We are quite pleased with the BOINC database performance since the swap yesterday. In fact, it recovered quite nicely even though we lost our large backlog of results to send. When that queue reaches zero, that puts a little extra strain on the whole system as that increases the number of users reconnecting trying to get work. In any case, that queue is growing, and so far everything is running lickety split, relatively speaking. Bob is going to optimize some of the other non-feeder queries in the meantime to squeeze extra performance from MySQL.

Oddly enough, yesterday afternoon I noted one of the lights on the 3510 (jocelyn's external RAID array) was amber. Turns out during the moving and power cycling the previous day we must have pushed an ailing drive over the dark edge into death. Fair enough - the array pulled in a spare and sync'ed it up before we realized what happened. So we'll replace that drive in due time - Meanwhile we have another spare at the ready in the system.

Dell replaced the bad CPU in isaac, which fixed one problem, but we were still having unexplained crashes when using the latest xen kernel. However a new kernel came out and we upgraded to that this morning and so far so good. One theory is the bad CPU screwed up the previous kernel, which might explain why it suddenly had problems when it was fine for weeks before that. Then again.. how does a bad CPU permanently screw up a kernel image?

Also in good news I got a solaris version of the multibeam splitter compiled today. I was slowed by lots of problems which, on hindsight, were kinda stupid though not my fault or anybody else's. As stated elsewhere this was more of an exercise to get used to the programming environment Jeff and Eric have been mired in for a while now, so I had to learn the ropes. Anyway.. it's running now and will take a while before we get any results. Basically this whole step is to give us the warm fuzzy feeling that, when we move splitters to off solaris and onto linux, there aren't any endian issues we haven't yet addressed.

- Matt

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-- BOINC/SETI@home network/web/science/development person
-- "Any idiot can have a good idea. What is hard is to do it." - Jeanne-Claude

Good to hear that you're getting on top of things Matt :o)

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Awesome news Matt. Thank you for the update. I will keep my fingers crossed for you guys that things stay going smooth for at least a while. :-)

Jeremy

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there aren't any endian issues we haven't yet addressed.

If they give you problems, let me know... we have a couple cowboys we can send that will help fight the endians.

there aren't any endian issues we haven't yet addressed.

If they give you problems, let me know... we have a couple cowboys we can send that will help fight the endians.

Are these little-endians or big-endians?

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Are these little-endians or big-endians?

"The godfather of Calin Deffar Plune, the reigning emperor of Lilliput, happened to cut his finger while breaking his egg at the big end, and very rovally published a decree commanding all his liege and faithful subjects, on pains and penalties of great severity, to break their eggs in future at the small end."
( Gulliver's Travels, on the war between little-endians and big-endians )

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"Living by the wisdom of computer science doesn't sound so bad after all. And unlike most advice, it's backed up by proofs." -- Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions.

Are these little-endians or big-endians?

I think there's one of each, Solaris and Linux...(but I don't know which OS is which endian...)

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.

Hello, from Albany, CA!...

Are these little-endians or big-endians?

I think there's one of each, Solaris and Linux...(but I don't know which OS is which endian...)

I believe this is a feature of chips, not of OSs.
Tullio

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Are these little-endians or big-endians?

I think there's one of each, Solaris and Linux...(but I don't know which OS is which endian...)

I believe this is a feature of chips, not of OSs.
Tullio

That's true it's a CPU "feature".
SPARCs are "Big Endian" and x86 are "little Endian".

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Join BOINC United now!

Didn't really know where to post this. I have a host I would like to delete, but there is a workunit hanging around (109013436) that won't let me. Everyone who chrunched this one finished it back in January, but it still says pending.

By the way guys, great job dealing with all the problems. Keep up the good work.

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Are these little-endians or big-endians?

I think there's one of each, Solaris and Linux...(but I don't know which OS is which endian...)

I believe this is a feature of chips, not of OSs.
Tullio

That's true it's a CPU "feature".
SPARCs are "Big Endian" and x86 are "little Endian".

SPARCs run Solaris, x86 (and x86-x64...) run various versions of Linux. (NTM Window$)

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.

Hello, from Albany, CA!...

SPARCs run Solaris, x86 (and x86-x64...) run various versions of Linux. (NTM Window$)

X86 run also the Solaris X86 version, Open Solaris.
Tullio

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Ye digital Gods,

small minds diddle about "endians",

You BOINC / SETI Geniuses manage Chaos !

Right on brothers, ride on ....

In admiration, Pablo4

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SPARCs run Solaris, x86 (and x86-x64...) run various versions of Linux. (NTM Window$)

X86 run also the Solaris X86 version, Open Solaris.
Tullio

That's true, but SPARCs run linux too. This whole "endianess" is not dependant on OS it's just about how (simple) bit ordering is done by the cpu used.

In some cases the programmer has to check the code for reordering instructions when porting the code. That's it.

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Join BOINC United now!

SPARCs run Solaris, x86 (and x86-x64...) run various versions of Linux. (NTM Window$)

X86 run also the Solaris X86 version, Open Solaris.
Tullio

That's true, but SPARCs run linux too. This whole "endianess" is not dependant on OS it's just about how (simple) bit ordering is done by the cpu used.

In some cases the programmer has to check the code for reordering instructions when porting the code. That's it.

I've read on www.msnbc.msn.com that the ISS computers now in trouble are based on SPARC V7 space-hardened chips running a real-time UNIX OS. I hope they can get them running again, I think the Russian-American cooperation on the ISS is a signpost for all mankind.
Tullio

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Seems like for the last few hours the server hit an non endian endian.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

I think the Russian-American cooperation on the ISS is a signpost for all mankind.

Tullio

Hello Tullio

thank you so much for your excellent post ! I agree with you so much !

"the survival of the the human species and the survival of planet Earth ... in his book ''COSMOS'' Carl Sagan writes: We know who speaks for the Nations but who speaks for the Earth ? who speaks for the human species ? Carl Sagan writes ''We speak for Earth'' ''Our loyalties are to the species and the planet. Our obligation to survive is owed not just to ourselves but also to that Cosmos, ancient and vast , from which we sprang''

Best Wishes to tullio in Italy:
from:
Byron
in
Canada

Hello Tullio

thank you so much for your excellent post ! I agree with you so much !

"the survival of the the human species and the survival of planet Earth ... in his book ''COSMOS'' Carl Sagan writes: We know who speaks for the Nations but who speaks for the Earth ? who speaks for the human species ? Carl Sagan writes ''We speak for Earth'' ''Our loyalties are to the species and the planet. Our obligation to survive is owed not just to ourselves but also to that Cosmos, ancient and vast , from which we sprang''

Best Wishes to tullio in Italy:
from:
Byron
in
Canada

Thanks Byron. Years ago I translated "Cosmos" for Mondadori Publishing House on my Olivetti typewriter. No PCs then. Now I am running SETI, Einstein and QMC on an old PII running Linux. Cheers.
Tullio

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I think the Russian-American cooperation on the ISS is a signpost for all mankind.

Tullio

Hello Tullio

thank you so much for your excellent post ! I agree with you so much !

"the survival of the the human species and the survival of planet Earth ... in his book ''COSMOS'' Carl Sagan writes: We know who speaks for the Nations but who speaks for the Earth ? who speaks for the human species ? Carl Sagan writes ''We speak for Earth'' ''Our loyalties are to the species and the planet. Our obligation to survive is owed not just to ourselves but also to that Cosmos, ancient and vast , from which we sprang''

Best Wishes to tullio in Italy:
from:
Byron
in
Canada

> so Well put - Thank You for that Quote Byron . . . "OUR OBLIGATION"

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BOINC Wiki . . .

Science Status Page . . .

If they give you problems, let me know... we have a couple cowboys we can send that will help fight the endians.

Are these little-endians or big-endians?

I think there's one of each, Solaris and Linux...(but I don't know which OS is which endian...)

I believe this is a feature of chips, not of OSs.

That's true it's a CPU "feature".
SPARCs are "Big Endian" and x86 are "little Endian".

Are Scarecrow's cowboys capable of handling both types of endians?

Peter