Message boards :
Number crunching :
The really big problem is us.
Message board moderation
Author | Message |
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Geek@Play Send message Joined: 31 Jul 01 Posts: 2467 Credit: 86,146,931 RAC: 0 |
When the servers at Berkeley go down it seems a large segement of crunchers go into panic mode. They start removing Boinc, reinstalling a newer version or an older version in an attempt to make it work again. Worse then many reset the project or abort the work which means that work will have to be sent out again when the project does come back online and the wingman will wait an extended amount of time. I don't know what else the message should say! "The project servers may be down" seems to make sense to me! Can't understand why so many of us panic and start messing around with their local boinc installations when the message correctly indicates the problem is at Berkeley. But the very worse, for me anyway, is the expectation of many that Berkely must get someone into the computer lab and correct the problem immediately. Possibly have someone there 24/7 to take care of impending doom on the servers. Even with the servers down at Seti - Berkeley. The sun still rose in the East this morning. The earth is still turning on it's axxis. Nobody died as a direct result of the servers being down. Why can't the guy's at Berkeley have a life, at least on the weekends? Just my opinion of course, YMMV. Boinc....Boinc....Boinc....Boinc.... |
web03 Send message Joined: 13 Feb 01 Posts: 355 Credit: 719,156 RAC: 0 |
Very well said, Geek@Play. I don't think I could have said it better myself... Wendy Click Here for BOINC FAQ Service |
Greg Beach Send message Joined: 7 Jun 99 Posts: 23 Credit: 4,978,313 RAC: 0 |
It's unfortunate that for some people it seems their RAC is the most important thing in their lives. |
Keith White Send message Joined: 29 May 99 Posts: 392 Credit: 13,035,233 RAC: 22 |
Just business as usual for those who worship at the altar of the almighty RAC. You would thing they would understand by now that sometimes the servers go down, which is why we can request X days of extra work to queue up. But then there are those that despise wingmen who queue up more than a days worth of work because they can't stand to see the word "Pending" on their results page. They freak everytime the credit multiplier is tweaked to be more in line with the rest of BOINC. I see a disturbing similarity to MMORPG forums were players complain over connection problems and power nerfs. Our RAC is their DPS (damage per second) or as one online comic puts it, and pardon the language, "Some gamers (Seti@Home users) appear to have mistaken DPS (RAC) for a unit of measurement of penis size." That said, it's going to be an interesting recovery. We have somewhere in the neighborhood of 48 hours of results, I would guess on the order of 2.5 million, to be uploaded and processed through the system and then refill and then enable downloads of new units. Then coupled with the usual downtime on Tuesday. It's going to be another messy 48 hours. "Life is just nature's way of keeping meat fresh." - The Doctor |
jason_gee Send message Joined: 24 Nov 06 Posts: 7489 Credit: 91,093,184 RAC: 0 |
The other week, I think it was, I read that somewhere in California got a 'nice jolt'. The first image that popped into my head was poor Matt under a cascade of falling servers, to which I thought "Oh No, I hope Matt's OK". The second thought was "Oh no the Servers!". My conscience is good with those priorities :D "Don't Panic!" Jason "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. |
Whiskey Send message Joined: 5 Sep 04 Posts: 981 Credit: 640,589 RAC: 0 |
When the servers at Berkeley go down it seems a large segement of crunchers go into panic mode. They start removing Boinc, reinstalling a newer version or an older version in an attempt to make it work again. Worse then many reset the project or abort the work which means that work will have to be sent out again when the project does come back online and the wingman will wait an extended amount of time. Hear Hear, well said. Just stay calm people, the emergency services are on their way! Join the #1 UAE Team. |
Josef W. Segur Send message Joined: 30 Oct 99 Posts: 4504 Credit: 1,414,761 RAC: 0 |
There's also a secondary effect which I've been somewhat concerned about. Every time we have server difficulty there are multiple posts suggesting users should queue more work so they won't run out. Every WU queued on a host of course must also be in workunit storage on the servers, plus the database has to keep track of those issued but not completed tasks. Both workunit storage limitations and database issues have been the cause of past server indigestions, adding to those problems is counterproductive. Because only a fraction of participants read these boards it probably won't make a lot of difference if some boost their queues, but it would be best for the project if the boosts were kept to moderate levels. Joe |
1mp0£173 Send message Joined: 3 Apr 99 Posts: 8423 Credit: 356,897 RAC: 0 |
Just business as usual for those who worship at the altar of the almighty RAC. The almighty RAC is a fickle god. |
Whiskey Send message Joined: 5 Sep 04 Posts: 981 Credit: 640,589 RAC: 0 |
When was the big outage when almost everyone ran out of work? Was it Christmas '04? Then when the SETI system came back up it took two days to get work for anyone using a Dial-Up Modem. At the time it was a "Disastrophy" but a month later it was just history! Join the #1 UAE Team. |
KWSN Sir Clark Send message Joined: 17 Aug 02 Posts: 139 Credit: 1,002,493 RAC: 8 |
This is why I crunch seven projects on a single PC....in case there are problems. As long as the debt calculation works correctly and the project with the problem gets its fair share of CPU time when it comes back online I don't have a problem. The main problem is that people don't seem to realise that while it may be Monday morning for them, it's still Sunday evening for the SETI guys and I don't think we can begrudge them having a weekend out of the office. Perhaps we should instigate an exchange programme and fly all the complainers in to fix the problems and give the SETI team a break |
Dr. C.E.T.I. Send message Joined: 29 Feb 00 Posts: 16019 Credit: 794,685 RAC: 0 |
. . . Thanks to Each of You @ the Labs - Good Work - Accolades to All Involved (Thanks) BOINC Wiki . . . Science Status Page . . . |
Whiskey Send message Joined: 5 Sep 04 Posts: 981 Credit: 640,589 RAC: 0 |
. . . Thanks to Each of You @ the Labs - Good Work - Accolades to All Involved (Thanks) Ditto that from me... Well done and.. Cheers chaps. Join the #1 UAE Team. |
Blurf Send message Joined: 2 Sep 06 Posts: 8962 Credit: 12,678,685 RAC: 0 |
I would remind people that Eric mentioned at the beginning of the last Fundraising Drive---that if enough funds were raised, then they could bring in an overnight/weekend person. The recent outages are a PRIME example of where this could've helped. |
KWSN Checklist Send message Joined: 4 Jan 08 Posts: 46 Credit: 3,282,541 RAC: 0 |
And who offered to buy someone dinner or donate to SETI to get somebody over to kick the server? |
Phil Send message Joined: 19 Jun 99 Posts: 110 Credit: 4,545,588 RAC: 0 |
When was the big outage when almost everyone ran out of work? I think a better one was when thieves opened a hole outside the lab to steal cable and chopped through a load of "useless" fibre to get the copper, killing SETI stone dead. Then engineers tried to splice the fibre but the hole was filled up with rainwater so we waited a week for a new fibre to be installed across the campus. |
Bernie Vine Send message Joined: 26 May 99 Posts: 9954 Credit: 103,452,613 RAC: 328 |
I would remind people that Eric mentioned at the beginning of the last Fundraising Drive---that if enough funds were raised, then they could bring in an overnight/weekend person. The recent outages are a PRIME example of where this could've helped. OK as a non credit card owning UK resident, what is the best way for me to donate?? |
Geek@Play Send message Joined: 31 Jul 01 Posts: 2467 Credit: 86,146,931 RAC: 0 |
I would remind people that Eric mentioned at the beginning of the last Fundraising Drive---that if enough funds were raised, then they could bring in an overnight/weekend person. The recent outages are a PRIME example of where this could've helped. In your case a personal check or international money order mailed to the address on this form. Print and complete the form. Mail it to the address on the form. Boinc....Boinc....Boinc....Boinc.... |
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