Want to add about 20 pcs, but have a problem....

[aayhf]

Hi, folks. I work with an organization that has a community computer lab, and we have about 20 pretty modern PCs. I've added a couple of PCs to our folding team, but with the remaining PCs, we need to re-install the disc image every couple of days.

We can create our disc image after installing the folding client, but since it appears that the work units take several days to complete, I'm worried that folding would not be very productive on the machines that are periodically re-built.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

[Joe_H]

If you are going to re-install frequently, you might be better off using the NaCl client for Chrome. The individual WU's are small and completed relatively quickly.

[Kjetil]

(work units take several days to complete?) Tell us the hardware you have please. My 980 use 2h and 30min at P9201.

[aayhf]

Thanks for bringing up this point. I'm running a Dell Optiplex 390 dual core @ 3.1ghz, 4gb memory. We have a variety of computers that we'd be hooking up, but I'd expect similar performance.

Going through the log files, it appears that my computer is processing 1% of the steps every 7 minutes, or about 12 hours for the 500,000 steps at full power. Given this throughput, we should be able to get through at least a couple of work units through between each image re-install.

Maybe the best way to proceed is to install folding on a couple lab computers and check the logs just prior to the re-install, to make sure we're contributing. How does this sound?

Thanks.

[Sn1ken]

Adding a completely new way to fold, directly in the browser - NaCl client

https://folding.stanford.edu/home/addin ... e-browser/

[bruce]

If you re_image your computers, the image should contain FAH but it must be an unused image. The first thing FAH does is obtain an ID from the server and eacn computer must do that for itself so the ID can't be on the image.

[billford]

Does FAH have to be installed on the boot drive, or can it be put on (eg) a USB stick that wouldn't have to be re-imaged?

[7im]

If you re_image your computers, the image should contain FAH but it must be an unused image. The first thing FAH does is obtain an ID from the server and eacn computer must do that for itself so the ID can't be on the image.

What he means, more directly, is that you can install fah on the image, but make it the last thing you install. And make sure the system is unplugged from the internet when you install fah. Then it has no chance to download an ID yet. Configure your fah user name, team #, passkey, etc. Then image the system.

When a nearly image system starts, it will start fah, and fah will download an ID. Off it goes...

[aayhf]

If you re_image your computers, the image should contain FAH but it must be an unused image. The first thing FAH does is obtain an ID from the server and eacn computer must do that for itself so the ID can't be on the image.

What he means, more directly, is that you can install fah on the image, but make it the last thing you install. And make sure the system is unplugged from the internet when you install fah. Then it has no chance to download an ID yet. Configure your fah user name, team #, passkey, etc. Then image the system.

When a nearly image system starts, it will start fah, and fah will download an ID. Off it goes...

Thanks Bruce and 7im.... That succinctly describes what we want to do.

We installed folding on about 8 computers yesterday as a test, and it looks like we are going to be able to make good contributions in between rebuild. There were some minor issues with power management, but it looks like we are going to be good.

[bruce]

There were some minor issues with power management, but it looks like we are going to be good.

Fah for GPUs works poorly if the computer sleeps. On the CPU, it works okay, but works better if the computer is configured to run 24x7.

[aayhf]

Hi, folks. Thanks for your help related to the lab computers. I have a question about how folding runs based on the account being used.

In our lab, our Windows machines (a mix of windows 7/8) have two accounts: an admin account and a guest account. Let's assume we have folding loaded on all the machines. Typically our machines are set up at the log-in screen, and our visitors use the guest account for a period of time, then log out.

Here's the question: is folding active in the background if no one is logged in? If not, could we initially log in as admin, then select "switch users" to return to the log-in screen for our visitors? Would this keep folding active?

Thanks for your advice.

[bruce]

If you choose the "install as a service" option FAH will fold with the CPU without anyone being logged on. Unfortunately Microsoft excludes the possibility of GPU folding from a service, and it isn't clear if your computers contain supported GPUs.

[aayhf]

Thanks Bruce - appreciate all your help. Looks like all the lab issues are addressed, so we'll build the reboot images probably this weekend.