1) Message boards : ATLAS application : queue is empty (Message 47847)
Posted 9 days ago by hadron
Post:
The tasks that we crunch here are not results produced by LHC but simulations. So we are not depending on LHC running or not.

Be that as it may, I rather suspect what we crunch here is based on experimental reality. Otherwise, what is the point to any of it?


Simulations test the theory, which is then confirmed with reality. If reality does not match theory, then the theory is revised. So one can run simulations whether or not an experiment happens to be running at the same time.

Where do you think the raw experimental data is being crunched, if not (at least in part) on our computers?

Check the lower graph here: https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/atlas_job.php My guess is that these are the huge computing grids that are doing the crunching of actual data. They also do simulations but not on Boinc platform.

Theory exists to make predictions; why would ATLAS and CMS waste valuable computing resources (ours) replicating that effort, when those resources could be better used to check experimental data?
2) Message boards : ATLAS application : queue is empty (Message 47836)
Posted 10 days ago by hadron
Post:
The tasks that we crunch here are not results produced by LHC but simulations. So we are not depending on LHC running or not.

Be that as it may, I rather suspect what we crunch here is based on experimental reality. Otherwise, what is the point to any of it?


Simulations test the theory, which is then confirmed with reality. If reality does not match theory, then the theory is revised. So one can run simulations whether or not an experiment happens to be running at the same time.

Where do you think the raw experimental data is being crunched, if not (at least in part) on our computers?
3) Message boards : Number crunching : Unable to report completed tasks (Message 47803)
Posted 19 days ago by hadron
Post:
Since about 04:17 UTC 03.03.2023 I've been seeing the following in the boinc event log:

Thu 02 Mar 2023 10:17:36 PM | LHC@home | Sending scheduler request: To fetch work.
Thu 02 Mar 2023 10:17:36 PM | LHC@home | Reporting 2 completed tasks
Thu 02 Mar 2023 10:17:36 PM | LHC@home | Requesting new tasks for CPU
Thu 02 Mar 2023 10:17:38 PM | LHC@home | Scheduler request completed: got 0 new tasks
Thu 02 Mar 2023 10:17:38 PM | LHC@home | Server can't open database
Thu 02 Mar 2023 10:17:38 PM | LHC@home | Project requested delay of 3600 seconds

All servers are running, so this appears to be a database error.
Hopefully some admin will see this and take appropriate action (do I need to pray to whatever deities there might be?)
4) Message boards : ATLAS application : queue is empty (Message 47732)
Posted 25 Jan 2023 by hadron
Post:
The tasks that we crunch here are not results produced by LHC but simulations. So we are not depending on LHC running or not.

Be that as it may, I rather suspect what we crunch here is based on experimental reality. Otherwise, what is the point to any of it?
5) Message boards : ATLAS application : queue is empty (Message 47729)
Posted 25 Jan 2023 by hadron
Post:
https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/forum_thread.php?id=5935
6) Message boards : Number crunching : Current work - run times (Message 47531)
Posted 13 Nov 2022 by hadron
Post:
Looks like you know exactly why a login doesn't work on your system.
You also describe what would be necessary to solve it.
It's your system, just do it.

There is a very good reason why a system-level service doesn't have a login shell -- giving it one would open up a potential security hole in the system; that is why I don't want to go down this road.
If you prefer another method that would require changes to the boinc service or elsewhere, just do it.

When you wrote "1 out of a couple of methods", I thought you meant you had two, you were just giving me the one what (on the surface) seemed most promising.
7) Message boards : Number crunching : Current work - run times (Message 47522)
Posted 13 Nov 2022 by hadron
Post:
1 out of a couple methods.
This works without Vbox extensions being installed.


From your personal account run
su boinc (+ enter the pw)

then
cd ~; VirtualBox >/dev/null 2>&1

Click on the VM you want to examine, then on "show".

As a system process, Boinc's login shell is /sbin/nologin and it doesn't have a password -- when the boinc-client is started, systemd changes the process UID to "boinc" and sets its home to /var/lib/boinc. Therefore, su doesn't offer any solution. I could, I suppose, change the shell to bash and set a password, but I really would like to avoid this. Is there some setting in the boinc-manager config that might achieve the same end?
8) Message boards : Number crunching : Current work - run times (Message 47519)
Posted 13 Nov 2022 by hadron
Post:
....
The % progress showed by BOINC is useless.
If you want to see the real progress use the VM Console with keystroke ALT-F2

I have yet to figure out how to access the VM console with my configuration.
Boinc is running as a systemd process, as user "boinc" (since it is a system process, it has no login shell). The VMs run fine, but the boinc-manager gui is running under my personal account. I suspect this is the reason why I can't get into the VM Console, but there has to be a way around this. So far, no success in figuring that out.
9) Message boards : CMS Application : New Version 70.00 (Message 47495)
Posted 5 Nov 2022 by hadron
Post:
You may check [BOINC_base]/projects/lhcathome.cern.ch_lhcathome/

CMS_2021_07_07.vdi is the old vdi file.
Depending on your local settings this will be removed automatically after BOINC reported the last tasks related to it.

That is in fact what did happen.... TIL.
10) Message boards : CMS Application : New Version 70.00 (Message 47471)
Posted 2 Nov 2022 by hadron
Post:
Just what are we looking for here?

Not sure what you are asking for.
- the scientific background?
- the task setup from the IT perspective?
- anything else?

Would be nice if you could post a hint.

What files on my system are new/changed? Are any old ones left behind that can be deleted?
11) Message boards : CMS Application : New Version 70.00 (Message 47455)
Posted 1 Nov 2022 by hadron
Post:
Just what are we looking for here?
12) Message boards : Sixtrack Application : Invalid tasks (Message 47437)
Posted 28 Oct 2022 by hadron
Post:
I had a bunch of those on CMS tasks awhile back. It was an glitch on the site servers, very quickly fixed by site gurus. Just suspend any remaining tasks you have waiting, and await the fix.
13) Message boards : CMS Application : CMS computation error (Message 47410)
Posted 23 Oct 2022 by hadron
Post:
Every CMS task I received since 22 Oct 2022, 20:21:30 UTC (10 of them until I stopped asking for them) has ended in a computation error after only about 2 min 30 sec. Their stderr logs all show this:

2022-10-22 21:03:43 (1968): Guest Log: Ncat: Version 7.50 ( https://nmap.org/ncat )
2022-10-22 21:03:43 (1968): Guest Log: Ncat: Connection timed out.
2022-10-22 21:03:43 (1968): Guest Log: run 2
2022-10-22 21:03:43 (1968): Guest Log: Ncat: Version 7.50 ( https://nmap.org/ncat )
2022-10-22 21:03:43 (1968): Guest Log: Ncat: Connection timed out.
2022-10-22 21:03:43 (1968): Guest Log: run 3
2022-10-22 21:03:43 (1968): Guest Log: Ncat: Version 7.50 ( https://nmap.org/ncat )
2022-10-22 21:03:43 (1968): Guest Log: NCAT DEBUG: Using system default trusted CA certificates and those in /usr/share/ncat/ca-bundle.crt.
2022-10-22 21:03:43 (1968): Guest Log: NCAT DEBUG: Unable to load trusted CA certificates from /usr/share/ncat/ca-bundle.crt: error:02001002:system library:fopen:No such file or directory
2022-10-22 21:03:43 (1968): Guest Log: libnsock nsi_new2(): nsi_new (IOD #1)
2022-10-22 21:03:43 (1968): Guest Log: libnsock nsock_connect_tcp(): TCP connection requested to 137.138.156.85:9618 (IOD #1) EID 8
2022-10-22 21:03:43 (1968): Guest Log: libnsock nsock_trace_handler_callback(): Callback: CONNECT TIMEOUT for EID 8 [137.138.156.85:9618]
2022-10-22 21:03:43 (1968): Guest Log: Ncat: Connection timed out.
2022-10-22 21:03:43 (1968): Guest Log: [ERROR] Could not connect to vocms0840.cern.ch on port 9618
2022-10-22 21:03:43 (1968): Guest Log: [INFO] Testing connection to WMAgent
2022-10-22 21:03:44 (1968): Guest Log: [INFO] Testing connection to EOSCMS
2022-10-22 21:03:44 (1968): Guest Log: [INFO] Testing connection to CMS-Frontier
2022-10-22 21:03:45 (1968): Guest Log: [INFO] Testing connection to Frontier
2022-10-22 21:03:45 (1968): Guest Log: [DEBUG] Check your firewall and your network load
2022-10-22 21:03:45 (1968): Guest Log: [ERROR] Could not connect to all required network services
2022-10-22 21:03:45 (1968): Guest Log: [DEBUG] Volunteer: hadron (806228)
2022-10-22 21:03:45 (1968): Guest Log: [INFO] Shutting Down.
2022-10-22 21:04:14 (1968): VM Completion File Detected.
2022-10-22 21:04:14 (1968): VM Completion Message: Could not connect to all required network services

I am quite sure there are no network or firewall issues on my end, since ATLAS and Theory tasks do not have any problems. It may be some obscure setting I need to make that I never found documented anywhere. However, since this has never occurred previously, I'm inclined to believe it is an error that has unexpectedly occurred at vocms0840.cern.ch
14) Questions and Answers : Unix/Linux : VM Console not working in Boinc Manager (Message 47302)
Posted 26 Sep 2022 by hadron
Post:
[
I meant the VirtualBox manager. Someone else had suggested to run it from the boinc user account, which didn't make much sense to me ...

It is a must to run it under the boinc user account since each user account has it's own set of vbox preferences, VMs and so on.


Well, I don't know how to achieve that in openSUSE. I suppose I could try just changing the boinc login shell and giving the account a password, but without a home directory, where will all the account's stored files go? /var/lib/boinc? I really don't wish to go polluting that with system-generated config files.

But the matter at hand is still the VM console in the boinc manager -- that is working fine, as I said. I am a member of group boinc, so it runs fine under my user account. I am also a member of the vbox group, vboxusers, so I do not see why the VM console is not also working.
15) Questions and Answers : Unix/Linux : VM Console not working in Boinc Manager (Message 47297)
Posted 26 Sep 2022 by hadron
Post:
1.
You may make your computers visible for other volunteers.
This allows them to go through the stderr.txt logs your tasks report back.
https://lhcathome.cern.ch/lhcathome/prefs.php?subset=project

I assume you mean the selection for "Should LHC@home show your computers on its web site?", which I just now set. If this is not it, kindly refer me to the right place.

2.
In an other thread you state you are startting something (related to BOINC?) "... starting from a root shell".
Do you mean your boincmanager?
If so, run it from your normal user account.

No, there I meant the VirtualBox manager. Someone else had suggested to run it from the boinc user account, which didn't make much sense to me, and isn't even possible in openSUSE without doing some surgery on the account (ie., give it a home directory and set a password).
I am running the boinc manager from my own account, and it works as advertised -- except for the VM console.
16) Questions and Answers : Unix/Linux : VM Console not working in Boinc Manager (Message 47293)
Posted 25 Sep 2022 by hadron
Post:
openSUSE Leap 15.4, boinc 7.18.1, VirtualBox 7.1.36 with extension pack installed.
Boinc and VirtualBox are from the openSUSE repository, the extension pack is from the Oracle site.

I have been everywhere that I can think of -- file permissions, ownerships, checking all the files in the boinc home to look for extensions being disabled (no, they do not seem to be) -- and still, clicking the VM console button does not work. Throughout all this, I have restarted boinc so many times, I have lost count.

Surely there has to be some simple fix that has so far eluded me? I can find nothing in these forums, nor any other project site that uses Virtualbox, nor even in a Google search.
17) Questions and Answers : Unix/Linux : Viewing tasks (Message 47291)
Posted 25 Sep 2022 by hadron
Post:
If "boinc" is the username of your BOINC account you may try this:
su - boinc -c VirtualBox


OpenSUSE Leap 15.4, starting from a root shell:

# su - boinc -c VirtualBox
This account is currently not available.

Something to do with the fact that the account login shell is /sbin/nologin (since boinc-client runs as a system service).
18) Message boards : LHC@home Science : Physicists surprised to discover the proton contains a charm quark (Message 47228)
Posted 6 Sep 2022 by hadron
Post:
The article speaks of a possible charm-anticharm pair inside a proton. I suspect that would likely be a virtual pair, but I'm "only" a cosmologist, so I'm just guessing.
Another possibility, though I think probably far less likely, is up-charm quark oscillation, similar to neutrino oscillation in electro-weak. Maybe... though again, what do I know?

Either way, however, this result, if verified, will certainly mark the dawn of a very exciting new era in elementary particle theory. Oh, how I wish I was 50 years younger!!



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