The really big problem is us.

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Profile Geek@Play
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Message 796314 - Posted: 11 Aug 2008, 14:52:23 UTC

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.

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Message 796320 - Posted: 11 Aug 2008, 15:05:01 UTC

Very well said, Geek@Play. I don't think I could have said it better myself...
Wendy



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Greg Beach
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Message 796321 - Posted: 11 Aug 2008, 15:11:21 UTC

It's unfortunate that for some people it seems their RAC is the most important thing in their lives.
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Message 796327 - Posted: 11 Aug 2008, 15:27:16 UTC
Last modified: 11 Aug 2008, 15:28:53 UTC

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
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Message 796329 - Posted: 11 Aug 2008, 15:29:42 UTC
Last modified: 11 Aug 2008, 15:30:21 UTC

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.
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Message 796336 - Posted: 11 Aug 2008, 16:12:48 UTC - in response to Message 796314.  

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.


Hear Hear, well said.
Just stay calm people, the emergency services are on their way!



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Josef W. Segur
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Message 796339 - Posted: 11 Aug 2008, 16:18:48 UTC

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
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Message 796351 - Posted: 11 Aug 2008, 16:41:45 UTC - in response to Message 796327.  

Just business as usual for those who worship at the altar of the almighty RAC.

The almighty RAC is a fickle god.

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Message 796352 - Posted: 11 Aug 2008, 16:46:50 UTC

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!

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Message 796417 - Posted: 11 Aug 2008, 19:21:46 UTC

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
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Message 796428 - Posted: 11 Aug 2008, 19:42:26 UTC




. . . Thanks to Each of You @ the Labs - Good Work - Accolades to All Involved (Thanks)


BOINC Wiki . . .

Science Status Page . . .
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Message 796464 - Posted: 11 Aug 2008, 20:45:24 UTC - in response to Message 796428.  

. . . Thanks to Each of You @ the Labs - Good Work - Accolades to All Involved (Thanks)


Ditto that from me...

Well done and..

Cheers chaps.






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Message 796508 - Posted: 11 Aug 2008, 22:15:51 UTC

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.


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Message 796513 - Posted: 11 Aug 2008, 22:27:35 UTC

And who offered to buy someone dinner or donate to SETI to get somebody over to kick the server?
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Message 796516 - Posted: 11 Aug 2008, 22:33:36 UTC - in response to Message 796352.  

When was the big outage when almost everyone ran out of work?
Was it Christmas '04?


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.

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Message 796546 - Posted: 12 Aug 2008, 0:07:46 UTC - in response to Message 796508.  

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??
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Message 796552 - Posted: 12 Aug 2008, 0:23:00 UTC - in response to Message 796546.  

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??


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.



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Message boards : Number crunching : The really big problem is us.


 
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