We are experimenting with using Boinc to operate an internal grid for one specific application. I have successfully configured a server using the wrapper with our application and our initial tests using a grid of about 20 scattered machines have gone quite well.

As we run tests, and the tests complete, the clients on those 20 machines sit idle. When we generate a new job on the server, it takes some of the clients many hours (in one case over 24) to actually get new tasks. Of course, if I hit the update button on the client it gets new work right away and starts computing.

Is there a configuration where I could tell the clients to check for new work more frequently? I would like it to be on the order of minutes rather than hours. I understand why it needs to be the way it is in a global volunteer environment but for this use case I am hoping there is an easy way to override it without having to dig into/modify the source.

Yes, in the client control section of the project config file on the server.

https://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/ProjectOptions#client-control

<next_rpc_delay>x</next_rpc_delay>
In each scheduler reply, tell the clients to do another scheduler RPC after at most X seconds, regardless of whether they need work. This is useful, e.g., to ensure that in-progress jobs can be canceled in a bounded amount of time.

Thank you. That is exactly what I was looking for.