Multiple Different Seti Version Running on Same Machine - Why?

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VSeven

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Message 1912852 - Posted: 13 Jan 2018, 19:16:46 UTC
Last modified: 13 Jan 2018, 19:45:52 UTC

I have three servers running Seti after hours when our utilization is low (stays under 10%). The three servers are all running Server 2012 R2 and all three are set for 50% of the CPU. All are single processor units, all have at least 32Gb of ram. They are as follows:

Server 1 - Intel® Xeon® Processor X5670 (6 core / 12 thread)
Server 2 - Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2650 v3 (10 core / 20 thread)
Server 3 - Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2620 v4 (8 core / 16 thread)


I have BOINC 7.8.3 x64 installed on all three as a service and all are added to the same preference group. Here is the issue: I would expect server 1 to be the slowest and server 3 although it has two less cores to be overall faster. However here are my results:

Server 1: 2700 average credit
Server 2: 5900 average credit
Server 3: 700 average credit

Results from server 1 and 2 make sense but to me something is very wrong on server 3 so I checked task manager on each. All three servers were sitting at 50% utilization from SETI which is correct. However this is what I saw:

Server 1: Every SETI instance was "setiathome_v8 (x86)"
Server 2: Every SETI instance was "setiathome_8.08_windows_x86_64__alt"
Server 3: Three different SETI instances were all running at the same time randomly:
- 3 instances of "setiathome_8.05_windows_x86_64"
- 2 instances of "setiathome_8.08_windows_x86_64__alt
- 3 instances of "setiathome_v8 (32bit )"

I reran the BOINC benchmarks and that had no effect. Is this normal? Shouldn't it be running the 8.08 for all tasks on server 3? My average credit is obviously not correct...it should be at least the same as server 2 if not slightly higher.

Also why is server 1 with a Xeon processor and Server 2012 R2 (x64) running the 32-bit version instead of one of the 64 bit version? Is there a way to force all servers to run 8.08?
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Message 1912856 - Posted: 13 Jan 2018, 20:01:21 UTC

I expect BOINC is trying the different apps to find out which is fastest for each machine.

You have your computers hidden so you’ll have to login to the Seti website go to your account, click on view computers and then for each one details and then applications. Under there it will list each app and a figure for APR (Average Processing Rate). It takes at least 11 valid tasks to work out. It will cycle though the available apps and then pick the one with th highest APR.

If you want help un-hide your computers. If you want to see what information is shown click on any users name and then view computers. Its only fairly basic info like OS, memory, number of CPUs, etc.
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VSeven

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Message 1912860 - Posted: 13 Jan 2018, 20:28:12 UTC - in response to Message 1912856.  
Last modified: 13 Jan 2018, 20:30:17 UTC

Server 3 was definately the last added, it was being used for more critical tasks up until this last week and now its a non-critical backup machine . It has definitely run through at least 11 tasks though. For that computer:

State: All (465) · In progress (100) · Validation pending (114) · Validation inconclusive (3) · Valid (248) · Invalid (0) · Error (0)

I'll try to be patient and wait another couple days and see if it changes. I was unaware that it ran through the different programs at first as I've never noticed it before. I'll reply again if it doesn't sort itself out. Thanks.
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Message 1912871 - Posted: 13 Jan 2018, 20:52:07 UTC

Multiple Different Seti Version Running on Same Machine - Why?


Because that's the way that BOINC and SETI works. If you don't want to suffer the vagaries of the Seti servers making app choices for you, the alternative is to use the anonymous platform and choose the app you want to use yourself.
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Message boards : Number crunching : Multiple Different Seti Version Running on Same Machine - Why?


 
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