Network drive
9 Jan 2017 5:21:21 UTC
Topic 204468
(moderation:
Hi all,
Just a quick question. If I wanted to use a network drive for several computers, would each computer need it's own folder? Or could I just use an **/Einstein folder. Not sure if different computers would be using same file names for wu and such.
Phil
In a normal setup each
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In a normal setup each computer needs its own BOINC Client installation. Putting this on a network drive is in general not a good idea. You must provide a very stable network in order to have no idle resources because of network problems. You would also force all applications to run on the network drive which decreases overall speed.
If you want to build a kind of cluster with a dedicated fast ethernet and a dedicated fileserver this is doable but has other restrictions. Still the same rule (one directory per client) applies. It's not possible to use a shared BOINC data directory on multiple computers.
Ok Christian, thank you for
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Ok Christian, thank you for the quick reply. The reason I ask is I am considering a Raspberry Pi cluster. Without further knowledge (I'm just starting to research this), each Pi would be network booted as a "fat" client with storage on the server. No SD card, no USB drive, no HDD, to drive costs down. I'm not worried about booting all the Pi. A reboot should not happen too often so shouldn't have too much of an affect on network performance.
The cluster would be on it's own network using a Cisco switch that should arrive tomorrow, along with some Pi, so I can start experimenting. The switch will be directly down stream from the main router coming from the fiber feeding the house.
I plan to start with one Pi to get a baseline, then add one Pi at a time to check network performance. Not being a computer guru, is this a valid method to design the system? Is there a better way?
Thanks for the input.
Phil
Phil_58 wrote:Ok Christian,
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This guy did it a long time ago with Linux so it is doable:
http://www.dotsch.de/boinc/Dotsch_UX.html
Phil_58 wrote:Ok Christian,
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What you propose is considered a "thin" Client. A "fat" client has local storage.
You might find the two youtube videos linked to in this post: https://einsteinathome.org/goto/comment/150171 to be of interest. The user build "fat" Clients by installing on SD cards which is easier for a novice. I'm even unsure if the RPi3 support network boot I always thought that is not possible. So you might end up with a basic installation on SD which then uses a network storage which again is something even seasoned Linux admins regularly struggle with.
Guess I need to work on my
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Guess I need to work on my new terminology
. Got fat and thin mixed up.
BTW, this is Phil on my Pi account. That old 1 core Pi took forever to finish a wu so I could post.
I'll take a look at those links. Should be interesting.
The Pi3 is supposed to be capable of network booting. You can also boot from a USB stick, which is rumored to be faster than an SD card. We'll see.
Thanks,
Phil
I ordered 2 Pi3 and a
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I ordered 2 Pi3 and a Bitscope Quattro Pi Blade and they arrived today. The next Pi order and my network switch will not arrive for another couple of days.
The Pi Blade was a bit of a disappointment at first. The only instructions included in the box were a two sided sheet with a Quick Start guide on one side, and FCC and disposal instructions on the other.
After tearing apart the Bitscope web site looking for a manual, I finally sent an email to sales and they quickly (within 2 hours) responded with an attached Guide and asked for a response if that was enough info. So, at first glance, Bitscope gets 5 stars for customer service.
Being an old tech from the 80s, I make the following notes:
The Blade itself seems to be well constructed upon visual inspection. The silk screening is of high quality and very legible. Solder joints are of consistent quality and I found no evidence of cold solder joints. Bitscope seems to have taken a "less is more" approach with the built-in 5V power supply (which I agree with). The parts count is low, appearing to be only 7 components, spaced nicely in about 2 square inches, plus a power LED and blocking diode.
I'll start some initial testing tomorrow and post here.
Phil
You're the first person I
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You're the first person I know of using the bitscope. Let us know how it goes. The Pi3 running at full bore requires a heat sink and some airflow. The bitscope design was originally for the B+ and Pi2. The Pi3 is shall we say "temperature challenged". While I am sure they'll work you may find them thermally throttled.
Also let us know if you get the network boot going. Most of us have problems with the SD cards getting corrupted from time to time so any alternative would be good to know. I have considered booting off the SD card and using a NFS share for the BOINC stuff. I have two Pi3's using PiDrives for the root partition.
MarksRpiCluster
@Porkypies Since my last
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@Porkypies
Since my last post I have exchanged emails with an engineer involved with the Blades. He provided me with some in depth detail regarding the power supplies on the Blades. I am satisfied with the design, taking into account I have not started testing yet.
There is not a lot of room between the Pi and the Blade for a heat sink. I'll have to do some careful measurements and find one that fits. Initial testing will be at "stock" settings, checking production, temps, voltages, etc. Then I'll move on to some overclocking. Hopefully by then I will have found a suitable heat sink.
Right now I'm leaning towards network booting (to avoid updating a large batch of SD cards or such) but using a USB drive on each Pi for storage. I'll probably try it out at some point, but Christian brought up a good point about reliability and such with network drives. I want to get some Pi up and running first, then I'll see how many it takes to bog down a network drive.
Phil
From the Parallella and Pi
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From the Parallella and Pi message thread...
Re: Copper heatsinks
I believe the larger copper heatsinks are made by a company Enzotech based in California and the SoC heatsink is in fact intended for graphics cards. Its known as a BMR-C1 (14x14x14mm) with the fins/pins arranged in a 5x5 grid. They offer a multipack of 8.
They refer to them as RAMsinks because they were intended for RAM chips, but all my Pi2's and Pi3's have them. Their website is enzotech.com
MarksRpiCluster
Interesting, I never heard of
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Interesting, I never heard of the bitscope. Looks like a cool device.
I did a mini-pi cluster with the ClusterHat, it has been working fine so far.
The pic on the bistscope site of a 12 volt battery powering 20 Pis would be ideal for a solar powered system with a big enough battery to keep it running overnight.