LHC@home

You may have noticed a new test in your task logs:

Testing connection to http://cms-frontier.openhtc.io:8080/FrontierProd/

This is to try to circumvent an occasional failure to connect to the Frontier ("conditions database") servers which appears to be related to poorly-configured network connections. We do a rudimentary connectivity test, but that doesn't involve data transfer. Hosts which pass this test can still fail to properly acquire data from the servers, leading them to cycle through the four Frontier servers (first using IPv4 protocol, then with IPv6) before failing. Typically this is repeated many times by the same host (and sometimes other hosts from the same volunteer!).
This failure is not obvious in the task log, so we have instituted a slightly more sophisticated test. If this fails, you will then see the message:

Check your firewall and your network load

in your log.
It will be several days before it becomes obvious to us how effective this test is.

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OK, that test didn't winkle out the problem connections. We're trying something more complicated.

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OK, that test didn't winkle out the problem connections. We're trying something more complicated.

Oops, there were typos and mistakes in the updated script. Hope it works now...

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OK, that test didn't winkle out the problem connections. We're trying something more complicated.

Oops, there were typos and mistakes in the updated script. Hope it works now...

there still seems to be a problem - tasks error out after about 2 minutes:

https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/result.php?resultid=420976190
"2025-04-03 16:50:34 (8480): VM Completion Message: Could not connect to all required network services"

Same here.
The test (even the most recent modification) cause all tasks to fail.

Same here.
The test (even the most recent modification) cause all tasks to fail.

Yes, a substring in the URL went missing. It might take a while to get the fix into CVMFS, so better set No New Tasks for the time being.

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Same here.
The test (even the most recent modification) cause all tasks to fail.

Yes, a substring in the URL went missing. It might take a while to get the fix into CVMFS, so better set No New Tasks for the time being.

OK, new script is in place. Manual test works. Try it! (I don't have a running BOINC machine at home...)

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Works here.

Works here.

Good! I see running jobs are starting to increase again, but gauging the effect is going to take a few days.

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