FCI: Folding@Home Client Info (Web based client monitor)

[smoking2000]

Is there a best practice guide on configuration of the web portion of FCI, particularly the ACL piece? I activated the ACL, but it must have been too secure, as the clients were no longer updating the server. What is the function of registering the clients? I'm contemplating offering this server to fellow team members, but am unsure how to best proceed and keep access and client info secure.

There is no ACL documentation as part of the FCI tarball, the functionality and its intended usage were described in the FCI v1.3 release announcement. This also explains the benefit of registering your clients, which means that other clients will not be allowed to overwrite its client data without proper authentication using its client account, or the user account of the contact configured for the client in question. It protects against name collisions of different FCI clients using the same client name (e.g. because they use the same hostname on different networks).

[rhavern]

Thanks for the link and explaining that. I've sorted out the ACL piece now. Once I've enabled the ACL, is there an easier way to add additional clients without having to remove the ACL, upload, then reapply the ACL after modifying the ACL?

Also, I was wondering if in WinXP it is possible to have the scheduled tasks not pop up a cmd window when I am logged in?

[smoking2000]

That depends on what kind of client they are, you shouldn't have to add client or users to your ACL when you configure the ACL to use: Allow all, except: none. If you don't select "all, except:", only the user or client actually selected will be allowed (or denied if you selected deny as action).

There should not be a popup window if you use wperl.exe instead of perl.exe, if you do its a Windows issue. You can use a different scheduler or tools like hideit to always run in the background.

[rhavern]

Okay, I've modified my ACL, thanks.

My scheduled tasks are created directly from the install instructions, like this in the run section:
C:\Perl\bin\wperl.exe C:\Progra~1\FCI\fci-client.pl <plus command line options>

I get two popup cmd windows for about 2 seconds each. How strange.

[smoking2000]

Are you logged in as Administrator? If so, don't. Schedule FCI client under the Administrator account, and use your regular account for daily operation.

[rhavern]

I don't log in as Administrator. I've changed the scheduler to use the admin account and that has resolved the issue. I ask the questions and you keep bringing the answers, many thanks! I think I've got FCI doing everything it ought to be doing now.

[rhavern]

@smoking2000

I notice on http://fci.fatalerrorgroup.com/ under the specific username section, there is a section "Points 24 Hour Average History" with a graph. Is that a forthcoming feature?

[smoking2000]

Yes it is, I use the FCI server for my subteam of the Dutch Power Cows to test new development features because it has so much diverse data.

So far the ChangeLog for FCI v1.5 look like:

Code: Select all

v1.5:

2009-04-10 Bas Couwenberg <[email protected]>

* client/fci-client.pl: Fixed parsing of systeminfo on Windows which may use
  different characters to separate kilo numbers (e.g. 2,047 instead of the
  expected 2.047).

2009-04-09 Bas Couwenberg <[email protected]>

* scripts/fci-update-eoc-stats.pl: Skip update of RRD if the EOC XML is
  invalid. This may happen when the server load is high, then the EOC server
  may respond with a warning instead of the requested XML:
  <font color="red" size="4"><B>Server load too high!</B></font> Wait a minute
  before reloading the page.

2009-04-06 Bas Couwenberg <[email protected]>

* scripts/fci-update-eoc-stats.pl: Added create_rrd(), update_rrd() &
  graph_rrd() to update and graph the EOC stats data in RRDs.
* scripts/fci-update-xml-files.pl: Add <hardware> from client.xml to
  client-list.xml so the Hardware menu item shows up in the web interface.

2009-04-04 Bas Couwenberg <[email protected]>

* www/usernames.plc: Add a dedicated page with all RRD graphs for a username.

I'm currently working on the WMI code for the FCI client, that will also be included. Optional other features for v1.5 include more RRD graphs mostly for qd data (PF, PPD, Flops, etc), and possibly TPF but this requires the improved FAHlog parsing code that I still need to write. This last feature may be postponed until v1.6.

[smoking2000]

Test Request

The WMI code is ready for testing, and currently available in a separate test script:
http://fci.bile.nl/current/scripts/extr ... tion.pl.gz

Could the people running FCI client on Windows run this script (after un-gzipping it), and email me the output (address is listed on the about page of the website in my profile), or alternately post the output here?

Since this script is a console application you have to run it in a command prompt. You can use the following procedure to run the script:
* Download & unzip windows-management-instrumentation.pl.gz
* Open cmd.exe prompt using Start -> Run -> cmd.exe <enter>
* cd "C:\Downloads" (replace C:\Downloads with the directory where you downloaded the scrip to)
* windows-management-instrumentation.pl > wmi.txt
* notepad wmi.txt

If the wmi.txt file is empty or contains only a few lines with warnings and errors, run the script under the perl interpreter explicitly:
C:\Perl\bin\perl.exe windows-management-instrumentation.pl > wmi.txt

Example output showing what information looks most interesting:

Code: Select all

                      WMI: Win32_VideoController 0
------------------------------------------------------------------
                  Caption: VMware SVGA II
               AdapterRAM: 16777216 B	(16.00 MB)
              Description: VMware SVGA II
  InstalledDisplayDrivers: vmx_fb.dll
               DriverDate: 20090326161406.000000-000
            DriverVersion: 11.06.00.0013 - build-121311
          VideoMemoryType: 2		(Unknown)
     VideoModeDescription: 1024 x 768 x 4294967296 colors
           VideoProcessor: VMware SVGA II

                      WMI: Win32_OperatingSystem 0
------------------------------------------------------------------
                  Caption: Microsoft Windows XP Professional
                  Version: 5.1.2600
              BuildNumber: 2600
                BuildType: Uniprocessor Free
       OperatingSystemSKU: 		()
               CSDVersion: Service Pack 3
  ServicePackMajorVersion: 3
  ServicePackMinorVersion: 0
                   CSName: VMWARE-WINXP
     OtherTypeDescription: 
           OSArchitecture: 
                   OSType: 18		(WINNT)
              ProductType: 1		(Work Station)
       FreePhysicalMemory: 242672 KB	(236.98 MB)
   TotalVisibleMemorySize: 523760 KB	(511.48 MB)
        FreeVirtualMemory: 2057012 KB	(1.96 GB)
   TotalVirtualMemorySize: 2097024 KB	(2.00 GB)
           LastBootUpTime: 20090413112907.279875+120
            LocalDateTime: 20090413170307.576000+120
                   Uptime: 5 hours, 34 minutes

                      WMI: Win32_Processor 0
------------------------------------------------------------------
                  Caption: x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9
             Architecture: 0		(x86)
        CurrentClockSpeed: 2665 MHz
           CurrentVoltage: 33 1/10 volts
                DataWidth: 32
              Description: x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9
                 ExtClock:  MHz
                   Family: 2		(Unknown)
              L2CacheSize: 0 KB	(0.00 KB)
             L2CacheSpeed:  MHz
              L3CacheSize:  KB	( )
             L3CacheSpeed:  MHz
                    Level: 15
           LoadPercentage: 21 %
             Manufacturer: GenuineIntel
            MaxClockSpeed: 2665 MHz
                     Name:               Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.66GHz
            NumberOfCores: 1
NumberOfLogicalProcessors: 1
              ProcessorId: 0FEBFBFF00000F29
            ProcessorType: 3		(Central Processor)
                 Revision: 521
                     Role: CPU
        SocketDesignation: CPU socket #0
                 Stepping: 9
            UpgradeMethod: 4		(ZIF Socket)
                 UniqueId: 
                  Version: Model 2, Stepping 9
              VoltageCaps: 2		(3.3 volts)

                      WMI: Win32_BIOS 0
------------------------------------------------------------------
      BiosCharacteristics: 4		(ISA is supported)
      BiosCharacteristics: 7		(PCI is supported)
      BiosCharacteristics: 8		(PC Card (PCMCIA) is supported)
      BiosCharacteristics: 9		(Plug and Play is supported)
      BiosCharacteristics: 10		(APM is supported)
      BiosCharacteristics: 11		(BIOS is Upgradable (Flash))
      BiosCharacteristics: 12		(BIOS shadowing is allowed)
      BiosCharacteristics: 14		(ESCD support is available)
      BiosCharacteristics: 33		(USB Legacy is supported)
      BiosCharacteristics: 39		(Smart Battery is supported)
      BiosCharacteristics: 40		(Reserved for BIOS vendor)
      BiosCharacteristics: 42		(Reserved for BIOS vendor)
      BiosCharacteristics: 50		(Reserved for system vendor)
      BiosCharacteristics: 57		(Reserved for system vendor)
      BiosCharacteristics: 58		(Reserved for system vendor)
              BIOSVersion: INTEL  - 6040000
              BIOSVersion: PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0     
              BuildNumber: 
                  Caption: PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0     
                  CodeSet: 
              Description: PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0     
       IdentificationCode: 
             Manufacturer: Phoenix Technologies LTD
                     Name: PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0     
            OtherTargetOS: 
              ReleaseDate: 20080815000000.000000+000
    TargetOperatingSystem: 0		(Unknown)
                  Version: INTEL  - 6040000

                      WMI: Win32_ComputerSystem 0
------------------------------------------------------------------
                  Caption: VMWARE-WINXP
              Description: AT/AT COMPATIBLE
              DNSHostName: 
                   Domain: LINUXMINDED
               DomainRole: 0		(Standalone Workstation)
             Manufacturer: VMware, Inc.
                    Model: VMware Virtual Platform
                     Name: VMWARE-WINXP
NumberOfLogicalProcessors: 1
       NumberOfProcessors: 1
                OEMString: [MS_VM_CERT/SHA1/27d66596a61c48dd3dc7216fd715126e33f59ae7]
                OEMString: Welcome to the Virtual Machine
             PartOfDomain: 0
             PCSystemType: 		()
               SystemType: X86-based PC
             ThermalState: 3		(Safe)
      TotalPhysicalMemory: 536330240 B	(511.48 MB)

[Shadowtester]

Wish I could help but my network is all Linux

[rhavern]

Regarding the Client State Markers, will anything show up if a GPU client issues an UNSTABLE_MACHINE and pauses for 24 hours? This is one of the main reasons I've gone down the road of installing FCI, as the GPU clients are still beta and not completely stable. If I can see a client in this mode, it is useful to the folding community to report the WU that it failed on as frequently it will be a bad WU that needs to be flagged by an admin to prevent other users getting it.

Thanks and keep up the great work.

[smoking2000]

The UNSTABLE_MACHINE errors are not detected by FCI yet.There is very little explicit support for the GPU client in FCI, because I don't run any GPU clients myself (since I have a UNIX only network) and therefor cannot test GPU client features very well.

The UNSTABLE_MACHINE errors are just exit statuses that could be parsed by the improved FAHlog parser, but that is not implemented yet. This is on the TODO however.

[rhavern]

If you need logs from GPU based folder, just let me know and I can send you some.

[Shadowtester]

The UNSTABLE_MACHINE errors are not detected by FCI yet.There is very little explicit support for the GPU client in FCI, because I don't run any GPU clients myself (since I have a UNIX only network) and therefor cannot test GPU client features very well.

The UNSTABLE_MACHINE errors are just exit statuses that could be parsed by the improved FAHlog parser, but that is not implemented yet. This is on the TODO however.

You know you can run the GPU2 client on a Linux machine using wine that is what I use to run my GPU2 client its not too hard to setup with all the help you have given me I would be more than happy to try to help you get it setup but with your skills I doubt it would be needed. Just let me know I am having a problem with my GPU2 client currently for some reason its just spitting out Unstable_Machine errors immediately I am going to be reinstalling everything except the OS to see if I can fix the problem over this week/weekend. After I get it going again if you need any logs or files to help you with FCI for GPU monitoring just ask I would be more than happy to provide them.

[smoking2000]

Technically I should be able to get the GPU client going, but that assumes I have the hardware for it, which I don't. High performance GPU stuff does not match with running Linux, the driver mess for Nvidia cards on Linux is one aspect, having expensive GPUs in a headless server is another. Maybe when/if there will be a GPU client for OSX that will run on a Mac Mini, I may buy one to replace my aging 1st gen Intel Mac, but I don't expect to run the GPU client before that time. It's just not a stable option for my Debian Linux machines with the video driver mess, moving-target software on Debian Unstable and price of GPU client capable cards. So I'll stick to SMP clients myself, and leave the GPU folding to the Windows crowd.