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PatHawks
 
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2009-02-09 16:41:34

Was going to run BOINC on EC2, but it looks like it's just not worth it.
EC2 just wasn't designed for ultra-intense computing. I've got boat anchors that are faster

Anybody else have any experience with such a thing?
PatHawks
 
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2009-02-10 00:44:22

I've got boat anchors that are faster

For anybody curious, here are some stats on the EC2 instance that you can compare to my personal Boat Anchor #1
We'll let this go for a day or two and see what happens.
Will report back here when finished.
Guest

2009-02-10 01:21:04

I've got boat anchors that are faster

For anybody curious, here are some stats on the EC2 instance that you can compare to my personal Boat Anchor #1


hmm - WTF is an EC2?? boins reports a Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5345 @ 2.33GHz with 2 cores - weird...

and - you probably will not get a single WU on SIMAP now.
PatHawks
 
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2009-02-10 01:32:03
last modified: 2009-02-10 01:35:45

hmm - WTF is an EC2??

EC2 is a service from Amazon that allows you to rent a virtual machine on their servers. It's meant for people building websites and apps.
Not really designed for intense computing.

and - you probably will not get a single WU on SIMAP now.
Yeah, I've got it attached to a few other projects (including your favorite, MW). The SIMAP stat page was just easy to link to :shrugs:
PatHawks
 
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2009-02-10 06:45:02

First results are in!
I have yet to decide if this is worth it...
PatHawks
 
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2009-02-10 07:41:36

The BOINC wiki has instructions for installing BOINC on Amazon's EC2

Right now, I have one instance running on the pre-built AMI, and one on a custom Gentoo AMI
The former being cheap and the latter being fast(er)
noderaser
 
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2009-02-11 01:31:28

Got some money to burn? I wonder what the cost per cobblestone (or other measurement-cost per computing hour?) would be compared to running your own client at home... Assuming you're paying your own utilities. Currently, my electricity is included with rent but the landlord did make a complaint that the electric bill went up quite a bit since I moved in... I took one client down and made some other "energy efficient" changes around the house, and he seems to be satisfied for the time being.
Odd-Rod
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2009-02-11 18:51:47

I've got boat anchors that are faster

For anybody curious, here are some stats on the EC2 instance that you can compare to my personal Boat Anchor #1



GenuineIntel Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz [Family 15 Model 3 Stepping 4]

How can you call that a boat anchor? My 3rd best host is a P4 3GHz!

Try this for a real boat anchor!

Rod
PatHawks
 
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2009-02-11 19:15:59
last modified: 2009-02-11 19:18:00

How can you call that a boat anchor? My 3rd best host is a P4 3GHz!

Try this for a real boat anchor!

Ok, I have to ask, what projects can you crunch with 24MB RAM?

[edit]And you've got 36,440 credits on that thing!? [/edit]

I have an an old COMPAQ with 16MB RAM and would love to crunch something with it just to say that I did, but any project I can find requires at least 32MB

Know of anyway I can trick BOINC into thinking swap is RAM?
PatHawks
 
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2009-02-11 19:55:41

My little experiment is over.

I ran two EC2 instances for approximately 24 hours each, a medium instance and an X-Large instance.
The whole thing cost me about $25(us)

The medium instance earned 1,414.56 credits on MilkyWay@Home
The X-Large instance earned 494.08 credits on WCG

I think I"m missing something. A dual quad-core Xeon setup should get more than 500 credits a day.
I know MW is known for being loose with the credits, but I was not running any optimized apps, and I think the difference between the two instances is way too large (why did the medium instance earn three times the credits of the X-Large instance?)

Will investigate more, and post any updates here.
Odd-Rod
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2009-02-11 20:11:27
last modified: 2009-02-11 20:20:10

How can you call that a boat anchor? My 3rd best host is a P4 3GHz!

Try this for a real boat anchor!

Ok, I have to ask, what projects can you crunch with 24MB RAM?

Here's what I have on it (in alphabetical order!):
3x+1@home - unfortuately this project is ending - no more new WUs
AQUA@home - Haven't completed a WU on it yet - no checkpointing and LONG WUs - but it does run
boincsimap - Although I did get this message once, so WUs may vary in requirements:
Message from server: BOINCSIMAP simap application needs 28.61 MB RAM but only 21.09 MB is available for use.

Enigma@Home
nQueens@Home Project
ramsey - they're developing a new application - hoping it will still work
SHA-1 Collision Search Graz
Sudoku - Hoping the new 13-series will still work

[edit]And you've got 36,440 credits on that thing!? [/edit]
Er - I wish - according to BOINCStats I have 4,068.91, where did you get the figure?
But hey, still something for such an old pc.
It crunches 24/7 except if there's been a power failure. I have to manually power it up again.

I have an an old COMPAQ with 16MB RAM and would love to crunch something with it just to say that I did, but any project I can find requires at least 32MB

Know of anyway I can trick BOINC into thinking swap is RAM?

Nope, wish I did, although it would crunch REALLY slow if it swapping a lot! In fact, I could be wrong but I think I used to have seti@home on there or maybe my 64MB pc, but detached because it seemed to be swapping continuously.

Give the above projects a go. I'd love to know if any of them can be run in only 16MB. Of course the word 'run' should be read as 'crawl' !

If anyone is interested I can give the projects that I have running in 64MB.
Edit: rephrased the above sentence

Regards
Rod
PatHawks
 
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2009-02-11 20:32:25

And you've got 36,440 credits on that thing!?
Er - I wish - according to BOINCStats I have 4,068.91, where did you get the figure?
But hey, still something for such an old pc.
I don't know where I got that number from
I just looked again and saw 4,068.91

I think I have everything attached to that machine. At least, everything BAM supports.
It has yet to find something it can crunch.

Even if it crawled along, swapping in and out of RAM and killing the harddrive in the process, that really wouldn't bother me.
I mean, what else am I going to use this paper weight for?
Odd-Rod
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2009-02-11 20:58:18

I think I have everything attached to that machine. At least, everything BAM supports.
It has yet to find something it can crunch.

I see that you have 13.17MB available. Try setting Memory usage to 100% 'when computer in use' and 'when computer is idle'.
Since I think you're just going to leave it crunching it shouldn't be a problem.

Even if it crawled along, swapping in and out of RAM and killing the harddrive in the process, that really wouldn't bother me.
I mean, what else am I going to use this paper weight for?

In the interests of science, etc.
You could use it as a boat anchor

If you check the messages tab of Boinc Manager you should see the minimum memory required for each project after a failed work fetch attempt. Here are various types of messages I have received. (I saved them in a file for future reference - I guess this is the future!)
SixTrack needs 57.22 MB RAM but only 23.44 MB is available for use.
Message from server: Your computer has 23 MB of memory, and 95 MB is needed
Message from server: malariacontrol needs 31.88MB more disk space. You currently have 101.63 MB available and it needs 133.51 MB.
Your computer has only 66547712 bytes of memory; workunit requires 67670288 more bytes

Rod

PatHawks
 
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2009-02-11 21:21:47

I see that you have 13.17MB available. Try setting Memory usage to 100% 'when computer in use' and 'when computer is idle'.
Since I think you're just going to leave it crunching it shouldn't be a problem.

I think it already is, at least, it should be.
Most projects just need more memory than that.

You know, I seriously considered trying to buy another stick of memory for the dang thing just so I could use it for BOINC, but for the same price I could get another P4 on ebay.
I had to buy a USB ethernet adapter so I could even get it on my network
If only there were a way I could compile my own client that lied about available RAM?
Odd-Rod
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2009-02-11 21:30:05

If only there were a way I could compile my own client that lied about available RAM?

I wonder if that would work? Wish I knew about compiling - and had the tools, of course!

Well, as I've just said in the Shoutbox, bed is calling. I'll here again tomorrow night.

Sleeepy regards
Rod
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