suitable Linux distros for BOINC?

Keith Myers
Keith Myers
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Re-read your post and see you

Re-read your post and see you are confused about what password means in BoincTasks.  The password is the text string in the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file in each Boinc directory.  BOINC generates it randomly with a unique hash when BOINC is installed.  That is the password for each host.  So you don't have to go around to each host copying that unique hash, you can just put in your own password in the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file and save it.  Restart the client after changing the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file password.  To make things simple just change every host on your network to the same password on the gui_rpc_auth.cfg file.  Then you can use the Find Computers with the password and it should find every computer on the network.

 

mikey
mikey
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Keith Myers wrote:Hi Mikey,

Keith Myers wrote:
Hi Mikey, you should just be able to use the Computers menu choice and the Find Computers option.  Put in the subnet for your network and select scan address range.  If you have set all the passwords the same in the gui_rpc_auth.cfg files on all your hosts, then you can input the password on that page in advance.  A list should come up with all the computers currently running BOINC with their IP addresses and one computer just listed as local host which is the one running WINE with the BoincTasks instance running.  Just toggle each of the found computers and then Add Selected will populate all the computers.  Then the Computers tab will show all the computers BT found with their IP address, the Password field, the BOINC version running, the Platform it is on, Linux or Windows and finally the Status of either Connected or not.  If any computer listed is not shown as connected, the reason why not will be shown as for example Password in the Status field means BT could not connect because the password is unknown or incorrect.  You can highlight the ****** field and it will populate and allow you to manually enter that hosts password in its gui_rpc_auth.cfg file and hit enter and the status should change to connected.  You shouldn't have to bother with the MAC address or port number if each host is using the standard 31416 port address.  Adjust accordingly if different than stock.

Okay I will go thru all my computers and change the password for each one in the gui_rpc etc file, does that have to be extra secure or will a simple letters and numbers combination work? I got BT running on my Windows laptop and of course it found itself but after an ip address scan found only one other one called "new" but I haven't changed the passwords yet. I guess I will also have to go thru and change some of the pc's to the same subnet name, some are the default and some are something else, I've been lazy as they just work and with VNC it doesn't care.

Thank you for your help!!

Keith Myers
Keith Myers
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The password is only needed

The password is only needed if you fear the PC from being hacked from the outside.  But since the PC's are behind a router and firewall probably not really needed.  You could just use the default hashed password that BOINC generates but you would have to copy that into BT for each computer.  Since it is randomly generated and hard to remember I think it easier to just come up with a password that you make on your own. It can be as complicated or simple as you want.  The BT scan only works on the same subnet that the BT host is on.  If VNC can be used to bridge different subnets, then that would still be the only solution.  For example, all my computers are on the 192.168.2.1 subnet.  So that is the starting address in the Find Computers page I enter and then do the scan.  All computers currently running BOINC are found and I add them to the list of computers.  Then I can access each computer from then on to view or manipulate as necessary.

 

mikey
mikey
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Keith Myers wrote:The

Keith Myers wrote:
The password is only needed if you fear the PC from being hacked from the outside.  But since the PC's are behind a router and firewall probably not really needed.  You could just use the default hashed password that BOINC generates but you would have to copy that into BT for each computer.  Since it is randomly generated and hard to remember I think it easier to just come up with a password that you make on your own. It can be as complicated or simple as you want.  The BT scan only works on the same subnet that the BT host is on.  If VNC can be used to bridge different subnets, then that would still be the only solution.  For example, all my computers are on the 192.168.2.1 subnet.  So that is the starting address in the Find Computers page I enter and then do the scan.  All computers currently running BOINC are found and I add them to the list of computers.  Then I can access each computer from then on to view or manipulate as necessary.

Perfect explanation...THANKS!!

mikey
mikey
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Keith Myers wrote:The

Keith Myers wrote:
The password is only needed if you fear the PC from being hacked from the outside.  But since the PC's are behind a router and firewall probably not really needed.  You could just use the default hashed password that BOINC generates but you would have to copy that into BT for each computer.  Since it is randomly generated and hard to remember I think it easier to just come up with a password that you make on your own. It can be as complicated or simple as you want.  The BT scan only works on the same subnet that the BT host is on.  If VNC can be used to bridge different subnets, then that would still be the only solution.  For example, all my computers are on the 192.168.2.1 subnet.  So that is the starting address in the Find Computers page I enter and then do the scan.  All computers currently running BOINC are found and I add them to the list of computers.  Then I can access each computer from then on to view or manipulate as necessary.

I went thru and changed the password on each pc, except one, but only the localhost shows up and one other one, a linux one that showed up prior to me changing the password on it. I've rescanned several times and no more have showed up so i'm hoping it will just take overnight. I did not put wine on any computer is that required? The one I didn't change says I don't have permission so I may just wipe and reload Linux Mint on it so I don't have to mess with permissions. It's not a big deal as it's not the latest version anyway, it's several versions old and has been on several pc's so that could be part of the problem too.

archae86
archae86
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mikey wrote:I went thru and

mikey wrote:
I went thru and changed the password on each pc, except one, but only the localhost shows up and one other one, a Linux one that showed up prior to me changing the password on it.

I've used BOINCTasks for years, and mostly like it a lot, but I'm often puzzled during initial connection between PCs.  Probably Keith knows better, but I suspect you may need to doing something to get BOINC to read gui_rpc_config, or just restart BOINC, or reboot the computer, or some such that you may not have done.  Since you know your way around, it is less likely that you put gui_rpc_config.xml in the wrong directory, or saved it with the wrong extension, or not in text file format, but I include those since someone less able might read this.

Even after all this time, sometimes BOINCTasks on one machine can't see one of my other machines for a little while.  I, personally, suspect something in the dark heart of Windows permissions, but if I knew what it was, I'd have fixed it.

 

Keith Myers
Keith Myers
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No Wine is not necessary if

No Wine is not necessary if you are running BT on a Windows computer.  There is another application down in the /Efmer directory in Program Files called Toolbox64.exe that also can be helpful in discovering hosts running BOINC.  But first, I had a thought.  Try adding the IP address of the host computer running BT into the remote_hosts.cfg file in the BOINC directory on each of the hosts. Normally I don't bother with that as the <allow_remote_gui_rpc> tag in cc_config.xml and the gui_rpc_auth.cfg takes care of any host being accessed by BT.

Also have you used the Help resources available in BT itself? The manual plus a link to the BT forum is available from the Help menu on the top title bar.

 

Keith Myers
Keith Myers
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Yes, you always have to be

Yes, you always have to be careful when editing a XML file that Windows doesn't append a .txt to it and it won't be recognized as a proper XML.  If you have the tag set in cc_config and the password set in the cfg file, BT finds computers.  I had BT running on the last of my Windows computers connecting to all my other Linux hosts for a year before I finally pulled the plug on Windows.  Much to my delight BT runs very well on WINE in Linux.  So I never lost a step in transitioning fully to Linux and continue to use this great tool.

You do have to restart BOINC so it picks up all the changes to the configuration files as they are only read once during BOINC startup.

 

mikey
mikey
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Keith Myers wrote:Yes, you

Keith Myers wrote:

Yes, you always have to be careful when editing a XML file that Windows doesn't append a .txt to it and it won't be recognized as a proper XML.  If you have the tag set in cc_config and the password set in the cfg file, BT finds computers.  I had BT running on the last of my Windows computers connecting to all my other Linux hosts for a year before I finally pulled the plug on Windows.  Much to my delight BT runs very well on WINE in Linux.  So I never lost a step in transitioning fully to Linux and continue to use this great tool.

You do have to restart BOINC so it picks up all the changes to the configuration files as they are only read once during BOINC startup.

Since I have DHCP set I went and got all the mac addresses and put them in instead, the Help section suggested that and to enable the 'debug mode' too, so I did that too and am now getting the error " Port: 31416, socket not read" on each of the different pc's on my network as it looks for them.

I will do add the ip address of the pc running BT into the remote_hosts.cfg file tomorrow.

Does each pc require a cc_config file to make this work? I don't have one on every pc but do on some of them.

Keith Myers
Keith Myers
Joined: 11 Feb 11
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Credit: 18,441,374,780
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The 31416 port not being read

The 31416 port not being read sounds like a firewall problem.  The port is being blocked.  You can go into Windows Firewall and open that port up.

Yes you need to have a cc_config to use the <allow_remote_gui_rpc>1</allow_remote_gui_rpc> tag.  All you need to do to create it is to use the Manager and set a logging flag other than a default ones in the Event Log Diagnostics Flags in the menu and it will create a fully populated cc_config.xml file.  I like adding the sched_ops_debug flag because it shows how much work is requested at every connection in the log. Edit the <allow_remote_gui_rpc>1</allow_remote_gui_rpc> option in the front of the file and change the tag from 0 to 1.

Restart BOINC to read the file again or use the Re-Read config files in the Manager menus.

 

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