Maxed (Dec 16 2010)

Message boards : Technical News : Maxed (Dec 16 2010)

Author	Message
Matt Lebofsky Volunteer moderator Project administrator Project developer Project scientist Send message Joined: 1 Mar 99 Posts: 1375 Credit: 74,079 RAC: 0	Message 1057238 - Posted: 17 Dec 2010, 22:04:12 UTC
	The extended outages are not just server related but sanity related. It's nice to have several days a week where it doesn't matter what the systems are doing and we can get other work done. That said, I think if things are turning out well we can certainly reduce our regular outages. - Matt ____________ -- BOINC/SETI@home network/web/science/development person -- "Any idiot can have a good idea. What is hard is to do it." - Jeanne-Claude
	ID: 1057238 ·

B-Man Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 11 Feb 01 Posts: 253 Credit: 147,366 RAC: 1	Message 1057267 - Posted: 17 Dec 2010, 23:24:58 UTC - in response to Message 1057238.
	The extended outages are not just server related but sanity related. It's nice to have several days a week where it doesn't matter what the systems are doing and we can get other work done. That said, I think if things are turning out well we can certainly reduce our regular outages. - Matt But Matt sanity is so over rated. Take the time if needed I at least will still be here. May I suggest a 2 day outage instead of three if longer ones are still needed. Or have a three day outages every 2nd and 4th tuesday of the month? ____________
	ID: 1057267 ·

soft^spirit Send message Joined: 18 May 99 Posts: 6231 Credit: 27,520,840 RAC: 8,082	Message 1057327 - Posted: 18 Dec 2010, 2:20:59 UTC - in response to Message 1057238.
	Sanity is over rated. But stress is over rated too. ____________ Janice
	ID: 1057327 ·

[seti.international] Philip J. Fry Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 6 Apr 07 Posts: 6571 Credit: 50,818,019 RAC: 20,440	Message 1057334 - Posted: 18 Dec 2010, 3:24:10 UTC - in response to Message 1057238.
	The extended outages are not just server related but sanity related. It's nice to have several days a week where it doesn't matter what the systems are doing and we can get other work done. That said, I think if things are turning out well we can certainly reduce our regular outages. - Matt How much and which kind of server/s is/are needed for to let run SETI@home and 'background work' 24/7? Maybe the 3rd new server could do this? Or a 4th or more new server/s is/are needed? ____________ >Das Deutsche Cafe. The German Cafe.<
	ID: 1057334 ·

[seti.international] Philip J. Fry Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 6 Apr 07 Posts: 6571 Credit: 50,818,019 RAC: 20,440	Message 1057335 - Posted: 18 Dec 2010, 3:31:03 UTC - in response to Message 1057334. Last modified: 18 Dec 2010, 3:42:14 UTC
	Would be a 'Dell PowerEdge 2800, 2x (2x 2.8 GHz) XEON' helpful, or not well/useful for SETI@home? I don't have this server, but I know someone - maybe he would donate this server.. ____________ >Das Deutsche Cafe. The German Cafe.<
	ID: 1057335 ·

James Sotherden Volunteer moderator Send message Joined: 16 May 99 Posts: 6051 Credit: 14,704,077 RAC: 18,320	Message 1057336 - Posted: 18 Dec 2010, 3:42:01 UTC
	Job Stress I can relate to. Its also something I hadnt thought of for seti. Before reading Matts response, I was thinking maybe we could donate for a dedicated nitpckr server so we wouldnt have to go thru anymore 3 day outages. I could deal with another 3 day outage as long as we didnt get ghosts. ____________
	ID: 1057336 ·

soft^spirit Send message Joined: 18 May 99 Posts: 6231 Credit: 27,520,840 RAC: 8,082	Message 1057342 - Posted: 18 Dec 2010, 4:26:59 UTC - in response to Message 1057336.
	I can not imagine any kind of system admin without stress. Having worked in a 24/7 environment(for Sutaru) they would need absolute full redundancy, being able to switch back and forth ALL servers at the first glitch, full battery strings plus backup generator.. When they have the first extra million laying around they might be able to start thinking about it. In which case it would be some time after they find E.T. If they need 3 days, 3 days is reasonable. If they can cut it back to 2.5(off tuesday morning, on thursday night) that would be awesome. There is still some fine tuning between the last servers going in. And more work is ahead. ____________ Janice
	ID: 1057342 ·

Gary Charpentier Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 25 Dec 00 Posts: 10331 Credit: 5,103,825 RAC: 6,332	Message 1057345 - Posted: 18 Dec 2010, 4:32:04 UTC - in response to Message 1057336.
	Job Stress I can relate to. Its also something I hadnt thought of for seti. Before reading Matts response, I was thinking maybe we could donate for a dedicated nitpckr server so we wouldnt have to go thru anymore 3 day outages. I could deal with another 3 day outage as long as we didnt get ghosts. Resend is on, that should significantly help with the ghosts. ____________
	ID: 1057345 ·

[seti.international] Philip J. Fry Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 6 Apr 07 Posts: 6571 Credit: 50,818,019 RAC: 20,440	Message 1057354 - Posted: 18 Dec 2010, 4:52:54 UTC - in response to Message 1057342.
	I can not imagine any kind of system admin without stress. Having worked in a 24/7 environment(for Sutaru) they would need absolute full redundancy, being able to switch back and forth ALL servers at the first glitch, full battery strings plus backup generator.. When they have the first extra million laying around they might be able to start thinking about it. In which case it would be some time after they find E.T. If they need 3 days, 3 days is reasonable. If they can cut it back to 2.5(off tuesday morning, on thursday night) that would be awesome. There is still some fine tuning between the last servers going in. And more work is ahead. You worked for me? I guess - you meant SUBARU, or? ;-) ____________ >Das Deutsche Cafe. The German Cafe.<
	ID: 1057354 ·

Helli Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 15 Dec 99 Posts: 692 Credit: 66,782,187 RAC: 2,424	Message 1057417 - Posted: 18 Dec 2010, 7:52:07 UTC - in response to Message 1057238.
	... It's nice to have several days a week where it doesn't matter what the systems are doing ... hehe I quite believe it. In the same way the Stress on YOU Guys lowers - in the same Way the Stress on US increases. :D Helli ____________
	ID: 1057417 ·

Richard Haselgrove Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 4 Jul 99 Posts: 7462 Credit: 39,754,991 RAC: 33,948	Message 1057449 - Posted: 18 Dec 2010, 11:33:55 UTC - in response to Message 1056774.
	We're back to shoveling out workunits as fast as we can. I mentioned in another thread that the gigabit link project is still alive. In fact, the whole lab is interested in getting gigabit connectivity to the rest of campus, which makes the whole battle a lot easier (we'll still have to buy our own bits and get the hardware to keep them separate). Still, it's slow going due to campus staff cutbacks and higher priorities. Now that, at least temporarily, the balance between server power and communications has swung towards the servers, would it be worth re-considering the compression of MB workunit files before transmission? Not much to be gained (and nothing at all for the incompressible AP files), but every little helps - and it would give Oscar something to do when he's bored ;-)
	ID: 1057449 ·

Cheopis Send message Joined: 17 Sep 00 Posts: 126 Credit: 6,772,931 RAC: 7,956	Message 1057462 - Posted: 18 Dec 2010, 12:03:44 UTC - in response to Message 1057449. Last modified: 18 Dec 2010, 12:06:53 UTC
	We're back to shoveling out workunits as fast as we can. I mentioned in another thread that the gigabit link project is still alive. In fact, the whole lab is interested in getting gigabit connectivity to the rest of campus, which makes the whole battle a lot easier (we'll still have to buy our own bits and get the hardware to keep them separate). Still, it's slow going due to campus staff cutbacks and higher priorities. Now that, at least temporarily, the balance between server power and communications has swung towards the servers, would it be worth re-considering the compression of MB workunit files before transmission? Not much to be gained (and nothing at all for the incompressible AP files), but every little helps - and it would give Oscar something to do when he's bored ;-) I don't know how compressable the data is, but it might well be worth the effort to save the bandwidth. I don't know if anyone has ever written a lossless compression algorithm for CUDA, but I'd think it might actually be a very good match, and might allow any of the modern servers in the closet that can add a video card to do a significant chunk of compression, while using a GPU rather than a CPU. Well worth considering after the hardware is sorted out and working efficiently again.
	ID: 1057462 ·

Richard Haselgrove Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 4 Jul 99 Posts: 7462 Credit: 39,754,991 RAC: 33,948	Message 1057475 - Posted: 18 Dec 2010, 12:25:36 UTC - in response to Message 1057462. Last modified: 18 Dec 2010, 12:26:10 UTC
	I don't know if anyone has ever written a lossless compression algorithm for CUDA, but I'd think it might actually be a very good match, and might allow any of the modern servers in the closet that can add a video card to do a significant chunk of compression, while using a GPU rather than a CPU. In general, and where space is available, that might be a useful facility. The trouble is that extreme-density 2U rackmount servers like Oscar and Carolyn (photos) have very little spare space, and cooling air is at a premium, too. The graphics (card? chip?) in such a server is usually a very minimal spec, to save power and space - all it needs to handle is basic engineering and management displays. You don't want to watch DVDs or play games in a server closet.
	ID: 1057475 ·

Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 9 Apr 02 Posts: 11987 Credit: 18,173,877 RAC: 56,300	Message 1057527 - Posted: 18 Dec 2010, 15:31:10 UTC - in response to Message 1057475.
	You don't want to watch DVDs or play games in a server closet. Then again, it might give them some entertainment with as much time as they've been spending in there lately! :)
	ID: 1057527 ·

Richard Haselgrove Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 4 Jul 99 Posts: 7462 Credit: 39,754,991 RAC: 33,948	Message 1057559 - Posted: 18 Dec 2010, 17:52:03 UTC - in response to Message 1057527.
	You don't want to watch DVDs or play games in a server closet. Then again, it might give them some entertainment with as much time as they've been spending in there lately! :) OK, your employer / Finance Director (the one who did the deal to buy the server) doesn't want you to be watching DVDs or playing games - ever!
	ID: 1057559 ·

Volunteer tester Send message Joined: 9 Apr 02 Posts: 11987 Credit: 18,173,877 RAC: 56,300	Message 1057614 - Posted: 18 Dec 2010, 20:48:07 UTC - in response to Message 1057559.
	You don't want to watch DVDs or play games in a server closet. Then again, it might give them some entertainment with as much time as they've been spending in there lately! :) OK, your employer / Finance Director (the one who did the deal to buy the server) doesn't want you to be watching DVDs or playing games - ever! Yeah, but they're stick-in-the-muds! ;)
	ID: 1057614 ·

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Message boards : Technical News : Maxed (Dec 16 2010)