LHC@home

Hello guys!

I need some help from you. I am trying to get exactly two tasks from Theroy, one from CMS and one from LHCb onto one machine at the same time. I have only 4 cores, and limited RAM. To support every experiment, i would like to give one or two cores to every project. I tried it with this app_config.xml in the lhc project directory:

<app_config>
<app>
<name>CMS</name>
<max_concurrent>1</max_concurrent>
</app>
<app>
<name>LHCb</name>
<max_concurrent>1</max_concurrent>
</app>
<app>
<name>Theory</name>
<max_concurrent>2</max_concurrent>
</app>
</app_config>

but this doesnt work. i get 4 LHCb tasks most of the time.

So how do i do this?

I am allowing this 3 application in the project preferences. OS is Linux btw, if that makes some difference.

Thank you in advance!

...but this doesnt work. i get 4 LHCb tasks most of the time.

Have you restarted your BOINC client or forced the client to re-read your config files since the time you created your app_config?

App_config is only for local use on your system. It will and can not tell to the server what type of sub-project tasks you want to receive.

So only with micro managing - select and deselect the sub-project in your preferences - you are able to receive a mixture of the desired type of tasks.

thanks for your help!

...but this doesnt work. i get 4 LHCb tasks most of the time.

Have you restarted your BOINC client or forced the client to re-read your config files since the time you created your app_config?

yes!

So only with micro managing - select and deselect the sub-project in your preferences - you are able to receive a mixture of the desired type of tasks.

is this procedure automatable? Or do i have to set manually the allowed application, update the boinc-client, wait until i get some WUs from this experiment and start with the next application and start all over again when the tasks have finished? If not, this may be a feature to implement in the future.

Or do i have to set manually the allowed application, update the boinc-client, wait until i get some WUs from this experiment and start with the next application and start all over again when the tasks have finished?

It can be difficult to manage a mix of different sub-projects on a single host and it can take a lot of manual intervention as Crystal Pellet suggests. But, you're on the right track.

Maybe I misunderstand what you're saying, but you don't have to wait to be out of work on one sub-project before you pick up work for another. You could, for example, build up a cache of Theory tasks and then change your preferences to only accept CMS tasks. Once you've built up some of those, then change to only accept LHCb. You may have to adjust your cache setting (from, say, one day to two and then three), but you should, eventually, get enough of all three to have work for a couple of days or more. Then repeat the process.

For my interests and host resources, I've found it best to run one of each of the RAM-intensive sub-projects (CMS, LHCb, and ATLAS) on one host and have different preferences set for each host (using the default, home, work, and school venues).

thanks!

thanks!

Good luck!