run boinc without internet

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Miroslav

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Joined: 11 Sep 08
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Czech Republic
Message 20120 - Posted: 11 Sep 2008, 18:34:29 UTC

Hello
Is it posible to run boinc without internet.
I have one computer on place where there is no internet.
Is it posible to take work wia usb storidge device
(flash memory) to tis computer and when the work is dan, take it back tu other computer wich have internet and upload.
:) ?
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Profile Jord
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Message 20122 - Posted: 11 Sep 2008, 18:49:32 UTC
Last modified: 11 Sep 2008, 19:21:21 UTC

(examples given are for Seti. In essence it's the same for all other projects)

It can be done with great difficulty. The thing you do is to copy over the complete BOINC directory with all files from one machine to the other. The machine you're copying it over from can't be allowed to crunch the same work at the same time, as when it starts uploading & reporting this work, that work is done already. You can't send it in again, as you could with Seti Classic.

The machine that downloaded the work should also send it back as the work you got is registered against the hostID of that machine.

So, you would install BOINC on machine A, get it attached to Seti and download work. Immediately stop it from working on things by stopping BOINC. Now copy the whole BOINC directory with all asserted files and folders to a USB stick or something similar (In case of BOINC 6, I think the BOINC Data directory would suffice).

On machine B, install BOINC.
Copy the BOINC (Data) directory from the USB stick to machine B.
Let it crunch the work.
When all done, copy the BOINC (Data) directory back onto the USB stick.
Put back on machine A, restart BOINC there and let it upload & report the work and download new work.
Stop BOINC and start over with copying this new work.

As you notice, it may not be worth it. It'll get tedious after a while, especially since you can't let machine A crunch with that same BOINC directory.
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Profile Gundolf Jahn

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Message 20123 - Posted: 11 Sep 2008, 18:49:58 UTC - in response to Message 20120.  
Last modified: 11 Sep 2008, 19:10:37 UTC

I give up. I'm just not fast enough for Ageless! :-)
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Profile Jord
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Message 20124 - Posted: 11 Sep 2008, 19:18:13 UTC - in response to Message 20123.  

I give up. I'm just not fast enough for Ageless! :-)

Heh, I had to answer the exact same thing this morning on Seti, so this was a quick copy&paste. ;-)
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Miroslav

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Message 20126 - Posted: 11 Sep 2008, 19:46:37 UTC

Maybe I'll try.
The problem is (I ges) thet on computer that has internet I also run boinc.
So if I copy the complete BOINC directory...?
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Profile Gundolf Jahn

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Message 20127 - Posted: 11 Sep 2008, 19:57:07 UTC - in response to Message 20124.  

Heh, I had to answer the exact same thing this morning on Seti, so this was a quick copy&paste. ;-)

I know, I had posted a link to that same message, but was called to the phone before being able to save it. :-)
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Profile Jord
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Message 20129 - Posted: 11 Sep 2008, 20:01:41 UTC - in response to Message 20128.  

You could have 2 different BOINC installations in 2 different directories on the same computer. I don't know if that is possible with version 6 BOINC on Windows but version 5 should be able to do it easily.

Not possible with BOINC 6. or at least, the last time I used the unpack option /a on the installer, it would unpack, but the whole of BOINC in that directory wouldn't run. Something to do with those accounts and the registry entries, I think.
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Profile Jord
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Message 20131 - Posted: 11 Sep 2008, 20:10:06 UTC - in response to Message 20130.  

Version 5 for Win doesn't use the registry though, IIRC?

Only for the BOINC Manager redraw positions, as far as I know. Not for things like whether it's a service install or the directory that BOINC should be found in.
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Raistmer

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Message 20289 - Posted: 16 Sep 2008, 13:57:44 UTC - in response to Message 20126.  

Maybe I'll try.
The problem is (I ges) thet on computer that has internet I also run boinc.
So if I copy the complete BOINC directory...?

If you use BOINC on some project with long tasks you could try to move separate tasks (WUs), not whole BOINC directory. And you could do standalone processing on host B.
The way I tried :
1)Download tasks on comp A.
2)Start crunching tasks that will be moved.
(this step could be not nessesary, but you should figure out how to avoid it)
3)Pause (suspend) tasks that will be moved.
4)Copy correspond Wus into separate directories (some scripting could be useful), add init_data.xml to each directory
5) run standalone app on host B, host A can continue to crunch all tasks except suspended ones.
6) copy final result files from host B to project folder of BOINC on host A, copy corresponding state files (all files that were generated during standalone app run except WU itself, result and init_data.xml)
7) resume suspended tasks on host A.
It starts resumed tasks at ~99% and finishes them after ~1min of runtime (depends on how often standalone app saves computation state).

This way you can process WUs on both hosts.


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Message boards : Questions and problems : run boinc without internet

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