I'm Here (Sep 18 2012)

Sorry I've was away for a while there then once again fallen out of the habit of making regular tech news reports. Then again it's a sign of some stability here that I haven't had that much to say.

Lately I've been largely working on this random noise data file (10ja10zz). We recently encountered more issues with how results are being reported - nothing we can't fix - but in order to recalibrate everything we felt the need to see what would happen when straight up random noise enters the system.

So I created this bogus file and it already passed through the system a couple times using the standard splitter and the new polyphase filter bank splitter (which creates workunits with a flatter frequency response). We have several more tests to do, so expect another pass or two (or ten) of this file.

A word about the name "10ja10zz" - as many of you know the naming convention for these tapes are DDMMYYNN where DD is the day of the month, MM is a two character abbreviation of the month, YY is the two digit year, and NN is the sequence "number" for that day, i.e. we start with "aa" then "ab" then "ac" etc. Usually we never get past something like "aj." I wanted to create a bogus name that fit in with this format. To make it easier I wanted the day-of-month and year to match, and "01" would make sense but "01" isn't really a valid value for multibeam format files (which this is, and multibeam started in '06) so I just flipped it and made it "10" for both. I picked "ja" for January as that seemed easy enough, and then "zz" as that's the last possible sequence "number" and highly unlikely. It was only after the fact that somebody pointed out to me that the "ja" in January and the bogus "zz" spell "jazz." So we've been since calling this the "jazz" file.

Meanwhile we have gotten a new switch in the closet - a nice Foundry X448 - once again donated by the GPU User's Group. We've been slowly physically moving things around to make room for this switch (in a logical place in the racks) and today I got a few servers plugged into it, including the web server. That means these very bits you are reading right now went through that switch.

- 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

Thanks for the Updates Matt...Glad that things seem to be going well.
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I Desire Peace and Justice, Jim Scott

Very pleased to hear the new switch is in,
it will be interesting to see what happens.

Thanks for the news bits, Matt.
As you said, in a way it's good that you didn't feel you HAD to post too much news, but the kitties and others are always happy to get your insights on what goes on behind the servers.

Meow!
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"Ask not, what your kitty can do for you. Ask what you can do for your kitty."

As it is kitten, so shall it be done.

The recently installed switch I'm mentioning is entirely internal to the server closet, and has nothing to do with workunits/results going in and out of the building.

So this new switch is working great. As mentioned elsewhere you probably won't notice much of a difference, except for maybe less of the very occasional internal network log jams that hamper workunit production and result upload i/o. What we gain is more ports, more internal throughput (for data analysis), more manageability, and much needed redundancy.

- 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

Thanks for the update Matt,

Claggy

There is a "Number Crunching" forum where you can ask questions if you are having problems.

Some people are reporting problems, but personally I have full caches on two machines and the third one is just downloading 42 WU's to fill its cache. So it is not affecting everyone.
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There are different issues that can cause the problems most are experiencing. It could be the download/upload servers are hiccuping, shorty work units clogging the pipe, astropulse work is being split so that will plug the pipe. SETI@HOME is running on a shoe string budget, barely able to pay the couple of guys that are still in the lab that try to keep things together. They are doing the best they can with what they have. We have a bunch of folks that have been kicking in different equipment and money to the GPU USER group, which has in turn sent that to SETI. This project simply relies on donors at this point, they don't get much outside help anymore, grant money is quickly fading, or non-existant. Be part of the solution and help. Visit the Number Crunching forums, donate money or equipment, thats the only way this project is going to keep growing and running.
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