Folding Forum

Hey there,

Still relatively new to this. I'm planning on setting up my second computer for FAH but I am still utterly confused on how to use remote access such that I can monitor both computers on my main computer. What are the exact steps to connect a second machine with remote access? Thanks.

Hi,

Multiple instances of the Folding@home client software can be managed remotely by a single computer using the FAHControl software. FAHControl is simply a front-end to the FAHClient software that runs under the hood and manages the files and workunits. If you have two computers, A and B, and you want to monitor computer B from the main computer A, you can do this through FAHControl.

In computer B, open up the FAHControl tool. You can do this by finding the Folding@home icon in the taskbar, right-click, and select Advanced Control. Click the Configure icon in the upper-left corner, choose the Remote Access tab, add a password to the field at the top, and put in the LAN subnet into the IP Address Restriction field. The "Allow" line says something like "127.0.0.1 192.168.0.0/16". Save the configuration. You may also then have to open up Windows Firewall and allow in connections to FAHClient, if that isn't automatically set up. Then you need to completely restart the Folding@home software, which you can do by right-clicking on the Folding@home icon in the taskbar, selecting "quit", verifying that CPU and GPU are no longer being used, and then start up the software again. Once that is done, in computer A (your main computer) open FAHControl. In the bottom-left corner, click "Add". Put in the local IP address of your other computer and the password, and click Save. FAHControl should then connect to the other computer.

This should work. Please let us know if you run into any issues.

Thanks for responding. I followed the steps to the best of my abilities but computer A's FAHControl still says that computer B is connecting. I must be putting in the wrong IP addresses. Could you go into more detail about which exact IP Addresses I need to put into computer B's remote access config? I'm inexperienced with this LAN and IP stuff so sorry if this seems like a dumb question.

No problem. The software has a restriction that it will only allow connections from the specified IP addresses, or a range of IP addresses. Your router has a range of IP addresses that it distributes to all devices at your home, so I wanted to make sure that the computer would allow connections from any of those home devices. We're after those numbers since we want your two computers to talk to each other.

So first, you will need to know the IP address of the other computer. In Windows, find the network icon in the taskbar down by the clock. Right-click and select "Open Network and Internet Settings". Then click "View your network properties". You will see a line called "IPv4 Address". For example, mine says 10.1.0.18/24. So take that range, the "10.1.0.18/24" and put it into the Allow line in the Remote Access tab in FAHControl, so that it says "127.0.0.1 10.1.0.18/24". Obviously your numbers will be different for your router. Restart the Folding@home software like I described, and then on your main system, computer A, put in the IP address (10.1.0.18 in my case) and the password and it should connect.

I'm still having weird problems. It is still stuck on "connecting" even after I followed the above steps with the IP addresses. In addition, as soon as I configure the remote access tab on computer B and restart FAHControl, I no longer have access to any config tabs besides "connection", and the client itself is stuck on "Connecting". In order to change the config settings again I have to hard uninstall and reinstall FAH, meaning I also have to reinput my identity. Perhaps I switched up which IP Addresses goes in which client?

Computer A (Main) IPv4, as seen in settings: 10.0.0.91/24
Computer B (attempting to remote access to) IPv4: 10.0.0.124/24

Each settings menu has multiple IP Address sections for some reason (Local Area Connection 1, Local Area Connection 11, Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC, Intel I210 Gigabit Network Connection, Intel Ethernet Connection I219-LM), but decided to use the ones that looked most like the example you gave me above. Thanks again for taking the time to help me out.

Ah, I think you left off the "127.0.0.1" part in the Allow field in the Remote Access tab. As a result, FAHControl on the same computer won't be able to connect. The Allow field should be set to "127.0.0.1 10.0.0.0/24" so that FAHControl on the same computer, and FAHControl on another computer can both connect. After that is set up, restart the software (or your whole computer) so that the setting will be applied. Then on your main computer A, click "Add" in the bottom left corner, put in the password that you set, put in 10.0.0.124 as the IP address, and it should connect. If that doesn't work, Windows Firewall is most likely blocking the connection.

The advanced client neglects to enter one of the necessary entries in the config. Took me ages fiddling with firewalls (as per previous suggestions) until I googled what a config should look like and found this:

<!-- HTTP Server -->
<allow v='127.0.0.1,192.168.1.0/24'/>
<!-- Network -->
<proxy v=':8080'/>
<!-- Remote Command Server -->
<command-allow-no-pass v='127.0.0.1,192.168.1.0/24'/>
<password v='pass'/>
<!-- Slot Control -->
<power v='full'/>
<!-- User Information -->
<passkey v=your passkey/>
<user v=your name/>

<!-- Web Server -->
<web-allow v='127.0.0.1,192.168.1.0/24'/>

Jesse_V wrote:Ah, I think you left off the "127.0.0.1" part in the Allow field in the Remote Access tab. As a result, FAHControl on the same computer won't be able to connect. The Allow field should be set to "127.0.0.1 10.0.0.0/24" so that FAHControl on the same computer, and FAHControl on another computer can both connect. After that is set up, restart the software (or your whole computer) so that the setting will be applied. Then on your main computer A, click "Add" in the bottom left corner, put in the password that you set, put in 10.0.0.124 as the IP address, and it should connect. If that doesn't work, Windows Firewall is most likely blocking the connection.

Oh wow, it works now! Thank you so much for your help and your time!

One more thing though, my computers A and B are both connected to the same router in my home, but I also have, let's say, computer C which is at my workplace. Since it is not connected to the same local network, which additional steps do I need to take to connect that client as well?

Work PC would most likely be blocked by a firewall, doubt they are gonna open it up to let you connect.

Do you have (written) permission to use the work computer for FAH? (See the EULA and probably the terms of your employment.)

bruce wrote:Do you have (written) permission to use the work computer for FAH? (See the EULA and probably the terms of your employment.)

I will go and check with 'em if its fine but most likely they'll approve it in these extenuating circumstances, and FAH allows me to directly contribute to a cure -- otherwise my computer is just sitting there doing nothing.

In other news, I managed to get my Dad to agree to use his personal computer to fold under my name. Are the difference between connecting to a work network and another home-based one?

The network administrators are the ones that should answer that question.

The may tell you about differences like firewalls and/or proxies or there may be no differences. FAHClient connects just like a Browser (on port 80 or 8080) but it's not in the list of "known browsers" so you may need to be granted an exception.

In theory home and work would be the same. For a home network you have control of the router/firewall and can forward the required port to make it work. Ip address changing could be a problem. Work network may be a public or private ip address and requires IT to configure the firewall/router. Private IPs would require more setup if more than client needed monitoring. If you aren't already familiar with how networks/the internet works I wouldn't try to set it up,could be a huge pain. Just talk to your dad every now and then to make sure it's running, that's how I manage my machine that my dad hosts at his house. Fahclient connecting like a web browser only applies to the client connecting with assignment and work servers. Fahcontrol uses different ports to connect for monitoring/ control of clients. Those ports will be blocked by default on any firewall.