Sun has been a great donator of hardware. Or atleast a provider at greatly reduced pricing. When on of their drive controllers (with new drives) failed. Seti expected to get another drive controller from them. They pulled all the drives so that they could be installed in the new controller, but what did Sun ship??? A new controller With NEW drives installed. They let seti keep the old drives, so they had 24 (I think) new spares.

Intel has also recently donated a server.

Well I am really surprised it's that hard for them to find hardware.

Getting hardware is part of the problem, the other problem is getting hardware that is compatible with all the other hardware received.

I just have a hard time believing that one of the big guns out there would have an issue being a corporate sponsor/donor for SETI@Home. Intel, AMD, Microsoft, etc. all have pockets so deep that they would never miss the few thousand dollars it would cost them to support SETI. And the publicity in front of SETI users would certainly be worth the investment.

Part of the problem is that there's a lot of people out there that feel the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is a waste of time at this point (no offense to SETI, I'm a proud member myself obviously), especially considering the extreme probability that we will not find anything given our current search methods, many feel that solving our own problems such as with Folding@Home and CPDN are much more worthwhile tasks (considering everyone is concerned about going green these days). Donating servers to SETI@Home may not offer as much face time as you'd think, given the current social and political climate.

Well that brings me to another point which is I think SETI would be VERY well served by adding stuff to the code for hunt for things like pulsars while they are at. But that's for another thread too.

SETI may be a 'waste of time', but so is watching a baseball/football/basketball/hockey/soccer game yet billions do it every week. Corporations sponsoring SETI could be reminded of little facts like this (Intel sponsors a Nascar ride, and AMD has their logo on a wing of the Ferarri team).

In the past, tapes were split in a highly random order, this tended to mix "fast" and "slow" work units, so that we didn't see the system run dry because of all fast (all noisy) work.

Looking at the splitter queue (sunday morning) it seems to be pretty much in order. If the telescope was looking at the same source all the time, that could give us a bunch of really similar work units.

Perhaps things need to be randomized a bit more....

I have had similar thoughts, however even better than randomizing would be to run a sort of preview on each disc or recording session.

It might be an additional workload on the server infrastructure, so that might be why Matt has not done it, but if they could preview each disc they might be able to choose a good mix of work before the splitters start their work.

Seems like a possible solution from my limited viewpoint.

<edit> added a word to make more gramatical sense </edit>

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Sir Arthur C Clarke 1917-2008

In the past, tapes were split in a highly random order, this tended to mix "fast" and "slow" work units, so that we didn't see the system run dry because of all fast (all noisy) work.

Looking at the splitter queue (sunday morning) it seems to be pretty much in order. If the telescope was looking at the same source all the time, that could give us a bunch of really similar work units.

Perhaps things need to be randomized a bit more....

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Another huge problem is, that there doesn't exits a welldocumented flowchart of the serverpark.

I don't think that there exits any documentation at all!
Many people have asked for this over the years, as to be able to offer their help and place accurate hardware-donation.

If one or two key-serverstaff-members leave the project for good (in anger og accidential) the whole projects shuts down IMHO.

My 2 cent.

Kiva

Probably the only really key staff member is Eric Korpela, being the project scientist and all. There are at least three other staff members that know as well, we just don't know about them because they don't post. Matt mentions them from time to time.

The BOINC structure sets out the logical servers (upload servers, download servers, schedulers) pretty well. The rest can be found by reading configuration files and DNS and mounts.

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Osiris30

As a committed seti cruncher, well done on the donation.

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Another huge problem is, that there doesn't exits a welldocumented flowchart of the serverpark.

I don't think that there exits any documentation at all!
Many people have asked for this over the years, as to be able to offer their help and place accurate hardware-donation.

If one or two key-serverstaff-members leave the project for good (in anger og accidential) the whole projects shuts down IMHO.

My 2 cent.

Kiva

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Greetings from Norway

Crunch3er & AK-V8 Inside

Well I am really surprised it's that hard for them to find hardware.

Getting hardware is part of the problem, the other problem is getting hardware that is compatible with all the other hardware received.

I just have a hard time believing that one of the big guns out there would have an issue being a corporate sponsor/donor for SETI@Home. Intel, AMD, Microsoft, etc. all have pockets so deep that they would never miss the few thousand dollars it would cost them to support SETI. And the publicity in front of SETI users would certainly be worth the investment.

Part of the problem is that there's a lot of people out there that feel the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is a waste of time at this point (no offense to SETI, I'm a proud member myself obviously), especially considering the extreme probability that we will not find anything given our current search methods, many feel that solving our own problems such as with Folding@Home and CPDN are much more worthwhile tasks (considering everyone is concerned about going green these days). Donating servers to SETI@Home may not offer as much face time as you'd think, given the current social and political climate.

---

Well I am really surprised it's that hard for them to find hardware.

Getting hardware is part of the problem, the other problem is getting hardware that is compatible with all the other hardware received.

I just have a hard time believing that one of the big guns out there would have an issue being a corporate sponsor/donor for SETI@Home. Intel, AMD, Microsoft, etc. all have pockets so deep that they would never miss the few thousand dollars it would cost them to support SETI. And the publicity in front of SETI users would certainly be worth the investment.

Well I am really surprised it's that hard for them to find hardware.

Getting hardware is part of the problem, the other problem is getting hardware that is compatible with all the other hardware received.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Great stuff. One down, two to go. Anybody else got a spare server cluttering up their workbench?

Well I am really surprised it's that hard for them to find hardware. If I get a response to my private message, I'll see if there are other ways I can help as well. I know some folks at some various manufacturers, I'm sure they can spare some hardware for the cause. (good corporate citizenship and what not).

On the plus side my RAC is upto 1728 and my pending is holding steady around 7500 units.

On the down side I still have 4 machines out of work :/

Now I know you probably don't know, but why the heck are the splitters turning out the little short 20 minute WUs. There has to be some way SETI can turn out the WUs based on what's in storage. If the queue gets short, turn out the long ones, if the queue is almost full top it up with little ones. But keep track of the top ups so you don't end up with a full queue of little guys.

I had much the same idea here, and asked Matt if he knew in advance what sort of work was included in each recording session. I don't think he's replied.

As others have commented, it's not a very good long-term solution, but keeping a balance of long and short work going through the splitters would help to keep the stress levels down while the hardware donations drive (they need new servers with Gigabit ethernet) is gathering strength.

If they need gigabit ehternet adapaters I'll send them a box full. Seriously, if that will solve their problems I'll ship em a crate of the damned things (or at least a carton).

Great thought, but I'm afraid they probably need more than just adapters. Have a look at this thread - it started life here, but got moved to the Staff Blog for some reason. The servers they need to replace are:

# kosh: Sun D220R (2 x 440MHz Sparc, 2 GB RAM)
# klaatu: Sun D220R (2 x 440MHz Sparc, 2 GB RAM)
# penguin: Sun D220R (2 x 440MHz Sparc, 2 GB RAM)

- could you check whether your carton has Solaris drivers on the CD? <grin>

Hrmmm... well I have an HP Proliant DL 145 1U server sitting on my desk doing diddly squat. If they could arrange to cover the shipping it would be theres. nice box. I think I put 2 1.6 gig Opterons in it (it's too loud to run as a cruncher LOL). 2 or 4 gigs of ram, but ram is cheap.

Well, shipping from Canada probably makes more sense than shipping from the UK. If you're serious, why not drop Blurf a private message? He might be able to pair you up with another donor who could pick up the tab for the shipping, and a third to toss in a bit of extra RAM.

Already did. and frankly I'd like to have it off my desk. If someone covers the shipping I might even be able to toss in another couple gigs of ram. It'll bury those old Sparc machines, that much I know.

Great stuff. One down, two to go. Anybody else got a spare server cluttering up their workbench?

Now I know you probably don't know, but why the heck are the splitters turning out the little short 20 minute WUs. There has to be some way SETI can turn out the WUs based on what's in storage. If the queue gets short, turn out the long ones, if the queue is almost full top it up with little ones. But keep track of the top ups so you don't end up with a full queue of little guys.

I had much the same idea here, and asked Matt if he knew in advance what sort of work was included in each recording session. I don't think he's replied.

As others have commented, it's not a very good long-term solution, but keeping a balance of long and short work going through the splitters would help to keep the stress levels down while the hardware donations drive (they need new servers with Gigabit ethernet) is gathering strength.

If they need gigabit ehternet adapaters I'll send them a box full. Seriously, if that will solve their problems I'll ship em a crate of the damned things (or at least a carton).

Great thought, but I'm afraid they probably need more than just adapters. Have a look at this thread - it started life here, but got moved to the Staff Blog for some reason. The servers they need to replace are:

# kosh: Sun D220R (2 x 440MHz Sparc, 2 GB RAM)
# klaatu: Sun D220R (2 x 440MHz Sparc, 2 GB RAM)
# penguin: Sun D220R (2 x 440MHz Sparc, 2 GB RAM)

- could you check whether your carton has Solaris drivers on the CD? <grin>

Hrmmm... well I have an HP Proliant DL 145 1U server sitting on my desk doing diddly squat. If they could arrange to cover the shipping it would be theres. nice box. I think I put 2 1.6 gig Opterons in it (it's too loud to run as a cruncher LOL). 2 or 4 gigs of ram, but ram is cheap.

Well, shipping from Canada probably makes more sense than shipping from the UK. If you're serious, why not drop Blurf a private message? He might be able to pair you up with another donor who could pick up the tab for the shipping, and a third to toss in a bit of extra RAM.

Already did. and frankly I'd like to have it off my desk. If someone covers the shipping I might even be able to toss in another couple gigs of ram. It'll bury those old Sparc machines, that much I know.

[edit: 5 machines now offline due to no work units]

Now I know you probably don't know, but why the heck are the splitters turning out the little short 20 minute WUs. There has to be some way SETI can turn out the WUs based on what's in storage. If the queue gets short, turn out the long ones, if the queue is almost full top it up with little ones. But keep track of the top ups so you don't end up with a full queue of little guys.

I had much the same idea here, and asked Matt if he knew in advance what sort of work was included in each recording session. I don't think he's replied.

As others have commented, it's not a very good long-term solution, but keeping a balance of long and short work going through the splitters would help to keep the stress levels down while the hardware donations drive (they need new servers with Gigabit ethernet) is gathering strength.

If they need gigabit ehternet adapaters I'll send them a box full. Seriously, if that will solve their problems I'll ship em a crate of the damned things (or at least a carton).

Great thought, but I'm afraid they probably need more than just adapters. Have a look at this thread - it started life here, but got moved to the Staff Blog for some reason. The servers they need to replace are:

# kosh: Sun D220R (2 x 440MHz Sparc, 2 GB RAM)
# klaatu: Sun D220R (2 x 440MHz Sparc, 2 GB RAM)
# penguin: Sun D220R (2 x 440MHz Sparc, 2 GB RAM)

- could you check whether your carton has Solaris drivers on the CD? <grin>

Hrmmm... well I have an HP Proliant DL 145 1U server sitting on my desk doing diddly squat. If they could arrange to cover the shipping it would be theres. nice box. I think I put 2 1.6 gig Opterons in it (it's too loud to run as a cruncher LOL). 2 or 4 gigs of ram, but ram is cheap.

Well, shipping from Canada probably makes more sense than shipping from the UK. If you're serious, why not drop Blurf a private message? He might be able to pair you up with another donor who could pick up the tab for the shipping, and a third to toss in a bit of extra RAM.

Now I know you probably don't know, but why the heck are the splitters turning out the little short 20 minute WUs. There has to be some way SETI can turn out the WUs based on what's in storage. If the queue gets short, turn out the long ones, if the queue is almost full top it up with little ones. But keep track of the top ups so you don't end up with a full queue of little guys.

I had much the same idea here, and asked Matt if he knew in advance what sort of work was included in each recording session. I don't think he's replied.

As others have commented, it's not a very good long-term solution, but keeping a balance of long and short work going through the splitters would help to keep the stress levels down while the hardware donations drive (they need new servers with Gigabit ethernet) is gathering strength.

If they need gigabit ehternet adapaters I'll send them a box full. Seriously, if that will solve their problems I'll ship em a crate of the damned things (or at least a carton).

Great thought, but I'm afraid they probably need more than just adapters. Have a look at this thread - it started life here, but got moved to the Staff Blog for some reason. The servers they need to replace are:

# kosh: Sun D220R (2 x 440MHz Sparc, 2 GB RAM)
# klaatu: Sun D220R (2 x 440MHz Sparc, 2 GB RAM)
# penguin: Sun D220R (2 x 440MHz Sparc, 2 GB RAM)

- could you check whether your carton has Solaris drivers on the CD? <grin>

Hrmmm... well I have an HP Proliant DL 145 1U server sitting on my desk doing diddly squat. If they could arrange to cover the shipping it would be theres. nice box. I think I put 2 1.6 gig Opterons in it (it's too loud to run as a cruncher LOL). 2 or 4 gigs of ram, but ram is cheap.

Now I know you probably don't know, but why the heck are the splitters turning out the little short 20 minute WUs. There has to be some way SETI can turn out the WUs based on what's in storage. If the queue gets short, turn out the long ones, if the queue is almost full top it up with little ones. But keep track of the top ups so you don't end up with a full queue of little guys.

I had much the same idea here, and asked Matt if he knew in advance what sort of work was included in each recording session. I don't think he's replied.

As others have commented, it's not a very good long-term solution, but keeping a balance of long and short work going through the splitters would help to keep the stress levels down while the hardware donations drive (they need new servers with Gigabit ethernet) is gathering strength.

If they need gigabit ehternet adapaters I'll send them a box full. Seriously, if that will solve their problems I'll ship em a crate of the damned things (or at least a carton).

Great thought, but I'm afraid they probably need more than just adapters. Have a look at this thread - it started life here, but got moved to the Staff Blog for some reason. The servers they need to replace are:

# kosh: Sun D220R (2 x 440MHz Sparc, 2 GB RAM)
# klaatu: Sun D220R (2 x 440MHz Sparc, 2 GB RAM)
# penguin: Sun D220R (2 x 440MHz Sparc, 2 GB RAM)

- could you check whether your carton has Solaris drivers on the CD? <grin>

Now I know you probably don't know, but why the heck are the splitters turning out the little short 20 minute WUs. There has to be some way SETI can turn out the WUs based on what's in storage. If the queue gets short, turn out the long ones, if the queue is almost full top it up with little ones. But keep track of the top ups so you don't end up with a full queue of little guys.

I had much the same idea here, and asked Matt if he knew in advance what sort of work was included in each recording session. I don't think he's replied.

As others have commented, it's not a very good long-term solution, but keeping a balance of long and short work going through the splitters would help to keep the stress levels down while the hardware donations drive (they need new servers with Gigabit ethernet) is gathering strength.

If they need gigabit ehternet adapaters I'll send them a box full. Seriously, if that will solve their problems I'll ship em a crate of the damned things (or at least a carton).

RAC upto 1620ish now and pending upto 7500+

[edit] oh and three machines bone dry again [/edit]

Now I know you probably don't know, but why the heck are the splitters turning out the little short 20 minute WUs. There has to be some way SETI can turn out the WUs based on what's in storage. If the queue gets short, turn out the long ones, if the queue is almost full top it up with little ones. But keep track of the top ups so you don't end up with a full queue of little guys.

I had much the same idea here, and asked Matt if he knew in advance what sort of work was included in each recording session. I don't think he's replied.

As others have commented, it's not a very good long-term solution, but keeping a balance of long and short work going through the splitters would help to keep the stress levels down while the hardware donations drive (they need new servers with Gigabit ethernet) is gathering strength.

Now I know you probably don't know, but why the heck are the splitters turning out the little short 20 minute WUs. There has to be some way SETI can turn out the WUs based on what's in storage. If the queue gets short, turn out the long ones, if the queue is almost full top it up with little ones. But keep track of the top ups so you don't end up with a full queue of little guys.

My fastest box just spent the last 2 days crunching nothing except the short 20 minute WU's in its cache. Finished a couple of hours ago. Now my next fastest box started doing the same thing and I expect it to take 2 days for it to complete all of it's 20 minute WU's. Not complaining as it is part of carrying a cache on the computers and I pride myself in crunching all the work assigned to me and my boxes.

Well that's my problem, I'm crunching it all and then some LOL. I don't mind the small WUs as long as my machines can get 'em. But everyone tears through them so fast these days.

Now I know you probably don't know, but why the heck are the splitters turning out the little short 20 minute WUs. There has to be some way SETI can turn out the WUs based on what's in storage. If the queue gets short, turn out the long ones, if the queue is almost full top it up with little ones. But keep track of the top ups so you don't end up with a full queue of little guys.

My fastest box just spent the last 2 days crunching nothing except the short 20 minute WU's in its cache. Finished a couple of hours ago. Now my next fastest box started doing the same thing and I expect it to take 2 days for it to complete all of it's 20 minute WU's. Not complaining as it is part of carrying a cache on the computers and I pride myself in crunching all the work assigned to me and my boxes.

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Boinc....Boinc....Boinc....Boinc....