SMP FAH on VMware

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 7:32 pm

i found this over at the [H] forums, kinda pain to setup but looks interesting, finally got it to run on my box here, time well tell if it is worth doing.

it helps if you know something about linux, which of course has me scratching my head and asking for too much help

ya need a 64 bit capable CPU and some time to figure it out, YoS, try it maybe

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php ... ge=1&pp=40

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 7:43 pm

I saw it, but whats the real difference between this and using 2 clients?

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 8:26 pm

YARDofSTUF wrote:I saw it, but whats the real difference between this and using 2 clients?

i am running 4 clients now, although the 2 real ones are running real slow, supposed to be worth more points i think.

i am getting some weird time issue errors, so maybe not worth doing, but kinda neat to mess with i guess.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 4:12 pm

okay i got it to finally send a work unit just now, you have to allow large work units when you configure it,or else it will not upload, a known issue it seems. it took my 170 opty @ 2.52 about 23 hours to do a complete p3020_SMP-nsv-03 worth 587 points.

it takes some time to figure out how to set it up, because i have no linux knowledge, i really had a hard time getting it setup, but i can post how i did it if need be.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Fri Dec 15, 2006 5:27 pm

well i have sent a few work units in, but it seems to be unstable for me, not sure if it is VMware or the F@H cores it is getting.

i have to reset the VM like every 4-5 hours as it becomes the VM unresponsive after a while,F@H gives me errors about some timeing issue or some deal.

when it works it really racks up the points though, so i may try it again in a week or so.

the nice thing about the virtual machine deal is, you can set it to suspend and later resume it and it picks up right where it left off at, and ya need to do this if ya want to game or use the CPU for other processes, as VMware will take priority, AFAIK.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 6:51 am

well i rebooted my PC last nite to do some windows updates, and now the VM is running fine, maybe it needed to be rebooted after in installed VMware, i never did so this may do the trick now.

time will tell

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 6:55 am

The regular linux client seems a bit slower than the windows one, so I think I'll stick with running 2 instances for now.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 7:03 am

YARDofSTUF wrote:The regular linux client seems a bit slower than the windows one, so I think I'll stick with running 2 instances for now.

but running the SMP work units gives you bonus points or something like that, i know i get more points per day running this than if i run 2 regular cores, especially the latest 2124 slow ones i have been getting.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 7:19 am

Reading around on the folding forums looks like I'm wrong, linux and windows FAH is the same speed. Dont see much on SMP, maybe you get more points cuz of their beta, I dunno, but seems like a pain to run VMware just to run FAH lol

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 7:49 am

ya i just had to try it, nothing else to do ya know

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:49 pm

an update, not sure what finally worked for me on this, but i got it to run stable after all, maybe some new cores or something, but it really does crank out the points now.

i do have a small fan on my memory sticks now, but i don't think that was the issue.

i don't get any errors now about time stamps or whatever i was getting before, another trick is to make the VM go into suspend mode instead of powering it off, it will take right off from where it left before, even after a reboot of the main PC.

kinda nice because you can suspend it to play games or whatever.

almost doubled my points-per-week, but i did add a XP2500-M system for like 800 PPW as well

http://members.speedguide.net/thesnake/highpoints3.jpg

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 11:10 pm

I've noticed your recent jump in production! Nice work.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:37 pm

update......

seems they changed the SMP client for some reason, i couldn't get the red hat version i was useing to work and get the newest version, so i am now running a full ubuntu 64bit virtual machine, when i first set it up i had issues getting F@H to run, seems as though i forgot to set the VM to 2 processors instead of 1

now that i have that problem solved it seems to be up and running fine now, i can even find the folder i installed F@H to and read the log files and whatnot.

i still need to get VMware tools running on this VM, but that only enhances the mouse and stuff, so no big deal for now.

let me just say that linux is "different" than windows, thats for sure

anyways here is how i setup the F@H if someone else wants to try it, worked great the first time i tried this method........

in the drop down menu at the top (Accessories), select "terminal", and type:

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

and answer yes to it request for disk space.

INSTALL folding at home SMP from typing the following:

mkdir -p ~/folding/FAH
cd ~/folding/FAH
wget http://folding.stanford.edu/release/FAH_SMP_Linux.tgz
tar xzf FAH_SMP_Linux.tgz

GET IT RUNNING WITH:

./fah5

and here is a shot of it's system manager thingajob...........

http://members.speedguide.net/thesnake/ ... nitor2.jpg

LukeMan · Post by **LukeMan** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 2:03 am

Hi All

While I don't hang around much I do still check out SG every so often. I had been planning to post a "heads up" around the SMP client, I see Mark has done that.

For those of you that would really like to try it we have a very simple guide over at PlanetAMD64 http://www.planetamd64.com/index.php?showtopic=29163

It does seem a bit of a pain to install but once you've done it, it goes smooth the next time. It IS worth the effort! I've got 4 dual core machines running it, the point values for the SMP units are 587 to 1760.

I've upped my daily points to over 3000 with these plus the single core machines.

As you can see I am still into F@H in a big way, our team has really increased our daily points with this, we are now just about double your output with just a few more folders.

This is not a recruiting post, just passing along what I hope is some useful info

FOLD ON!

TLM

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 3:22 am

Hey Lukey! I passed your ass

I'm a member at Planet AMD too.

Our team has take some big hits with people changing jobs, electric bills rising, and poeple starting up new teams. But with the creation of the new teams FAH has gotten more users so thats at least a good reason for less production.

Good to see ya stop by

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:13 am

just wanted to add, they have added some work units that are designed for quadcore that are worth about 1760 points , i seem to have gotten a few of them this week and they do not run well on dual core boxes that run in VM, i lost a ton of points this week because of early end units and crap like that.
i ended up deleteing the work folder and now seem to be getting units of like 587 - 716 points like before, takes about 18-19 hours for me on mu opty170 @ 2.52.

and nice post there lukeman, good to see ya

LukeMan · Post by **LukeMan** » Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:20 am

Mark wrote:just wanted to add, they have added some work units that are designed for quadcore that are worth about 1760 points , i seem to have gotten a few of them this week and they do not run well on dual core boxes that run in VM, i lost a ton of points this week because of early end units and crap like that.
i ended up deleteing the work folder and now seem to be getting units of like 587 - 716 points like before, takes about 18-19 hours for me on mu opty170 @ 2.52.

and nice post there lukeman, good to see ya

If your talking about projects 2604 & 2605 I've run several of them with no problem on dual core. Running 2605 right on FX-60x2 at 23 minutes per frame. F@H doesn't like OC'ing, never has. You might try dialing it back just a tad. Never have OC, never will, just not my bag.

Greets out to ya YoS, I thought I saw ya over there.

Well off to work, no rest for the one man shop ya know.

FOLD ON!

TLM

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 5:26 pm

LukeMan wrote:If your talking about projects 2604 & 2605 I've run several of them with no problem on dual core. Running 2605 right on FX-60x2 at 23 minutes per frame. F@H doesn't like OC'ing, never has. You might try dialing it back just a tad. Never have OC, never will, just not my bag.

Greets out to ya YoS, I thought I saw ya over there.

Well off to work, no rest for the one man shop ya know.

FOLD ON!

TLM

are you running native linux, or useing a virtual machine ?

LukeMan · Post by **LukeMan** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 10:32 am

VMware w/Ubutu 64 bit.

Mark · Post by **Mark** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 4:32 pm

LukeMan wrote:VMware w/Ubutu 64 bit.

well i guess i can cut it back a few Mhz and see what happens