LHC@home

We have added some information on the processed events in ATLAS tasks on consoles inside the VM.

To show the consoles, go to the advanced view of BOINC manager, select a running ATLAS task and you should see the button "Show VM Console" on the left menu. If you do not see this button you may need to install the VirtualBox extension pack and/or install remote desktop software such as CoRD on Mac OS or xfreerdp on Linux. There should be remote desktop software included by default on Windows but maybe someone else can confirm this.

When you click "Show VM Console" you should see a terminal window with a login prompt. If you press Alt-F2 (Alt-Fn-F2 on Mac) you should see a screen like this:



NOTE you will only see this information after the task has been running for some time, i.e. has simulated at least 1 event. So please wait up to 30 minutes for information to appear.

This output shows the number of events processed by each core, as well as the time per event and the average time per event so far. Each core has its own independent counter which is why you see the event numbers repeated. In the example there are 4 cores and with 100 events per task each core will process 25 events each. This information therefore can give you an estimate of how long the task will run.

We are working on putting the "top" output into console 3 (Alt-F3) but it doesn't quite work perfectly yet.

Good progress. Thank you, David.

As I understood the current batch has medium long runners, so I suppose we will see progress up to
about Event nr. 100 on each core when running 4 cores or when running a single core up to Event nr. 400.

The current batch are still 100 events, but each event is more complicated due to a different kind of physics being simulated. On my PC each event takes 10 minutes so the total CPU time is around 16 hours.

The current batch are still 100 events, but each event is more complicated due to a different kind of physics being simulated. On my PC each event takes 10 minutes so the total CPU time is around 16 hours.

Thanks for the info.

I requested a new ATLAS after you created this thread with your post, waited 40 minutes, but Alt-F2 is not working. Only Alt-F1 and Alt-F10.

Should I have received a new vdi for this?

We have added some information on the processed events in ATLAS tasks on consoles inside the VM.

cool, thank you!

There should be remote desktop software included by default on Windows but maybe someone else can confirm this.

There is a default pre installed windows remote desktop software (at least on windows 7) and it is working well.

I requested a new ATLAS after you created this thread with your post, waited 40 minutes, but Alt-F2 is not working. Only Alt-F1 and Alt-F10.

Should I have received a new vdi for this?

On my PC its working fine (tasks that were downloaded yesterday). It didnt download a new .vdi

Try Ctrl-Alt-F2 - the exact combination may depend on your OS and remote desktop software.

You don't need a new .vdi for this. The startup script for ATLAS tasks is downloaded at the start of each task so we can make changes like this on the fly without changing the VM image.

On my PC its working fine (tasks that were downloaded yesterday). It didnt download a new .vdi

That's nice. Maybe you could disclose the OS of your hidden machine.
For me it's not working on Win7, also not with Ctrl/Alt-F2.
For other LHC VM (Theory, CMS etc) it's working OK.
Maybe I have more luck tomorrow when I've returned these long runners.

Maybe you could disclose the OS of your hidden machine.

OS is Windows 7. The remote desktop software is the default one which is provided by windows.[/quote]

Great it's nice to see if there is crash inside VM

Maybe I have more luck tomorrow . . .

Today is tomorrow and now Alt-F2 (showing events progress) is working for me too.

Maybe I have more luck tomorrow . . .

Today is tomorrow and now Alt-F2 (showing events progress) is working for me too.

Sorry, this was a one time experience.

With the next task the Console Alt-F2 did not function. . . .
.
.
.
Edit... for a longer period (>0.5 hour), but suddenly the info was displayed after ~50 minutes.
Probably cause the first 4 events took rather long - between 2162 and 2527 seconds.
Batch: Task mc16_13TeV DP2000_2500.simul (10995517): 196/647

Maybe a placeholder could be displayed until first events are shown.

Is there a way to do this in windows? (w10) got an atlas WU running currently and would love to know if its died after all this time!

Is there a way to do this in windows? (w10) got an atlas WU running currently and would love to know if its died after all this time!

It should.

What is your problem ?

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Supporting BOINC, a great concept !

Is there a way to do this in windows? (w10) got an atlas WU running currently and would love to know if its died after all this time!

It should.

What is your problem ?

Wu died after 13hrs :( was running 22 cores but was only really using 6/7

I was reading other bits on the forums and it showed about changing max cpus to a lower number so selected 8 (right or wrong?!!?) got 22 lhcb tasks now so will sit and watch these for 16 hrs :)

I found 4 is the most that's worthwhile with the old
Project site.

Now I just run 1 core as I put more memory in my computers, however I still have to cap at 15 simultaneous when mixed with other task/projects

I found 4 is the most that's worthwhile with the old
Project site.

Now I just run 1 core as I put more memory in my computers, however I still have to cap at 15 simultaneous when mixed with other task/projects

I don't know if i am getting new or old tasks to be honest Toby, but will set tasks to 4 cores and see how that goes.

I used to fold atlas tasks too, but since the merge ive no idea! dont even know if my points came over!

If they come LHC then they are 'new'

Credit isn't migrated yet as everyone needs to leave the old project

I found 4 is the most that's worthwhile with the old
Project site.

Now I just run 1 core as I put more memory in my computers, however I still have to cap at 15 simultaneous when mixed with other task/projects

with the "old" ATLAS Project, on my bigger machine (6+6HT cores, 32GB RAM) I ran 3 tasks 3 cores each (besides 2 tasks GPUGRID).
Now, after the change, I tried 4 tasks 2 cores ea., everything going fine, too. Using total 10 cores instead of 11 (out of 12 available) seems to make the system run a little faster and smoother.

I found 4 is the most that's worthwhile with the old
Project site.

Now I just run 1 core as I put more memory in my computers, however I still have to cap at 15 simultaneous when mixed with other task/projects

with the "old" ATLAS Project, on my bigger machine (6+6HT cores, 32GB RAM) I ran 3 tasks 3 cores each (besides 2 tasks GPUGRID).
Now, after the change, I tried 4 tasks 2 cores ea., everything going fine, too. Using total 10 cores instead of 11 (out of 12 available) seems to make the system run a little faster and smoother.

Interesting, i have been running with 4 since and its been faultless, however if i can get away with 2 cores a wu and double production, that would be even better :)

My worry was i don't have great core speed?!?!?! Will try 2 cores over night and see what happen tomorrow and see what happens.

not always does the console seem to work:

I have currently a task running (1-core) for which I opened the console a few times since it startet some 36 hours ago (BOINC shows a status of about 88%). Every time the console showed what it was supposed to show.
Now, suddenly, the console is only black, all over. Not a single figure or letter.
What does this mean? Is the task broken? Is the console broken? Is the VM broken?