LHC@home

VirtualBox 6.1.38 (released September 02 2022)
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog-6.1#v38

This is a maintenance release. The following items were fixed and/or added:

GUI: Improvements in Native Language Support area
Main: OVF Export: Added support for exporting VMs containing Virtio-SCSI controllers
Recording settings: Fixed a regression which could cause not starting the COM server (VBoxSVC) under certain circumstances (bug #21034)
Recording: More deterministic naming for recorded files (will now overwrite old .webm files if present)
Linux Host and Guest Additions installer: Improved check for systemd presence in the system (bug #19033)
Linux Guest Additions: Introduced initial support for kernel 6.0
Linux Guest Additions: Additional fixes for kernel RHEL 9.1 (bug #21065)
Windows Guest Additions: Improvements in Drag and Drop area

FYI, you might need to check your app_config.

<avg_ncpus>1.0</avg_ncpus>

is no longer passed to the VM

You need

<cmdline>--nthreads 1</cmdline>

Toby, do you replace the "<avg_ncpus>1.0</avg_ncpus>" line with "<cmdline>--nthreads 1</cmdline>", or how do you modify the app_config file? I'm not very well-versed in programming lingo yet.

Thanks.

Example of app_config.xml (flat text) for Windows::

<app_config>
 <project_max_concurrent>4</project_max_concurrent>
 <app>
  <name>ATLAS</name>
  <max_concurrent>1</max_concurrent>
 </app>
 <app>
  <name>CMS</name>
  <max_concurrent>1</max_concurrent>
 </app>
 <app>
  <name>Theory</name>
  <max_concurrent>1</max_concurrent>
 </app>
 <app_version>
  <app_name>ATLAS</app_name>
  <plan_class>vbox64_mt_mcore_atlas</plan_class>
  <cmdline>--memory_size_mb 5700 --nthreads 3</cmdline>
 </app_version>
 <app_version>
  <app_name>CMS</app_name>
  <plan_class>vbox64</plan_class>
  <cmdline>--memory_size_mb 2048 --nthreads 1</cmdline>
 </app_version>
 <app_version>
  <app_name>Theory</app_name>
  <plan_class>vbox64_theory</plan_class>
  <cmdline>--memory_size_mb 768 --nthreads 1</cmdline>
 </app_version>
</app_config>

Great! Thanks! I'll try that out for the Theory one. The other two applications are too much for my system.

@Toby Broom
Are you sure?
As far as I understand the BOINC source "max_ncpus" is not used any more but "avg_ncpus" is still in use.

@Iceberg007
Theory is available as singlecore only.
There's no need to set 1 core again via an app_config.xml.

Crystal Pellet, that didn't work for me. Is there some other way the app_config file could be written to allow for the Theory app?

This is what I have for my app_config file. Would you be able to let me know if this should be enough?

<app_config>
<app>
<name>Theory</name>
<cpu_usage>1</cpu_usage>
<max_concurrent>1</max_concurrent>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>Theory</app_name>
<plan_class>vbox64_theory</plan_class>
<avg_ncpus>1.0</avg_ncpus>
<cmdline>--nthreads 1</cmdline>
</app_version>
</app_config>

Thanks.

@Toby Broom
Are you sure?
As far as I understand the BOINC source "max_ncpus" is not used any more but "avg_ncpus" is still in use.

Last week, I installed version 6.1.38 on one of my machines, and "avg_ncpus" works well.

All my computers started to use more cores.

I have the websettings of Max # CPUs No limit, so it could be that only in combo with this it went strange.

I don't think it would be a BOINC thing, it's the wrapper?

I am not sure that this is particularly relevant, but I just set up my Ryzen 3900X again after a clean install of Ubuntu 20.04.5 (BOINC 7.16.6).
I ran only native ATLAS at first, but noticed that I was downloading only a few (maybe 12?) work units at a time even though I set it to "Max # jobs No limit" and "Max # CPUs 1".
That is not particularly surprising, and has happened many times before. So I added native Theory and even Sixtrack to the mix, but it did not help to get more native ATLAS.

Finally, I used the old trick that always works for me. I set "Max # CPUs No Limit". That allows me to download more native ATLAS, but then they all run on multiple cores (I think maybe 16?).
To fix that, I used an app_config.xml as follows:

<app_config>
 <app>
  <name>ATLAS</name>
</app>
<app_version>
    <app_name>ATLAS</app_name>
    <plan_class>native_mt</plan_class>
    <avg_ncpus>1.0</avg_ncpus>
    <cmdline>--nthreads 1</cmdline> 
</app_version>
</app_config>

Problem solved, and I am now running as many as 20 native ATLAS at a time, as set by BOINC Manager.
This does not apply to VirtualBox unfortunately, so I don't know how useful it is.

I tried something like that, Jim, but it didn't work. I changed my app_config file to read:

<app_config>
<app>
<name>Theory</name>
<max_concurrent>1</max_concurrent>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>Theory</app_name>
<plan_class>vbox64_theory</plan_class>
<cmdline>--memory_size_mb 1024 --nthreads 1</cmdline>
</app_version>
</app_config>

Any comments you have on this would be welcomed.

Thanks.

Any comments you have on this would be welcomed.

Are you on Windows? (Your computer is hidden).
I don't know much about that.

But you don't really need it on Theory, except for the max_concurrent if you want it. Theory runs only one CPU core per work unit anyway.

Yes, I'm on Windows.

Now I get an error in BOINC:

"LHC@home: Notice from BOINC
Your app_config.xml file refers to an unknown application 'Theory'. Known applications: None"

This is on this app_config file:

<app_config>
<app>
<name>Theory</name>
<max_concurrent>1</max_concurrent>
</app>
<app_version>
<app_name>Theory</app_name>
<plan_class>vbox64_theory</plan_class>
<cmdline>--nthreads 1</cmdline>
</app_version>
</app_config>

My preferences are as follows:

Resource share 100
Use CPU Y
Use AMD GPU N
Run test applications? Y

...

Run only the selected applications
SixTrack: yes
sixtracktest: yes
CMS Simulation: no
Theory Simulation: yes
ATLAS Simulation: no
ATLAS (long simulation): no
If no work for selected applications is available, accept work from other applications? N
Run native if available? N
Max # jobs 3
Max # CPUs 1

Now I get an error in BOINC:

"LHC@home: Notice from BOINC
Your app_config.xml file refers to an unknown application 'Theory'. Known applications: None"

That is not an error. It just means that you have not run one yet.
It will go away when you do.

But I don't see any obvious problems. Maybe the Windows experts around here can suggest something. Good luck.

Thanks Jim!

I still haven't received a Theory WU after a day, despite it saying there are tasks available to send. I think there might be an issue with my app_config. Is there anyone who can let me know if it's deficient in any way?

Thanks.

When you rename it (xml1 for example) and reread your Boincmanager, get you then Theory-Tasks?