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World Community Grid Forums
Category: Support
Forum: BOINC Agent Support
Thread: Network support for 100 computers? |
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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 39
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ericinboston
Senior Cruncher Joined: Jan 12, 2010 Post Count: 230 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Hi all,
----------------------------------------I'm thinking of starting a project that will consist of 100 identical machines in my house that will crunch WCD. I don't want to get into the project details right now... My question is, what would be the best way to configure the clients (Mac Minis) so that my home network (20Mbit downstream, 1.5Mb up and using wireless G) doesn't get killed? It turns out that each upload/download of a work unit is about 100KB. So if I have 100 computers attempting to upload/download 3 WUs all simultaneously, that would be about 30MB coming/going up/down from the net at that 1 particular moment. So, instead of trying to have all the computers "transmit" some kind of file at once, I would want to space them out so they are not all hitting the net at any particular second in time. Although theoretically consumer wireless routers (I have a Netgear) claim to handle 255 machines, I would guess that 1/2 that number is more realistic (for a max connected devices) and maybe even at bursts (so 125 would be about half of 255). I'm wondering if my router will truly run with 100 machines working through it...and the 100 machines would, in comparison to normal computer use cases, only be using 1/100th of amounts of downloads/uploads as they sit and crunch data for 7+ hours and then call the mothership for more work and crunch again for 7+ hours...so out of a 24 hour day, each machine may only download 1-2MB of data and upload 1-2MB of data. I have a few thoughts and maybe someone here can comment on each or offer other suggestions: 1)Configure all 100 computers to only download/upload during the evening...such as 11pm-8am. This should be configurable inside BOINC. Although this does not particularly address my concern of all 100 machines hitting the net at exactly the same time, it does limit the window so they are working when my other 2-3 home machines are not in use (surfing, downloading, etc.) 2)Building on #1, if #1 proves unhelpful (meaning my network comes to a halt or crashes), set 50 machines to only up/download on days M,W,F while the other 50 up/download T,Thurs, Sat...or something similar to that effect. 3)If #2 doesn't work (again, #2 builds on #1), set some/all of the machines to a particular "Connect About Every _____" setting. I am unclear how this setting will work in conjunction with #1...because if I set it to Connect Every 0.5 days (every 12 hours) will it ever run during my 9 hour window of 11pm-8am? I believe I am pretty much forced to do this project wirelessly...using wires will be time consuming, expensive (wires and hubs/routers and more devices to power), and ultimately wires all over the place. :) Any comments about my 3 options? Thanks in advance! -Eric  |
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Sekerob
Ace Cruncher Joined: Jul 24, 2005 Post Count: 20043 Status: Offline |
Points 1/2, yes you can set a day/multi day schedule with different time slot for each day. You could not manage this with web profiles, but BOINCTasks is the tool to do this with. The format of time slot for an 11pm to 8am would be 23:00-08:00. There's a sample in the FAQ's for someone who only wants down/uploading to take place out of office hours, full time during the weekends.
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ericinboston
Senior Cruncher Joined: Jan 12, 2010 Post Count: 230 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Points 1/2, yes you can set a day/multi day schedule with different time slot for each day. You could not manage this with web profiles, but BOINCTasks is the tool to do this with. I've looked at BOINCTasks but not sure what/how it will allow me to "manage" my 100 computers. It seems that every computer would be a different window inside BOINCTasks which would make it rather unreadable very quickly. Moreover, what can I actually do with BOINCTasks in my situation? Likely I would install it on my home pc which is not one of the 100 pcs in my project. 1)I don't see any reference to it allowing management of download/upload times. 2)I don't see any reference to it giving me warnings on x days without an upload/download...meaning a machine may be low on tasks or not reporting. 3)Does it allow me to start/restart/kill a BOINC instance remotely so I don't have to go to the physical box and do it? What about rebooting the machine remotely? Considering that all 100 computers will be crunching the same project, I believe the only thing I will need to monitor is: 1)The computers are actively crunching 2)The computers are not out (or low) of work units 3)The computers are actually reporting results I am also unclear if BOINCTasks needs to be installed on all 100 computers...they will be Mac Minis and it seems that BOINCTasks is compiled only for Windows (which I have a few Windows machines, too). -Eric [Edit 2 times, last edit by ericinboston at Feb 26, 2010 8:17:50 PM] |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Hello ericinboston,
BoincTasks at http://www.efmer.eu/boinc/boinc_tasks/ uses Internet Protocol messages over the network to query and command BOINC.exe on each computer. You just have to list each computer in a central database. Lawrence |
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ericinboston
Senior Cruncher Joined: Jan 12, 2010 Post Count: 230 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Thanks, Lawrence.
----------------------------------------@ everyone: Does anyone have a recommendation on how I should network 100 computers? Meaning, I'm guessing all 100 will not fare well on a single $50 Netgear wireless router...so how would I get all 100 computers to play nicely on my home network? I would prefer to do this wirelessly if possible. Maybe someone has a simple diagram/schematic I can look at? Thanks again! -Eric |
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uplinger
Former World Community Grid Tech Joined: May 23, 2005 Post Count: 3952 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Eric,
As for networking 100 computers...you probably don't want to mess with wireless. It will add debugging the network a little more. You could use a simple two tier network. This means a router for where your main internet line comes in. You could use a simple wireless router from linksys if you'd like, but make sure it has 4 available outgoing wired ports. Then plug 4 of these wired switches into it. The router will act as your dns server for your nework that is connected to it. Then set all the machines to be dhcp. On your router you may want to open up the number of available dhcp clients that connect from the default 50 to say 200. This way, your machines probably already have wired eithernet cards in them. Good luck Linksys SR224 24-Port 10/100 Switch -Uplinger |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
OK, uplinger was faster than me...
I just looked up a switch, which fullfilles you requirements (and Uplinger came up with the same model...  )I have this one in use: http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/EF4124?lid=LearnMore Very reliable and not too expensive. Once you realized your project, maybe you can show us some pictures of your crunching-farm...  |
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ericinboston
Senior Cruncher Joined: Jan 12, 2010 Post Count: 230 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Thanks uplinger and totto73...but do you think my wireless router (I have a Netgear WGR614 right now) will be able to handle 100 computers plugged into it via 4-5 switches? I know theoretically it can take up to 255 machines but I'm just not convinced this $50 consumer router will be able to handle it.
----------------------------------------But maybe I'm wrong. I gave up on Linksys wireless routers...after LS was purchased by Cisco, I found the consumer stuff went down the tubes...can't even tell you have many WRG54G routers died on me (with only 2 machines in the house on it)...they used to be the defacto standard but after numerous returns to the stores and Linksys and the garbage can I tried Netgear. That LS is $50 on Amazon and has some pretty ugly reviews (pretty much summing up what I said about LS quality). Anyone else recommend another brand/model? Thanks again! -Eric [Edit 1 times, last edit by ericinboston at Mar 1, 2010 9:15:34 PM] |
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uplinger
Former World Community Grid Tech Joined: May 23, 2005 Post Count: 3952 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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personal experiences with certain brands happens to everyone. Since you own a netgear router right now. I would say use it. I don't think you'll encounter much issues since the eithernet part of the router is pretty stable. You can always spend more money on a different device, but the hardware within the router should be able to handle many machines. Only way to find out is to try :) I can recommend some expensive routers if you want :) You can always try small. get one 24 port switch and hook it up first, if that works, then move onto the next switch. Let us know if you have any other questions or need help.
-Uplinger |
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Coleslaw
Veteran Cruncher USA Joined: Mar 29, 2007 Post Count: 1343 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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You could always make each of your Windows machines into a router by adding a second network adapter and then wiring them to your primary wireless router and then just get some cheap wireless routers to plug into the secondary ethernet cards of the desktops. They should handle the traffic pretty strong and probably a lot more efficient. Can't really beat the hardware inside a P4 tower. (or I at least assume that is what the other machines are) Then that allows you to spread the wireless traffic across 3 devices so you don't over do the capacity of the wireless chips. I would also recommend setting each router on a different radio frequency. If one router burns up...you still have 2 more until you replace the dead one.
----------------------------------------Edit: Make sure to use the Windows Internet Connection Sharing obviously.     [Edit 1 times, last edit by Coleslaw at Mar 2, 2010 3:13:18 AM] |
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