Proposal to deploy BOINC over workplace AD domain (30 clients)

Message boards : Questions and problems : Proposal to deploy BOINC over workplace AD domain (30 clients)
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Jazzop

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Joined: 19 Dec 06
Posts: 90
United States
Message 71170 - Posted: 3 Aug 2016, 17:58:12 UTC

I recall seeing in the past a wiki or something about deploying BOINC in a workplace/enterprise setting, but I can't find it when I need it!

I work at a nonprofit biomedical research facility with about 30 client PCs (mostly Win 7) connected to an Acitve Directory domain. Informal discussions with the executive staff about BOINC have been productive and they are interested in running BOINC on all our PCs (crunching for existing projects that are related to our research disciplines). I am tasked with submitting a formal proposal.

The ideal scenario goes like this:
1. Install BOINC clients (without GUI) on a set of domain-connected machines over AD/WSUS.
2. Point all clients to a single app_config file on a network share.
3. Administer the clients centrally as needed.

My questions so far are:
1. Can the remote install be done using native Windows Server roles/features or do I need to use a custom installer program?
2. Are there any reasons why I shouldn't use a single BOINC account for the entire enterprise?
3. Is there an existing calculation or formula somewhere for estimating our increased power consumption by running BOINC? For my proposal to be convincing, I need to compare the delta-power consumption against the variable billing schemes available from the power company. I'd like to have a backup proposal that shows a lower cost if we suspend BOINC during peak energy billing hours.

(I know there is extra wear & tear on equipment and cooling costs, but the equipment is handed down for free from our sponsoring hospital and the offices where the PCs live are excessively cold because of poor HVAC design).

Network load should be irrelevant, as syncing can be scheduled for the middle of the night.

If anyone already has some canned proposals and/or deployment technical checklists, please share!
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SekeRob2

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Joined: 6 Jul 10
Posts: 585
Italy
Message 71180 - Posted: 4 Aug 2016, 7:09:01 UTC - in response to Message 71170.  

Somewhere at WorldCommunuityGrid you can find a "Mass deployment" document.

Read last week one college at WCG was using a Condor solution... a central gate fetching and distributing tasks to all the hosts on their grid. Since years according the tech.
Coelum Non Animum Mutant, Qui Trans Mare Currunt
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ChristianB
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Joined: 4 Jul 12
Posts: 321
Germany
Message 71186 - Posted: 4 Aug 2016, 12:25:22 UTC

You where probably looking for the Mass deployment instructions. They are here: https://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/User_manual scroll down ab bit.

You then actually have two possible scenarios:

  1. Install BOINC clients on a set of domain-connected machines over AD/WSUS (as described in Creating custom installers.
  2. Distribute a remote_hosts.cfg and gui_rpc_auth.cfg to all Clients ( as described in Controlling BOINC remotely).
  3. Use BoincTasks to connect to all Clients and add/remove projects as needed

Second one:


  1. create an acct_mgr_url.xml to include in the client setup as descripted in Initialization files
  2. Install BOINC clients on a set of domain-connected machines over AD/WSUS (as described in Creating custom installers.
  3. Use the web interface of the account manager (BAM recommended) to control which projects are added on the clients.


You can also combine those two approaches. Controlling the clients via an account manager takes a bit more time for changes to propagate to the clients but you don't need to worry if they are on or not. Controlling them via BoincTasks is instantaneously but the Clients need to be on for this.

To answer your questions:
1. Already answered above
2. No.
3. No, as this depends on the hardware you use. You have to measure the power consumption for one PC to get an idea of the delta-power and then extrapolate from there (taking into account that you may have different PCs with differing consumption). With BoincTasks you can even control the Clients more dynamically than with the default available settings.

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Message boards : Questions and problems : Proposal to deploy BOINC over workplace AD domain (30 clients)

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