'normal' Desktop Installation, so your mileage may vary when using all of its features.

For BOINC only, a more experienced Linux'er could for sure create an Installation with alot smaller Footprint.
I just wanted something that makes sense a la "Install, configure a bit & Just Go" straight out of the box, and Fedora gave me exactly that without bloating the System with too much unneeded stuff, while easily staying flexible enough to suit my personal preferences/requirements.

I still remember my early experiences with SuSE 6.0 or Debian. Back in these days, I quit when the Installers asked my what the exact ID of the Video Card's RAMDAC were and stuff like that :P

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Scientific Network : 45000 MHz - 77824 MB - 1970 GB

Cheers Falcon Fly, thanks for such a detailed reply. The smart install options, with packages grouped by function sound like a good idea. It's always good to hear the "why" behind what others are using.

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Just using windows xp on the regular boxes and 03enterprise on the Sabre 8 xeon server.

I figure I am just to lazy to try something better.
I do wonder if some version of Linux would be a "faster" OS to be running on the Sabre.
I also wonder if it would take more advantage of some of servers 64 bit architecture and increase the BOINC throughput.

Linux vs. 03 enterprise ?




Also a few new additions to the farm.

Dual 2.4 mhz Xeon HT (603) system.

Dual 2.8 mhz Xeon HT (604) system.....water cooled by Koolance !

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Just using windows xp on the regular boxes and 03enterprise on the Sabre 8 xeon server.

I figure I am just to lazy to try something better.
I do wonder if some version of Linux would be a "faster" OS to be running on the Sabre.
I also wonder if it would take more advantage of some of servers 64 bit architecture and increase the BOINC throughput.

Linux vs. 03 enterprise ?




Also a few new additions to the farm.

Dual 2.4 mhz Xeon HT (603) system.

Dual 2.8 mhz Xeon HT (604) system.....water cooled by Koolance !

I don't know if linux would be faster, but under the current system of credits being tied to benchmarks linux claims lower credit than windows (on the same box).

What tools do you use to administer BOINC on these boxes?


BTW, nice additions.

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I dont use anything to admin my computers. Altho I do need to implement something on the remote systems that are across town or out of state.
At home I have 2 KVM switches and 6 systems on the true "farm" in my garage.
Yes...that means I have room for 2 more....shhh...dont tell the wife !!!
This a collection of machines I have built up over the past months and years.
I work the craigslist,eBay, and a local PC co-op recycler and a pair of local PC shops to obtain the odds and ends and parts I need to build some, running boinc for a few months and then selling them to build funds to get faster machines.
I had several Dell 2400's (dual 1ghz P3)...running for last few months but then sold them to local IT company...that funded my dual xeon box.
Mostly its a condensation of power and processors....trying to keep adding processing power without adding more boxes via Dual Core procs or Hyper Threaded procs and also with dual CPU systems meaning 4 threads per box.
So lately I had the great purging of all my P3 machines, except for my Sabre box, that will be forever my 110 pound geek toy!
My personal machine is my AMD 4400 and the wife is on a 3800 for her video work.
So 8 machines at home and the rest are friends and family machines.

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A new addition to the farm.

Compaq Proliant 8500.

This unit is currently sporting a set of 550mhz Xeons with 1 meg of L2.

Soon enough I will populate this monstrosity with 900 mhz Xeons.....2mb L2 !!

!

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Way to go Perle!

I'm a student which is moving into a house next week in which I have to pay electricity.. so I'm having to strap all but one of machines with CPDN and cart them to a place I know where I can get free electricity, but no internet. End result - no crunching loss, and a slew of credits when I connect them up again =D

So how much was that Proliant beaut? =D

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BOINC@Hull . xfire . mySpace

End result - no crunching loss, and a slew of credits when I connect them up again =D

Borandi, please be aware that CPDN expects you to connect every 5 to 6 weeks and send trickle messages. Otherwise they think that you are inactive and they might reissue the work unit.

Robert

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Darn... that leaves me with few options. One thing would be to take out the HDDs and put them in a temporary computer to upload the WUs. I suppose that would work.

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BOINC@Hull . xfire . mySpace

End result - no crunching loss, and a slew of credits when I connect them up again =D

Borandi, please be aware that CPDN expects you to connect every 5 to 6 weeks and send trickle messages. Otherwise they think that you are inactive and they might reissue the work unit.

Robert

Actually are you sure? I have a WU from an old computer that was d/l on 8 Nov 2005 18:55:37 UTC, and last contact on 10 Nov 2005 8:07:40 UTC, and that WU hasnt been sent out again. Your rule would only apply if they changed the settings to include the 5/6 week 2nd sendout on the latest update.

borandi

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BOINC@Hull . xfire . mySpace