Folding on a machine with multiple users

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haysdb
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Folding on a machine with multiple users

Post by haysdb » Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:03 pm

I have a machine with two primary users. Both of us are always "logged on" but sometimes the PC gets rebooted when I am not around. The question and issue is, how to assure that Folding@Home is always running?

If F@H is in my startup folder, it doesn't get started if my son reboots the PC. If it's in the "All Users" folder, it tries to start two instances, one for each person logged on, which is "a bad thing". BTW, my account is password protected, so I can't enable auto login.

What I'd like to see happen is the second instance just shut itself down when it sees it's already running. I believe the beta client incorporates this features, but I'm not sure I want to run the beta client. That way I could put it in the All Users Startup folder and it would always start as soon as someone logged in.

I have investigated running it as a service, but have seen so many different ways of doing it that I don't know which one to choose. There is Firedaemon, but the free version only allows running a single app and I want to run two instances on that machine since it has Hyperthreading enabled. There are other posts on "registry hacks" that will do it, but some seem overly complicated, and the others maybe overly simplified. I don't know enough about it (yet) to make an intelligent decision.

So, my options seem to be (1) try the beta client or (2) run it as a service. Comments? Input?

David

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Post by Zyzzyx » Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:18 pm

Run it as a service.

Get FireDaemon to set it up as a service. Makes it too damn easy.

Then it will always be running, even if the system doesn't have anyone logged on. Also doesn't clutter up the System Tray if you're using the GUI client.

I've got all of my systems set up this way. And am using the 3.25 beta console version, no problems.

Zyzzyx
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Re: Folding on a machine with multiple users

Post by Zyzzyx » Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:20 pm

haysdb wrote:There is Firedaemon, but the free version only allows running a single app and I want to run two instances on that machine since it has Hyperthreading enabled.
Ooops. Guess I should read the whole post before popping in that Quick Reply.

I hadn't realized that restriction on FireDaemon. Hrrm...

mas92264
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Post by mas92264 » Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:35 pm

Hey, I've got a similar prob with 2 users on an xp pro machine. After a few mins of non usage, xp closes the desktop and brings up the log in screen.

This shuts down f@h. So, overnite I'm getting no production.

Truly, I haven't tried very hard to fix this. But, any suggestions on how to keep it running? (I didn't read the prior posts closely, will later)

haysdb
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Post by haysdb » Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:40 pm

A FireDaemon license only costs $25, which I don't mind paying if it's really useful and does something I can't do easily otherwise. I might try the free version and just see how I like it, and maybe one of the other options on a different machine. Or I might give the beta client a shot, although on my son's machine (the one with Hyperthreading enabled) it would be nice to hide the clients completely, which would reduce the risk of them getting shut down. $25 starts sounding like a bargain. I believe it can also automatically restart the client if it gets shut down "by mistake" :twisted:

David

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Post by DryFire » Thu Nov 20, 2003 6:14 pm

might jsut be worth to borg some school comps with firedeamon since they spend like 95% of their uptime at teh login screen., but getting caught doesn't sound to fun.

haysdb
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Post by haysdb » Thu Nov 20, 2003 11:15 pm

DryFire,

Yeah, I gather that's really frowned upon. I think of all the PC's on the network at work, literally hundreds of them, doing nothing most of the time. I am on mine constantly, but using only a few percent of the cpu, editing programs, writing emails, whatever. They have port 8080, which is required by the Folding@Home client, blocked off. I have thought about asking for permission to run Folding@Home on my PC, but I know the answer. I work in a bank, and there is no way they will allow any such software to run on any machine in the organization. It really is a shame though.

David

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Post by mormakil » Fri Nov 21, 2003 1:38 am

mas92264 wrote:Hey, I've got a similar prob with 2 users on an xp pro machine. After a few mins of non usage, xp closes the desktop and brings up the log in screen.

This shuts down f@h. So, overnite I'm getting no production.

Truly, I haven't tried very hard to fix this. But, any suggestions on how to keep it running? (I didn't read the prior posts closely, will later)
I think that's caused because of Power Management. You could try in Control Panel-Screen-ScreenSaver-Energy-Advanced Options. There you'll have to uncheck an option which says more or less: "Request a password when the systems activate after inactivity" (I'm translating this from Spanish, but I think you'll find it) My computer never log off thanks to that.

I hope it works.

haysdb
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Post by haysdb » Fri Nov 21, 2003 11:43 am

Right click on the desktop and select Properties. On the "Screen Saver" tab, there is a checkbox "On resume, display Welcome screen." Uncheck that box. The other thing is, you apparently do not have "fast user switching" turned on, since otherwise, even though the Welcome screen is displayed, you wouldn't be "logged out" so all your tasks would remain running.

David

haysdb
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Post by haysdb » Fri Nov 21, 2003 11:54 am

Just to follow up on my own post. I have narrowed the options down to two: FireDaemon and what I will call NETSVC/SRVANY. FireDaemon is certainly going to be easier, but the other option doesn't look at that complicated.

How To: Running F@H As A Service - WinNT/2K/XP

Service Guide for WinNT/2K/XP Using FireDaemon

I am going to give the first option a try since it will allow me to set up two instances of Folding@Home without having to spend any money. And once it's set up, it looks like Folding@Home can be managed just like any other service, via the Computer Management app. I am already somewhat familiar with that, so there isn't that learning curve to overcome.

David

Edit 11/24/03 - Updated the first link. The one I originally posted was broken.
Last edited by haysdb on Mon Nov 24, 2003 12:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

FJC
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Post by FJC » Fri Nov 21, 2003 1:14 pm

I use the srvany option myself, and it works quite well. I have some info at home I can post on what you need to do - as soon as I'm home from work I'll post it.

Basically you have to run something that installs it, and makes some registry entries.

Works like a charm, and free as well.

FJC
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Post by FJC » Fri Nov 21, 2003 3:12 pm

Ok, here's what I'm doing to set these up as a service.

I have the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools, which I downloaded free from Microsoft. The particular tools I use work with Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003.

The two utilities you need are instsrv.exe and srvany.exe. With those in a particular directory (I call mine "foldinst", this is just a temp directory), run this command:

instsrv Folding c:\foldinst\srvany.exe

This creates a service called "Folding", which is really just running the srvany.exe program.

You now need to set some registry settings to configure srvany.exe so it knows what it's running. I do it with a .reg file, so I can just double-click it on whatever box I'm on. The contents of this file are:



Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Folding\Parameters]
"Application"="c:\\folding\\fah3.25-console-beta.exe"
"AppDirectory"="c:\\folding"
"AppParameters"="-advmethods -forceasm -service -local"


It should be fairly obvious what the entries are - adjust them if you use a different directory to run the client program from. Note the "-service" parameter - don't forget that one, or every time someone log off that box the client will shut down!

Note also that the service will be set to AUTOMATIC, but won't be started until you manually start it (or reboot).

I've personally not installed two copies of this to support hyperthreading, but it should just be a matter of changing the directories and giving the second copy a different name ("folding2" or whatnot).

Hopefully this helps!

haysdb
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Post by haysdb » Fri Nov 21, 2003 5:47 pm

FJC,

That sounds like what the first Overclockers Australia link describes. The download includes the three programs (INSTSRV, SRVANY, and one other), the .reg file, and an installer that prompts for some configuration stuff. They have one download for a single cpu machine and another for a dual cpu or hyperthreading-enabled machine.

David

mas92264
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Post by mas92264 » Sat Nov 22, 2003 9:15 am

Thanks for the info. I'm probably going to try out running f@h as a service - maybe dash down to the ofc today and get it started.

I did basically what mormakil and hays suggested above got the problem machine going again.

I've been sooooo upset about Michael's problems that I just can't concentrate on anything else. :cry:

Sheesh! Must be a giant magnet here in CA attracting all this wacko stuff.

haysdb
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Post by haysdb » Mon Nov 24, 2003 12:30 am

I installed Folding@Home as a service on my main desktop machine, using the download and instructions from the first link I posted above. It works great.
  • The Folding@Home console does not appear in the task bar.
  • I can Log Off and F@H continues to run.
  • To manually stop the client, right click on My Computer and select Manage. Click the + beside Services and Applications, and underneith that click on Services. The service name is F@H. Right click on F@H and select Stop. Right click Start to restart.
David

haysdb
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Post by haysdb » Tue Nov 25, 2003 8:41 am

I installed the two instances of the client as services on the Hyperthreading machine. The folding_dual.zip link at the australian overcocking site did not work (although it is working now), but I was able to find a copy of the files elsewhere. Turns out the new link contained a "bug" inasmuch as the -service command line option was not specified, so the jobs stopped when I logged out. The fix was a simple matter of updating the .reg file and double-clicking to update the registry.

David

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