Posts by Pavel Hanak

1) Message boards : BOINC client : Feature suggestion: staggered start of VM jobs on slow storage (Message 77111)
Posted 2 Apr 2017 by Pavel Hanak
Post:
Interesting. I tried to google it, but I couldn't find any way to enable it. Where I could find some relevant information?
2) Message boards : BOINC client : Feature suggestion: staggered start of VM jobs on slow storage (Message 77095)
Posted 1 Apr 2017 by Pavel Hanak
Post:
Hi all, I've encountered a problem when many VM jobs are trying to start at once. Currently, it is most noticeable with LHCb app from the LHC@home project, but I remember I encountered it with ATLAS@home too, back when it was a standalone project. I tested this on a machine with 24 GB RAM which can safely run up to 8 LHCb jobs without the risk out running out of memory.

The problem occurs when several VM jobs trying to start on drives with slow write speeds. When a new job starts, the client copies the VM image (*.vdi file) to appropriate "slot" directory. Some of the images are rather big, over 4 GB in the case of LHCb app. When several such apps start at once, it takes quite some time to copy and start all the VMs. In such situations, the VMs are prone to hang up - they are listed as "running" in the manager, but the elapsed time always shows "---", even after an hour or so. I had to manually abort all such hanged jobs.

I've actually tested this rather extensively. For about 6 years now, I've used a small (40 GB) separate SSD drive for BOINC. It was rather slow, too - write speed of about 35 MB/s. It worked fine for non-VM jobs and occassional ATLAS ones, but couldn't cope with LHCb load - about 1/10 of the tasks hanged like I described above. I had a hunch it may be a storage problem when I noticed the HDD LED was continuously lit for 3 minutes or more whenever new LHCb jobs started. To further test this, I moved BOINC directory to (almost) new 4 TB mechanical drive (around 130 MB/s write speed). The problem got much worse - apart from significantly larger probability of hang-ups, the drive developed extreme fragmentation after a few days. Some of the *.vdi files had 1000 fragments or more - the result of their simultaneous copying. In the end, I had to limit number of LHCb tasks to 2 to avoid the hang-ups. Additionally, I've noticed that partially done jobs sometimes failed after boot or when suspending/resuming computation.

After seeing this, I bought a new, very fast SSD drive for BOINC (around 500 MB/s sustained write speeds). I've had it for a few days now and I haven't seen any hanged LHCb jobs since them, even though up to 8 of them run simultaneously. But of course, I guess not everyone is so devoted as to actually buy new hardware when BOINC needs it.

So my proposal is to add "staggered start" functionality for multiple VM jobs, similar to "staggered spin-up" which is used in large disk drive arrays. The staggered VM start should also kick in after all reboots, when resuming computation etc. The user has to be able to define time delay between individual VMs - it can be seconds for fast SSDs or minutes for slow mechanical drives. I guess the ideal solution would be to start next VM when the previous one is already running, but IMO this would bring in many additional problems (like what to do when the previous VM fails to start for other reasons).

I guess I should also note that I tried to simulate this "staggered start" with a script (which I run manually). I used the client command line interface and app_config.xml file. The script did following:
1. Edit the app_config file to increase the number of allowed LHCb jobs.
2. Make the client re-read config files with --read_cc_config.
3. Wait predetermined amount of time.
4. Repeat until all 8 LHCb jobs are running.
I seemed to work fine even on the 4 TB mechanical drive (no hang-ups) and most importantly it prevented the terrible fragmentation. But I must admit I soon got tired of running it manually whenever I needed to suspend/resume computation...
3) Message boards : BOINC client : "Couldn't resolve proxy name" after every reboot (Message 71062)
Posted 28 Jul 2016 by Pavel Hanak
Post:
As Richard said there is now config option for no automatic detection in source code. If you want it you'll need to build the client yourself or if you ask nicely maybe Richard could compile it for you.

That won't be necessary. As I said, I manually set the proxy setting to ISP's another HTTP cache server and it seems to work so far. So I can wait for the next nightly build (or even proper release). But hopefully, the planned option will spare other users trouble I had to go through.
4) Message boards : BOINC client : "Couldn't resolve proxy name" after every reboot (Message 71055)
Posted 28 Jul 2016 by Pavel Hanak
Post:
BOINC asks WinHTTP to do the proxy detection which uses Web Proxy Autodiscovery Protocol to do it. I suppose you could follow the steps to find the source of the proxy settings.


Just out of curiosity, I looked it up at https://technet.microsoft.com/cs-cz/library/cc731131(v=ws.10).aspx. But when I run 

netsh winhttp show proxy


I get "Direct access (no proxy server)". However, I was able to determine that my ISP is employing several HTTP cache servers and <PROXY ADDRESS> from my log seems to be one of them. I have no idea why BOINC always chooses that particular one, nor why it causes the "Couldn't resolve proxy name" error. I also found out that when I set one of the other cache servers as BOINC client proxy, the communication suddenly works. Is there something I could do to better diagnose the problem? Like I said, BOINC is the only program that has had this problem, so there still may be some obscure bug in it.
5) Message boards : BOINC client : "Couldn't resolve proxy name" after every reboot (Message 71029)
Posted 26 Jul 2016 by Pavel Hanak
Post:
Out of curiosity, why would a new project executable need new clients?

Some newer LHC executables hang on 7.4.27, but run fine on 7.6.x. Updating VirtualBox only didn't help, I had to install newer client, too. :-/
6) Message boards : BOINC client : "Couldn't resolve proxy name" after every reboot (Message 71022)
Posted 26 Jul 2016 by Pavel Hanak
Post:
Hi all, I have had this BOINC communication problem for about 3 years, but I can't put it off anymore (new project executables need new clients). It started when I upgraded from version 7.4.27 to 7.4.42 and it persists in all later versions. After every reboot, the client is unable to communicate with project servers and produces "BOINC can't access Internet - check network connection or proxy configuration" error message. Over time, I found a temporary fix: if I go to GUI, enable some (fake) proxy and then disable it, the communication works... until the next reboot.

I've enabled file_xfer_debug, http_debug, http_xfer_debug and proxy_debug options to better assess the problem. I'm posting the resulting log below, with some identification information redacted. I did these steps:

  • 12:18:12 Computer boots.
  • 12:21:30 "BOINC can't access Internet - check network connection or proxy configuration."
  • 12:23:18 I mannually set (fake) proxy in the GUI.
  • 12:23:26 I manually disable the proxy.
  • 12:23:30 I manually request update for SETI@home.
  • 12:23:37 Communication magically works again.


As the log shows, the client is trying to set up automatic proxy after reboot, but I don't know why - I have true public IP address, with no NAT, router or anything else in the path. I never had to set up any proxy in Windows settings or other programs. I asked my ISP about the <PROXY ADDRESS> that the client tries to use - according to them, it is reserved for VPN access for legacy IPv4 devices. Basically, I have no idea if this is a BOINC bug or misconfigured network. I tried switching to HTTP 1.0 - didn't help. I tried flushing DNS cache - didn't help. I tried clean install - didn't help. I tested it on another computer (different IP, same ISP) running Windows 7 64-bit - exactly the same problem. Reverting back to 7.4.27 is the only permanent "solution" I was able to find so far.

BTW, I tried automating the enable-disable proxy trick with boinccmd.exe after every reboot, but it is impossible to disable the proxy via command line. You can change it, but not truly disable it like in GUI. This is a long-standing bug, too:

http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=7797

26/07/2016 12:18:12 |  | Starting BOINC client version 7.6.22 for windows_x86_64
26/07/2016 12:18:12 |  | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task, file_xfer_debug, http_debug, http_xfer_debug
26/07/2016 12:18:12 |  | log flags: proxy_debug
26/07/2016 12:18:12 |  | Libraries: libcurl/7.45.0 OpenSSL/1.0.2d zlib/1.2.8
26/07/2016 12:18:12 |  | Data directory: C:\ProgramData\BOINC
26/07/2016 12:18:12 |  | Running under account <USERNAME>
26/07/2016 12:18:12 |  | No usable GPUs found
26/07/2016 12:18:12 |  | Host name: <HOSTNAME>
26/07/2016 12:18:12 |  | Processor: 4 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU         680  @ 3.60GHz [Family 6 Model 37 Stepping 5]
26/07/2016 12:18:12 |  | Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss htt tm pni ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt aes syscall nx lm vmx smx tm2 pbe
26/07/2016 12:18:12 |  | OS: Microsoft Windows 8.1: Professional x64 Edition, (06.03.9600.00)
26/07/2016 12:18:12 |  | Memory: 3.74 GB physical, 4.37 GB virtual
26/07/2016 12:18:12 |  | Disk: 117.38 GB total, 67.54 GB free
26/07/2016 12:18:12 |  | Local time is UTC +2 hours
26/07/2016 12:18:12 |  | VirtualBox version: 5.0.12
26/07/2016 12:18:12 | Einstein@Home | URL http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/; Computer ID 9848683; resource share 100
26/07/2016 12:18:12 | LHC@home 1.0 | URL http://lhcathomeclassic.cern.ch/sixtrack/; Computer ID 10310945; resource share 200
26/07/2016 12:18:12 | SETI@home | URL http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/; Computer ID 7170567; resource share 100
26/07/2016 12:18:12 | VirtualLHC@home | URL http://lhcathome2.cern.ch/test4theory/; Computer ID 67287; resource share 200
26/07/2016 12:18:17 |  | General prefs: from http://milkyway.cs.rpi.edu/milkyway/ (last modified 28-Aug-2013 22:33:04)
26/07/2016 12:18:17 |  | Host location: none
26/07/2016 12:18:17 |  | General prefs: using your defaults
26/07/2016 12:18:17 |  | Preferences:
26/07/2016 12:18:17 |  | max memory usage when active: 2873.61MB
26/07/2016 12:18:17 |  | max memory usage when idle: 3448.33MB
26/07/2016 12:18:17 |  | max disk usage: 50.00GB
26/07/2016 12:18:17 |  | don't use GPU while active
26/07/2016 12:18:17 |  | (to change preferences, visit a project web site or select Preferences in the Manager)
26/07/2016 12:18:17 |  | Using proxy info from GUI
26/07/2016 12:18:17 |  | [http] HTTP_OP::init_get(): https://einsteinathome.org/notices.php?userid=205640&auth=205640_0baead7fe19e415eba7a445d989e713b
26/07/2016 12:18:17 |  | [http] HTTP_OP::libcurl_exec(): ca-bundle 'C:\Program Files\BOINC\ca-bundle.crt'
26/07/2016 12:18:17 |  | [http] HTTP_OP::libcurl_exec(): ca-bundle set
26/07/2016 12:18:17 |  | [proxy] HTTP_OP::no_proxy_for_url(): https://einsteinathome.org/notices.php?userid=205640&auth=205640_0baead7fe19e415eba7a445d989e713b
26/07/2016 12:18:17 |  | [proxy] returning false
26/07/2016 12:18:18 |  | [proxy] automatic proxy check in progress
26/07/2016 12:18:18 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:    Trying 129.89.61.70...
26/07/2016 12:18:18 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  Connected to einsteinathome.org (129.89.61.70) port 443 (#0)
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  ALPN, offering http/1.1
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  Cipher selection: ALL:!EXPORT:!EXPORT40:!EXPORT56:!aNULL:!LOW:!RC4:@STRENGTH
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  successfully set certificate verify locations:
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:    CAfile: C:\Program Files\BOINC\ca-bundle.crt
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:    CApath: none
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  TLSv1.2 (OUT), TLS header, Certificate Status (22):
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  TLSv1.2 (OUT), TLS handshake, Client hello (1):
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  TLSv1.2 (IN), TLS handshake, Server hello (2):
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  TLSv1.2 (IN), TLS handshake, Certificate (11):
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  TLSv1.2 (IN), TLS handshake, Server key exchange (12):
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  TLSv1.2 (IN), TLS handshake, Server finished (14):
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  TLSv1.2 (OUT), TLS handshake, Client key exchange (16):
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  TLSv1.2 (OUT), TLS change cipher, Client hello (1):
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  TLSv1.2 (OUT), TLS handshake, Finished (20):
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  TLSv1.2 (IN), TLS change cipher, Client hello (1):
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  TLSv1.2 (IN), TLS handshake, Finished (20):
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  SSL connection using TLSv1.2 / ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  ALPN, server did not agree to a protocol
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  Server certificate:
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  	 subject: C=US; ST=Wisconsin; L=Milwaukee; O=University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; OU=Physics; CN=www.einsteinathome.org
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  	 start date: Dec 11 00:00:00 2015 GMT
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  	 expire date: Dec 10 23:59:59 2018 GMT
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  	 subjectAltName: einsteinathome.org matched
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  	 issuer: C=US; O=thawte, Inc.; CN=thawte SSL CA - G2
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  	 SSL certificate verify ok.
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Sent header to server: GET /notices.php?userid=205640&auth=205640_0baead7fe19e415eba7a445d989e713b HTTP/1.1
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Sent header to server: Host: einsteinathome.org
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Sent header to server: User-Agent: BOINC client (windows_x86_64 7.6.22)
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Sent header to server: Accept: */*
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Sent header to server: Accept-Encoding: deflate, gzip
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Sent header to server: Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Sent header to server: Accept-Language: en_GB
26/07/2016 12:18:19 |  | [http] [ID#0] Sent header to server:
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: HTTP/1.1 200 OK
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2016 10:18:20 GMT
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: Server: Apache
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: Expires: Tue, 26 Jul 2016 10:18:20 GMT
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: Last-Modified: Tue, 26 Jul 2016 10:18:20 GMT
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: Vary: Accept-Encoding
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: X-Frame-Options: sameorigin
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: Content-Type: application/xml;charset=utf-8
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: Content-Encoding: gzip
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: Content-Length: 2646
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server:
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [http_xfer] [ID#0] HTTP: wrote 6486 bytes
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  Connection #0 to host einsteinathome.org left intact
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [http] HTTP_OP::init_get(): http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/notices.php?userid=145036&auth=145036_d6088e75220b5534431dfdc64fc18555
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [http] HTTP_OP::libcurl_exec(): ca-bundle set
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [proxy] HTTP_OP::no_proxy_for_url(): http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/notices.php?userid=145036&auth=145036_d6088e75220b5534431dfdc64fc18555
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [proxy] returning false
26/07/2016 12:18:20 |  | [proxy] HTTP_OP::setup_proxy_session(): setting up automatic proxy <PROXY ADDRESS>
26/07/2016 12:18:21 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  Could not resolve proxy: <PROXY ADDRESS>
26/07/2016 12:18:21 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  Closing connection 1
26/07/2016 12:18:21 |  | [http] HTTP error: Couldn't resolve proxy name
26/07/2016 12:18:21 |  | [http] HTTP_OP::init_get(): http://lhcathome2.cern.ch/vLHCathome/notices.php?userid=9819&auth=9819_7c318fe31ac194fbae9cc4ff910c9ddb
26/07/2016 12:18:21 |  | [http] HTTP_OP::libcurl_exec(): ca-bundle set
26/07/2016 12:18:21 |  | [proxy] HTTP_OP::no_proxy_for_url(): http://lhcathome2.cern.ch/vLHCathome/notices.php?userid=9819&auth=9819_7c318fe31ac194fbae9cc4ff910c9ddb
26/07/2016 12:18:21 |  | [proxy] returning false
26/07/2016 12:18:21 |  | [proxy] HTTP_OP::setup_proxy_session(): setting up automatic proxy <PROXY ADDRESS>
26/07/2016 12:18:22 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  Could not resolve proxy: <PROXY ADDRESS>
26/07/2016 12:18:22 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  Closing connection 2
26/07/2016 12:18:22 |  | [http] HTTP error: Couldn't resolve proxy name
26/07/2016 12:21:24 | SETI@home | update requested by user
26/07/2016 12:21:24 |  | [http] HTTP_OP::init_get(): http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/notices.php?userid=145036&auth=145036_d6088e75220b5534431dfdc64fc18555
26/07/2016 12:21:24 |  | [http] HTTP_OP::libcurl_exec(): ca-bundle set
26/07/2016 12:21:24 |  | [proxy] HTTP_OP::no_proxy_for_url(): http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/notices.php?userid=145036&auth=145036_d6088e75220b5534431dfdc64fc18555
26/07/2016 12:21:24 |  | [proxy] returning false
26/07/2016 12:21:24 |  | [proxy] HTTP_OP::setup_proxy_session(): setting up automatic proxy <PROXY ADDRESS>
26/07/2016 12:21:24 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  Connection 0 seems to be dead!
26/07/2016 12:21:24 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  Closing connection 0
26/07/2016 12:21:24 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  TLSv1.2 (OUT), TLS alert, Client hello (1):
26/07/2016 12:21:25 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  Could not resolve proxy: <PROXY ADDRESS>
26/07/2016 12:21:25 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  Closing connection 3
26/07/2016 12:21:25 |  | [http] HTTP error: Couldn't resolve proxy name
26/07/2016 12:21:28 | SETI@home | Sending scheduler request: Requested by user.
26/07/2016 12:21:28 | SETI@home | Not requesting tasks: don't need (not highest priority project)
26/07/2016 12:21:28 | SETI@home | [http] HTTP_OP::init_post(): http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi
26/07/2016 12:21:28 | SETI@home | [http] HTTP_OP::libcurl_exec(): ca-bundle 'C:\Program Files\BOINC\ca-bundle.crt'
26/07/2016 12:21:28 | SETI@home | [http] HTTP_OP::libcurl_exec(): ca-bundle set
26/07/2016 12:21:28 |  | [proxy] HTTP_OP::no_proxy_for_url(): http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi
26/07/2016 12:21:28 |  | [proxy] returning false
26/07/2016 12:21:28 |  | [proxy] HTTP_OP::setup_proxy_session(): setting up automatic proxy <PROXY ADDRESS>
26/07/2016 12:21:28 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Info:  Could not resolve proxy: <PROXY ADDRESS>
26/07/2016 12:21:28 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Info:  Closing connection 4
26/07/2016 12:21:28 | SETI@home | [http] HTTP error: Couldn't resolve proxy name
26/07/2016 12:21:29 |  | Project communication failed: attempting access to reference site
26/07/2016 12:21:29 |  | [http] HTTP_OP::init_get(): http://www.google.com/
26/07/2016 12:21:29 |  | [http] HTTP_OP::libcurl_exec(): ca-bundle set
26/07/2016 12:21:29 |  | [proxy] HTTP_OP::no_proxy_for_url(): http://www.google.com/
26/07/2016 12:21:29 |  | [proxy] returning false
26/07/2016 12:21:29 |  | [proxy] HTTP_OP::setup_proxy_session(): setting up automatic proxy <PROXY ADDRESS>
26/07/2016 12:21:29 | SETI@home | Scheduler request failed: Couldn't resolve proxy name
26/07/2016 12:21:29 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  Could not resolve proxy: <PROXY ADDRESS>
26/07/2016 12:21:29 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  Closing connection 5
26/07/2016 12:21:29 |  | [http] HTTP error: Couldn't resolve proxy name
26/07/2016 12:21:30 |  | BOINC can't access Internet - check network connection or proxy configuration.
26/07/2016 12:23:18 |  | Using proxy info from GUI
26/07/2016 12:23:18 |  | Using HTTP proxy 78.56.4.12:80
26/07/2016 12:23:26 |  | Using proxy info from GUI
26/07/2016 12:23:30 | SETI@home | update requested by user
26/07/2016 12:23:31 |  | [http] HTTP_OP::init_get(): http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/notices.php?userid=145036&auth=145036_d6088e75220b5534431dfdc64fc18555
26/07/2016 12:23:31 |  | [http] HTTP_OP::libcurl_exec(): ca-bundle set
26/07/2016 12:23:31 |  | [proxy] HTTP_OP::no_proxy_for_url(): http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/notices.php?userid=145036&auth=145036_d6088e75220b5534431dfdc64fc18555
26/07/2016 12:23:31 |  | [proxy] returning false
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:    Trying 208.68.240.110...
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  Connected to setiathome.berkeley.edu (208.68.240.110) port 80 (#6)
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Sent header to server: GET /notices.php?userid=145036&auth=145036_d6088e75220b5534431dfdc64fc18555 HTTP/1.1
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Sent header to server: Host: setiathome.berkeley.edu
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Sent header to server: User-Agent: BOINC client (windows_x86_64 7.6.22)
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Sent header to server: Accept: */*
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Sent header to server: Accept-Encoding: deflate, gzip
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Sent header to server: Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Sent header to server: Accept-Language: en_GB
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Sent header to server:
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: HTTP/1.1 200 OK
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2016 10:23:32 GMT
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: Server: Apache/2.2.15 (Scientific Linux)
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: X-Powered-By: PHP/5.3.3
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: Expires: Tue, 26 Jul 2016 10:23:33 GMT
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: Last-Modified: Tue, 26 Jul 2016 10:23:33 GMT
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: Content-Length: 1868
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: Connection: close
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server: Content-Type: application/xml
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Received header from server:
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http_xfer] [ID#0] HTTP: wrote 1868 bytes
26/07/2016 12:23:32 |  | [http] [ID#0] Info:  Closing connection 6
26/07/2016 12:23:35 | SETI@home | Sending scheduler request: Requested by user.
26/07/2016 12:23:35 | SETI@home | Not requesting tasks: don't need (not highest priority project)
26/07/2016 12:23:35 | SETI@home | [http] HTTP_OP::init_post(): http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi
26/07/2016 12:23:35 | SETI@home | [http] HTTP_OP::libcurl_exec(): ca-bundle set
26/07/2016 12:23:35 |  | [proxy] HTTP_OP::no_proxy_for_url(): http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi
26/07/2016 12:23:35 |  | [proxy] returning false
26/07/2016 12:23:36 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Info:    Trying 208.68.240.126...
26/07/2016 12:23:36 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Info:  Connected to setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu (208.68.240.126) port 80 (#7)
26/07/2016 12:23:36 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Sent header to server: POST /sah_cgi/cgi HTTP/1.1
26/07/2016 12:23:36 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Sent header to server: Host: setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu
26/07/2016 12:23:36 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Sent header to server: User-Agent: BOINC client (windows_x86_64 7.6.22)
26/07/2016 12:23:36 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Sent header to server: Accept: */*
26/07/2016 12:23:36 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Sent header to server: Accept-Encoding: deflate, gzip
26/07/2016 12:23:36 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Sent header to server: Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
26/07/2016 12:23:36 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Sent header to server: Accept-Language: en_GB
26/07/2016 12:23:36 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Sent header to server: Content-Length: 20590
26/07/2016 12:23:36 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Sent header to server: Expect: 100-continue
26/07/2016 12:23:36 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Sent header to server:
26/07/2016 12:23:36 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Received header from server: HTTP/1.1 100 Continue
26/07/2016 12:23:36 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Info:  We are completely uploaded and fine
26/07/2016 12:23:37 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Received header from server: HTTP/1.1 200 OK
26/07/2016 12:23:37 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Received header from server: Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2016 10:23:36 GMT
26/07/2016 12:23:37 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Received header from server: Server: Apache/2.2.15 (Scientific Linux)
26/07/2016 12:23:37 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Received header from server: Connection: close
26/07/2016 12:23:37 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Received header from server: Transfer-Encoding: chunked
26/07/2016 12:23:37 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Received header from server: Content-Type: text/xml
26/07/2016 12:23:37 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Received header from server:
26/07/2016 12:23:37 |  | [http_xfer] [ID#1] HTTP: wrote 1285 bytes
26/07/2016 12:23:37 |  | [http_xfer] [ID#1] HTTP: wrote 3875 bytes
26/07/2016 12:23:37 | SETI@home | [http] [ID#1] Info:  Closing connection 7
26/07/2016 12:23:37 | SETI@home | Scheduler request completed
7) Message boards : BOINC client : Client won't communicate after (removed) IP address conflict (Message 49222)
Posted 20 May 2013 by Pavel Hanak
Post:
So basically, you want me to install a piece of hardware to solve a software problem? Especially when BOINC is the only program in those PCs that fails to recover from the IP conflicts? Well, that's not exactly the kind of solution I expected to hear...

Oh well, nevermind. For now, I'll just write a script (or something) which will enable and disable BOINC's HTTP proxy automatically once a day. That works when I do it manually, so I guess it can be automated as well (Windows Task Scheduler is a bit of pain in the ass, but what the hell). Maybe that bug will get fixed in a year or two (if it is actually a BOINC bug, that is). Or maybe the switches/routers in "my" building will be replaced for some better ones. Whichever comes the first...
8) Message boards : BOINC client : Client won't communicate after (removed) IP address conflict (Message 49090)
Posted 13 May 2013 by Pavel Hanak
Post:
I just found out that Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise SP1 is affected as well.
9) Message boards : BOINC client : Client won't communicate after (removed) IP address conflict (Message 48790)
Posted 23 Apr 2013 by Pavel Hanak
Post:
So I had another IP conflict yesterday, and BOINC Manager stopped communicating again. I tried the ipconfig /flushdns command, but it didn't help, not even after I restarted the PC.

Maybe the IP conflict triggers something else, something deeper in W7? Are there other known causes which can disrupt BOINC's communication like that? Because all other programs (web browsers, software updaters etc.) continue to work fine after the IP conflict disappears.

As I said, the reasons why these conflicts happen in the first place are complicated. But basically, they happen during router/switch reconfigurations. You see, the building I'm in has many tenants and practically every week someone leaves or comes, which means new computers have to be added or removed from the local network. I don't know whether it is due to poor administration, weak rules enforcement ("frigging use DHCP or else") or cheap hardware (Huawei, anyone?) but the act of reconfiguration sometimes causes these IP conflicts. There is nothing I can do about it.

10) Message boards : BOINC client : Client won't communicate after (removed) IP address conflict (Message 48659)
Posted 17 Apr 2013 by Pavel Hanak
Post:
Hi all, I encountered what may be a bug. Sometimes, I get transient (they are present mere seconds) IP address conflicts on my local network. The reasons why they happen are complicated and I can do nothing about them, it is beyond my control. Of course, Windows OS reports them with its usual pop-up window.

After any such conflict happens, BOINC projects are unable to communicate with their home servers anymore. The BOINC log window always reports "unable to resolve host name" or some variation of it. Strangely, the problem persists even after I reboot the machine. So far, I've found only one solution: I have to turn on HTTP proxy (even with non-functional proxy address) in BOINC Manager, press OK and then go to the same menu and turn it off again.

This happens every time on W7 64-bit (tested on two different PCs), WXP 32-bit seems to be unaffected. BOINC manager version I use is 7.0.28 x64.



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