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BUNKERING 101

There seems to be some confusion on how to bunker a project with some trying to limit % completion or amount of time. While this may work to some extent it is NOT the correct way to get it done.

BLOCK THE IP ADDRESS OF THE PROJECT Block the Rosetta IP address on your FIREWALL after you've downloaded wu and filled your caches.

Go into your firewall and make a RULE that blocks outbound communications to Rosetta. Then when you are ready to dump just remove the rule, go to BOINC TRANSFERS and hit RETRY ALL and after they have uploaded update Rosetta.

The IP address for Rosetta's homepage is 128.95.160.140. Assuming a different IP is used for program communications you need to block the range 128.95.160.0 to 128.95.160.255.

After you have setup your rule you can check if it works by going to BOINC and try to UPDATE Rosetta. If the IP address and RULE are correct then in BOINC Messages you will see it try to connect but this message will appear:

17374 DistrRTgen 4/30/2012 12:07:51 AM Sending scheduler request: To fetch work.
17375 DistrRTgen 4/30/2012 12:07:51 AM Requesting new tasks for NVIDIA GPU
17376 DistrRTgen 4/30/2012 12:07:52 AM Scheduler request failed: Couldn't connect to server
17377 4/30/2012 12:07:56 AM Project communication failed: attempting access to reference site
17378 4/30/2012 12:07:58 AM Internet access OK - project servers may be temporarily down.
I obviously blocked DirT since I'm not running Rosetta

You can crunch to 100% because there will be NO leaks.

This same technique can be used on your router and it only has to be done at one location. I haven't experiemented with that so I can't tell you exactly how to do it however.

HOW TO FIND A PROJECTS IP ADDRESS
In the BOINC directory open client_state and do a search on the projects name and it will usually take you to the projects master URL. A search on Rosetta takes you to:

http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/

Now open a Windows command prompt either from Accessories or just type CMD in the START search line and hit enter.

TYPE
nslookup boinc.bakerlab.org
Hit ENTER and the following IP address is returned

128.95.160.140

If you paste this IP into your browser and hit go it will take you to the Home Page of Rosetta.

This technique can be used to find any projects IP and if you block the range from 0 to 255 you can stop any communications from your BOINC Client to the project.




SETTING UP A RULE WITH NORTON FIREWALL

TRAFFIC RULES TAB

ADD
Block - NEXT
Connections to other computers - NEXT
Only the computers and sites listed below
ADD
Using a range
128.95.160.0
128.95.160.255
OK
NEXT
All types of communications - NEXT
NEXT
Name your rule ie: BLOCK ROSETTA - NEXT
FINISH

If done correctly your Browser will no long connect to the Rosetta homepage. If you update Rosetta in BOINC you will get the error message it can't connect.

TO REMOVE THE RULE

TRAFFIC RULES TAB
Highlight your rule - REMOVE
YES

Now go to BOINC, TRANSERS, and select RETRY ALL and your completed wu will dump.

PS rather than REMOVING the RULE, you can just uncheck it to turn it off. That way if you want to use it in the future you can just "check" it to turn it back on.




SETTING UP A RULE WITH WINDOWS FIREWALL

CONTROL PANEL > WINDOWS FIREWALL > Advanced Settings
On the left side of the panel
OUTBOUND RULES
On right side of panel
NEW RULE
CUSTOM - NEXT
All Programs - NEXT
NEXT
Under "Which remote IP addesses does this rule apply to?"
THESE IP ADDRESSES - ADD
THIS IP RANGE
From 128.95.160.0
To 128.95.160.255
OK - NEXT
Block the connection - NEXT
check Domain, Private, Public - NEXT
Name your rule ie BLOCK ROSETTA - FINISH

You're done

To REMOVE the rule go to OUTBOUND RULES, highlight the rule, then on the right side click on DELETE and then YES.




HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR CACHE

Some projects will issue a maximum number of WUs to your machine regardless of how fast it is, how many cores it has, and how many GPUs it has. Other projects rely totally on the BOINC scheduler to determine how many wu you need for the MAX days of cache you have requested. The object here is to REALLY fill your cache so that you have enough wu to keep crunching until you are ready to dump.

If you see a messge from the project to the effect "You have reached your limit" then there is nothing more you can do so go ahead and block the IP address and start crunching. Collatz, for example, used to issue something like 300 wu and there was nothing you could do to get more.

PROBLEM WITH THE BOINC SCHEDULER
On projects that rely on the BOINC scheduler for determing the correct cache size several things can limit what BOINC thinks you need. BOINC uses a variable called "Duration Correction Factor" to compute how many wu you need. If you crunch enough WU then this value stabilizes and is correct for your machine. There are several things that can screw up this value.

1. If you haven't crunched the project before -or- for a long time the project will download a starting value that is some pie-in-the-sky value of how long it will take your machine to crunch a wu. As you crunch and complete MANY wu this number will get modified until it eventual is right. BUT, at the initial download it probably isn't anywhere near right.

2. You have been crunching CPU tasks on a project and then you start crunching GPU tasks. BOINC will continue to use the "DCF" value from the CPU time until you crunch enough GPU tasks to lower the value.

GETTING ADDITIONAL WU There are 2 files that contain the "Duration Correction Factor" infomation and they are located in the BOINC directory: client_state and client_state_prev(ious). If you open one of these files, do a search on the project name (ie Rosetta), located in that section you will find Duration Correction Factor. It will usually be a number like 0.9 or 1.15 or whatever.

After you have set your cache to 10 days and the project has filled your cache you can try this:

1. Stop BOINC 2. Open both the client_state.xml and client_state_prev.xml files.
3. Search for the project name (use CTRL F to bring up text search)
4. Find Duration Correction Factor and change the number to something like 0.04
5. Save the files
6. Wait 10 minutes ... this is to make sure you don't request work to soon from the project which pisses it off :)
7. Restart BOINC
8. Check and see if BOINC asked the project for more work ... if not UPDATE the project

This will quite often make the project issue more work. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Now it is time to block the IP address and start crunching. When the time comes to dump your finished WU if you have more WU than you can finish before the deadline then ABORT those tasks immediately. If you wait for the BOINC scheduler to do it it will wait until the deadline passes and then abort them. If you abort immediately then you will load up NEW wu which will be "aged" by the time your machine gets around to crunching them. BTW, your DCF will climb and by the time you have done the dump the BOINC scheduler will know how many wu are correct for your machine.

--- Bryan ---

How do I assign static IP addresses to my machines?

One method to use with Windows machines is to specify the IP address of the computer from within the Network and Sharing Center of the Control Panel. Alternatively, you can assign static IP addresses to your machines from within your router itself (look in the help files of your router for instructions on how to do this). For further details on this topic, please see this thread.

How can I monitor the CPU and GPU temps in my system?

One of the best programs to keep track of system temperatures is HWMonitor. It is a free download and provides real-time data.

How can I get information about my CPU, RAM, Motherboard, etc.?

A great (and free) program is CPU-Z, which gathers information about your system and presents it to you in an easy to interpret interface.

How do I install two ATI/AMD cards in CrossFire mode?

A fairly detailed explanation of how to install dual ATI/AMD cards into a system in CrossFire mode can be found in this post.

Where can I find a DriverSweeper to clean out previous drivers?

You can download DriverSweeper from this site. Be sure to get the most recent version.

DriverSweeper is no longer maintained. The good news is the folks at Guru3D have developed their own utility for removing/cleaning video drivers. It's called Display Driver Uninstaller or DDU for short. You can download the latest version (Here).

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