Installing the BOINC Client Software And Participating In A BOINC Powered Project

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[edit] General

Note If you have BOINC version 4 and do not want to upgrade to version 5 please see Installing the BOINC Client Software And Participating In A BOINC Powered Project: Version 4


General Installation Notes

It is very easy to get started on participating and helping researchers with your donated computer time. On this page we will give you a step by step procedure which will guide you through the process of getting you up-and-running the BOINC Client Software.

The steps are as clear, logical, and detailed as I can make them. Even if you have never installed a program before it is my hope that you will have all of the steps and illustrations that will facilitate this experience.

For those that do not need as much detail, I have tried to make the presentation as streamlined as possible for you also.

My suggestion is that you read through the instructions from end to end before you start.

One last note, some of the Projects may not be open for new Accounts. Other Projects are not producing a lot of work at this time. All of these things will change as the BOINC Powered Projects get going and mature. We recommend that you sign up for at least two projects so that you will always have work to process.

Ready?

Ok, here goes …


Installation Preconditions

In order to complete the procedure outlined in this guide, you must meet the following preconditions:

  • You must have an operational computer.
  • You must administation rights on the computer.
  • You must have Internet Access from this computer.
  • You must be able to operate the computer and access the Internet.


[edit] Overview

Before starting it may be sensible to read Rules and Policies especially if you are not familiar with BOINC. There may also be a System Requirements if you are not sure if your computer is capable enough. The Climateprediction FAQ also has a section on what you may want to find out before starting.


[edit] BOINC Installation Step-by-Step Instructions

Installation Step: Overview

You can get a very brief introduction to the BOINC System and how it works by reading "Getting Started". The Wiki is extensive and we do what we can to make this as easy as possible. By way of example, you will notice that we have many terms tied to links, so, you can look up an explanation of any defined term or phrase.

Installing the BOINC Client Software

We will start the process by having you install the BOINC Client Software. Select the correct installation instructions from this list:

Note:
Additional installation and start-up instructions and scripts are listed on the UCB site as:

Installation Notes For SETI@Home Classic Participants

If you had an account in the original 'SETI@Home Classic' project as of 14 May 2004. We've transferred your Account, including Profile and Team information. Use the same e-mail address which was used to establish and maintain your SETI@Home Classic account in this form to obtain your Account Key. If you created a SETI@Home Classic account after 14 May 2004 all is not lost. If you create a SETI@Home BOINC account using the same email address as the SETI@Home Classic account they may be combined automatically at some point.

Note:
The new form allows you to link to your account in one of several different ways. Provided you have the required information you will be able to link the two project accounts together. Allowing you to show your contribution as shown in this example.
Note:
Apparently, the password for a classic account can be found in the result_head.sah file stored as the user ID.


[edit] Choosing a BOINC Powered Project

We have a guide on Choosing a BOINC Powered Project", read that first and decide which Project or which Projects you wish to support.


[edit] Attaching to a BOINC Powered Project

Now that you have the BOINC Client Software installed on your computer and the initial Benchmarks have been run, you are ready to put your computer to work. To do this we have to "Attach" the BOINC Client Software to a BOINC Powered Project.


[edit] Overview of the "Attach" Process

To "Attach" the BOINC Client Software to a BOINC Powered Project the following will be done:

  1. You will read the EULA for the BOINC Powered Project and agree to the terms.
  2. Check to see that the Project's Scheduling Server is on-line.
  3. On starting the BOINC Client Software for the first time, it should automatically start the "Attach to Project" wizard. If it doesn't or you are already running another BOINC Powered Project, you can start that wizard by choosing the Projects Menu, "Attach to project" menu option.
  4. Enter the Project's Master URL for example climateprediction.net.
  5. Enter your existing Account Information of e-Mail address and Password, Or enter your e-Mail address and a new Password if you do not already have an Account for the Project. Take care to avoid typing mistakes.
  6. If successful, an "Attached to Project" message should display. Click finish to end the "Attach to Project" wizard.

[edit] Reading the "Rules and Policies" for the BOINC Powered Project

You need to know what you are getting into, so, read the Rules and Policies for the Project.

From the list below, select a Project and click on the link in the second column to get the "official" Rules and Policies for the Project for which you wish to be a Participant. If you need help with the page, there is documentation available for the page, click on the "Page Doc." icon in the first column.


Project URL Documentation
Climateprediction.net (CPDN) Rules and Policies "Rules and Policies" Page
Einstein@Home Rules and Policies
LHC@Home Rules and Policies
Predictor@Home Rules and Policies
Rosetta@Home Rules and Policies
SETI@Home Rules and Policies
SIMAP@Home Rules and Policies
SZTAKI Desktop Grid Rules and Policies
World Community Grid See the link "Software License Agreement" on this page.


[edit] Verify The State of The BOINC Powered Project

We suggest that you check to see if the new BOINC Powered Project is On-Line by checking with the specific "Server Status" Page. Use the following table to link to the status page:

Project URL Server
Status
Documentation
Climateprediction.net (CPDN) "Server Status" Page None
Einstein@Home "Server Status" Page Server Status Page (Einstein@Home)
LHC@Home None
Rosetta@Home Server Status Page (Rosetta@Home)
SETI@Home "Server Status" Page Server Status Page (SETI@Home)
SIMAP@Home "Server Status" Page None
SZTAKI Desktop Grid "Server Status" Page Server Status Page (SZTAKI Desktop Grid)
World Community Grid None None

Many of the Third Party Statistics Sites also show server status, see:


What you are looking for is an "Up" status, primarily on the Scheduling Server. If you are unsure, you can ask other experienced Participants on the Forums. Some projects, Predictor@Home and LHC@Home have a simple "Up"/"Down" indicator on the "Index" page. Other BOINC Powered Projects have more complex schemes showing the state of many of the components of the Back-End Systems.

If the Scheduling Server is off-line you will not be able to "Attach" to the Project.


[edit] Open the BOINC Manager

Start the wizard
Start the wizard

Open the BOINC Manager window if it is not already open.

Note:
If you are continuing from one of the "Install Process" "How-To" Guides, if you followed our suggestion, the BOINC Manager's window should be open.


[edit] Open the Projects Menu of the BOINC Manager

Click on the "Projects Menu".

[edit] Click the "Attach to Project" item

In the menu there is an item labeled as "Attach to Project", click on this button to open the "Attach to Project" wizard.


[edit] "Attach to Project" Wizard Opening Page

First page of the wizard
First page of the wizard

The first page of the wizard just describes what you are about to do.

Click "Next >".



[edit] Project Master URL

Enter the Project's Master URL
Enter the Project's Master URL

Click in the field named "Project's Master URL" in the "Attach to Project" dialog window. "Paste" the Project's Master URL into the field. Use Control-"V" (Microsoft Windows®) or Command-"v" (Apple Macintosh OS-X).

Select the Project's Master URL from the table:

Project Project Master URL Status
BBC Climate Change Experiment http://bbc.cpdn.org/ Production
Climateprediction.net (CPDN) http://climateprediction.net/ Production
BURP Alpha Test
Einstein@Home http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/ Production
The Lattice Project Alpha Test/Inactive
LHC@Home http://lhcathome.cern.ch/ Production
Orbit@Home Alpha Test/Inactive
Predictor@Home http://predictor.scripps.edu/ Production
PrimeGrid Alpha Test
Rosetta@Home http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/ Production
SETI@Home http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/ Production
SIMAP@Home http://boinc.bio.wzw.tum.de/boincsimap/ Production
SZTAKI Desktop Grid http://szdg.lpds.sztaki.hu/szdg/ Production
World Community Grid http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/ Production
Note:
This list contains some BOINC Powered Projects that are still in Alpha/Beta Test and the actual Project Master URL will be added when the Project goes into a production mode.
Note:
Some of the BOINC Powered Projects in the table are in a test phase. We do not recommend that you "Attach" to any BOINC Powered Project this is not in "Production" status.


Click "Next >".



[edit] Proxy Configuration

You only need to complete this step if you are behind a proxy server and receive this dialog during the attach process. If you have not configured proxy settings when you should have done, you get a screen like this.

Configure Proxy Server
Configure Proxy Server

You are most likely behind a Proxy Server. Please see BOINC FAQ: Running BOINC behind a proxy server for more information.

Just fill in the details and click "Next >".



[edit] Communication Required

Wait for the Communication Between the BOINC Client Software and the Scheduling Server
Wait for the Communication Between the BOINC Client Software and the Scheduling Server

Wait while this communicating message is displayed. The BOINC Client Software must obtain some information from the Project's Scheduling Server.



[edit] Create a New Account or Log Into An Existing Account

An Example During the "Attach" Process
An Example During the "Attach" Process

In this dialog, you need can either create a new Account by entering the required information into the fields. There will be restrictions on the content of the Password and its length.

If you make an error, you will be prompted to correct the error.

Take care to avoid typing mistakes.

or


An Example During the "Attach" Process
An Example During the "Attach" Process

If you have already created an Account at the Project's Web Site, you can log in, by clicking on "Use existing account" and filling in your e-mail address and password.

Click "Next >".



[edit] Communication Required

Wait for the Communication Between the BOINC Client Software and the Scheduling Server
Wait for the Communication Between the BOINC Client Software and the Scheduling Server

Wait while this communicating message is displayed. The BOINC Client Software must exchange the information entered with the Project's Scheduling Server.

In the case of a new Account creation the Server must create the Account. If it is a usage of an existing Account, the Account Information must be validated.



[edit] Success

A Successful Attachment of the BOINC Client to the BOINC Powered Project
A Successful Attachment of the BOINC Client to the BOINC Powered Project

You should get an attached message as depicted above. If you get the message below, you need to check your details.

That should be it! The BOINC Client Software should look after downloading the Science Application, the details of your particular Work Unit and all the other communications necessary. If this does not happen, see BOINC FAQ: Troubleshooting on attaching to a project or Climateprediction FAQ - Issues with Getting started or the BOINC FAQ.

For more on what the BOINC System does to get you started see "Getting Started".


Click "Finish".



[edit] Failure

An Unsuccessful Attachment of the BOINC Client to the BOINC Powered Project
An Unsuccessful Attachment of the BOINC Client to the BOINC Powered Project

In this example of a failure the Password or the e-Mail address was incorrect and must be changed or the attempt to "Attach" to the Project must be abandoned.

Check to make sure your firewall allows the BOINC Client Software full browsing capability on port 80.

Also see BOINC FAQ: Troubleshooting on attaching to a project or Climateprediction FAQ - Issues with Getting started or the BOINC FAQ.


Click "Finish" if you do not want to correct the problem.

or,

Click "< Back'" after you have corrected the problem.


[edit] Attaching to Another BOINC Powered Project

You can now, add additional BOINC Powered Projects to your computer by completing the steps above starting at "Choosing a BOINC Powered Project".

When doing this be sure to carefully consider your work allocation, which we call Resource Share and the total number of BOINC Powered Projects you want to support. There are also considerations you should make on how large you make your Work Buffer. In general, when you are a Participant in multiple BOINC Powered Projects this setting can be very low, typically a recommended value is to be less than one day.

For those of us that do want to "hoard" more work the maximum should not be more than the shortest Result Deadline divided by the number of Projects attached to that computer.

We strongly suggest you review the topics:


[edit] Pat Yourself On The Back

Pat yourself on the back, you should be up and running.

If you think that you have a problem with the installation, the first place to go is to the Questions and Problems Page where you can post a message in one of the Forums in that Forum with a description of your suspected problems. There are a lot of people there who will be more than happy to assist you in the resolution of the problem

Ok, now that you have the BOINC Client Software installed and you are up and running, we want you to know that there are some resources that you can access to configure your BOINC Client Software to run. This gives you the opportunity to have BOINC Client Software "just right" for you.

The way that this is done is to use your preference settings and the way that those can be used are documented in the "Quickie Guide" and the BOINC Web Site Owner's Manual.

Happy "Crunching"!


[edit] Configuring Multiple Computers Under One Account

[edit] BOINC "How-To" Guides Related To Installation

The list that follows contains the BOINC "How-To" Guides, in rough order of use, that are used in the installation and set-up of the BOINC Client Software.

Note:
Don't panic! I have pictures and everything!
Retrieved from "http://www.boinc-wiki.info/Installing_the_BOINC_Client_Software_And_Participating_In_A_BOINC_Powered_Project"
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