Win32 client stability for Win2k servicing

[Chazz]

I'm considering moving my corporate farm over to Distributed Folding provided the client is not going to require any babying and that it services well. Anyone here have any experience with rolling this client out to several Win2k servers?

[FoBoT]

if you mean running it as a service
with the foldtrajlite /install
i would recommend changing it from "automatic" to "manual" and start/stop it as needed if you shutdown the server

in automatic , it sometimes fails to shutdown properly, i think

you should also test to see how well it gives up cpu cycles to other processes

i had it running on some servers and a guy i work with thought it slowed the boxen way down, so i had to remove it :(

[Chazz]

One issue that I still have with the F@H2 client is that the service spawns another executable that is not easy to shut down. Does this client do something similar?

If what you say about this client not yielding well to higher priority processes, I may have to pass on this project. My ability thus far to use corporate system resources relies on the fact that my activites do not inhibit performance/productivity.

[pointwood]

I believe it will be possible to set the priority in the next client release.

EDIT: And no, the client doesn't start another thread like the F@H2 client does.

[pointwood]

I was correct :)

New client is out - read about it here: http://tsf.dbestern.net or on the Yahoo messageboard.

It should fix that mysterious silent termination bug :cool:

[IronBits]

Thanks Pointwood! Good news indeed :D

[FoBoT]

i put the new version on
if they are all good by monday, that should be a good sign ;)

[pointwood]

/me awaits a sign from FoBoT's :D

So far it looks good from here - the machine I had where it where I had the problem, has been running without a problem since upgrading.

EDIT: Otherwise, you'll just have to fix it yourself - quote:
"FoBoT
Fixer of Broken Things"

;) :D

[Dyyryath]

This project is looking more and more interesting to me every day...

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by Dyyryath
This project is looking more and more interesting to me every day...

yes, the people behind it have been so responsive, the client isn't perfect, yet, but howard is diligent and quickly puts out updated client software

he is happy to pursue bugs and listens to suggestions, very nice

other advantages of df vs others

small WU - this is important to me because the pc's i run at work are test machines, at any moment, i may have to grab one, re-format it or otherwise take it out of commision. if i run something that takes a long time to finish, like G@H or something, well, if it was almost finished, and i can't wait, i could lose a lot of work. so a client that i can quit and upload at will is a big plus

cache - can continue to run without connecting at specific times. the biggest problem i have with F@H2 is that when it finishes a WU, if it can't immediately connect, it sits there wasting cycles

medical - i favor the medical projects over the others, i only run RC5 for the same reason someone buys a lottery ticket once a week ;)
my father-in-law died of ALS (Lou Gehrigs' disease) for which there really isn't any treatment/cure, they don't even really know why people get it, although there are some indications of a genetic link

stated goals and published progress - you gotta love the thermometer, right?
you can see how close the group/project is to the goal, that is really cool. the other projects that really don't tell us , in layman's terms how things are going, where we are at , or even if they have a clue about how much progress has been made seem to open ended

stats - nearly real time stats, us moderate stats whores can see where we are at anytime we need a fix, i'm just waiting for a stats guy to make it graph our progress, that would rock! :cool:

ascii art - need i say more? :D

linux support - not only are there multiple platform/OS's supported, but the software was designed on linux and runs FASTER than on windows :)

this will be my main project for a while, i'm going to hit 100k in G@h in 2-3 weeks, after that i will be doing

1 SETI pc (p3-450)
1 THINK pc (p3-450)
1 G@H pc (? maybe a 1Ghz duron)
1 F@H2 pc (p3-700)
3-5 RC5 pc's (various old/slow)
and the rest on DF

[pointwood]

Originally posted by Dyyryath
This project is looking more and more interesting to me every day... No it doesn't.. :D

We will never catch Free-DC if you joins too :p

We are however picking up steam and have just overtaken Rechenkraft.de :)

[pointwood]

Originally posted by FoBoT
stats - nearly real time stats, us moderate stats whores can see where we are at anytime we need a fix, i'm just waiting for a stats guy to make it graph our progress, that would rock! :cool:

ascii art - need i say more? :D Since I have made a deal with IronBits about TSF using the same stats as you, I'm kinda waiting for that too :D

And yes - Ascii art rules:
http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=122097561&m=8240960683

[IronBits]

Pointwood - sorry it took so long to get Perl/Apache fixed.

http://tsf.dbestern.net/stats.shtml

Now you have more work to do! :D

[pointwood]

Damn you IronBits :D

Thx a lot - looks great

I think I need to go learn a bit Perl - couldn't hurt I think :)

I don't understand that REGEX thingy and I have a feeling that would be a pretty good thing to learn :)

Any recommendations for books or something to a totall newbie? :)

[IronBits]

Until you are ready to buy some books, I found www.perl.com to have some good answers.
As to the regexp - I still don't have a clue yet, but I'm working on it. ;)
I have Perl5 Complete by Edward S. Peschko & Michele DeWOLFE, plus I snagged Perl, CGI and javaScript Complete put out by SYBEX.
Two very thick books, the 1st one comes with a Perl compiler on CD-ROM.

[pointwood]

Thanks IronBits, I'll have a look at perl.com :)

Do you have any plans for saving the data in a database and pull the stats from there?

[IronBits]

heh, I have more plans than skill atm.
I am working my way in that direction ;)
I need to get these regexps memorized first.

[pointwood]

LOL IronBits :)

I certainly is in the same situation :(

I have started to read about and (hopefully) learn perl - from what I have read so far, it is a pretty cool language.