Result Page
From Unofficial BOINC Wiki
[edit] General
This page presents you with a comprehensive view of a specific Result. In our example here we show a Result and will talk about the various lines.
There is considerable confusion about what a Result really is and that comes about for the simple reason that depending on where you stand, what you see may be different. So what does that have to do with anything?
Ok, when you request work from the Scheduling Server, a "Result" is created at the same time; this is a "blank" Result with only initial information. This "Result" is the partially filled record stored in the database that indicates that you have been issued a Work Unit and for which the Projects hopes that you will process and will also be able to return as a completely processed Result.
When the BOINC Client Software on your computer finishes processing the Work Unit, the BOINC Daemon contacts the Project's Data Server and notifies this Server that the Result is done and then uploads the Result Data Files that contains the details of your effort. At this point the Work Unit in the BOINC Daemon's Work Buffer is now in the "Ready to Report" status.
When you have contact with the Scheduling Server through a normal report, a report to obtain more work, or a "forced" update (where you use the "Update" menu option on the Projects Tab) to cause a data transfer, the Result will be reported and the information in the database updated to reflect the Result. After this is successful, the Work Unit will be removed from the Work Tab of the BOINC Manager.
- Note:
- Errors in processing, hardware failures, software errors, etc. all can cause a Work Unit to fail to complete the entire process. For example, in the SETI@Home Project when there is a large amount of noise in the signal, this is determined early and the processing is halted because the program would discover "too many" spikes to make the analysis of any value.
- One of the main points of the LHC@Home Project is to discover conditions where the particle "beam" will collide with the walls of the system. Since this is the point of the analysis, this is also an "expected" outcome.
- So, just because the processing stops "early" does not mean your contribution is of no value. Hang in there!
Shown in the second example, is a Result where there was an error during the processing. In this case, there was additional diagnostic information returned with the Result. The Log Files on the Participant's Computer may also contain this information (or part of this information at least).
[edit] Line by Line
[edit] Result ID
This is the unique identifier of a specific Result that was issued to a Participant and which records the progress of that Result by that Participant. As this identifier is normally only available as a link, it allows the navigation to the "Result" Page where detailed information about this specific Result is available. This identification number is the internal tracking number that is given to this specific Result so that it has a unique identity in the BOINC Database.
This identifier, the Result ID, is a number which is used by the database to track the Result (for database freaks, the Primary Key value). This is a positive integer that is used in the links connecting pages like the "Work Unit" Page to the "Result" Page. You will find that Result ID is labeled as "Task ID" when viewing results.
There is no information coded in this number, it is a simple large integer number that will grow until it reaches a value of about 2,147,483,647 if they are using signed long integer and 4,294,967,294 if they are using unsigned numbers. And if they are using a string data type, an effectively unlimited numeric range is possible (as long as they stick to strings shorter than 2,000 characters).
Ok, so what does all that mean? It means that this is the internal tracking number that is given to this specific result so that it has a unique identification number in the BOINC Database.
Contrast this with a Result Name. The Result Name is a derived name that includes the Work Unit Name with a suffix that is an underscore followed by a number that indicates the position of this specific Result in the series of Results generated from that specific Work Unit.
The Results are numbered from 0 to "N" with the maximum number of trials being set by the Project. For example, if the LHC@Home project only wants to try 5 times to process a Result to a successful conclusion we would see a Result series from "RESULT-NAME_0" to "RESULT-NAME_4"; with these Results being issued to five different Participants.
[edit] Name
The Result Name is a derived name that includes the Work Unit Name with a suffix that is an underscore followed by a number that indicates the position of this specific Result in the series of Results generated from that specific Work Unit.
The Results are numbered from 0 to "N" with the maximum number of trials being set by the Project. For example, if the LHC@Home Project only wants to try 5 times to process a Result to a successful conclusion we would see a Result series from "RESULT-NAME_0" "RESULT-NAME_1" through "RESULT-NAME_4"; with these Results being issued to five different Participants.
The reasons that the Work Unit is issued several times of course has to do with the desire to get Redundant Results that can be compared and if they pass Validation then can form the Quorum of Results.
[edit] Work Unit
This is the "Name" of the Work Unit. The Work Unit has, in fact, two items that will uniquely identify it. One is the human readable "Name" and the other is the Work Unit ID. The Work Unit ID is a number which is used by the database to track the Work Unit (for database freaks, the Primary Key value). This second, usually hidden value, is the one that is a positive integer that is used in the links connecting pages like the "Result" Page to the "Work Unit" Page.
The one we are concerned about here is a descriptive name that uses a Project specific scheme to create uniquely named object of work. For example, the SETI@Home Project identifies the tape from which this Work Unit has been extracted, along with a bunch of other information about the source of the Work Unit.
Other BOINC Powered Projects will be doing the same type of thing, but in the context of their Project. There is one constant across all Projects the last number in the Work Unit Name is the Result Identifier. For the most part this is a lot of "who cares?" other than we know that the Work Unit has a unique identifier.
The way that the Work Units are identified should be described on that Project's Web Site (if you really care that much). The identification data may be a simple, but long identifier, or may have within its seemingly random collection of numbers, letters, and punctuation encoded information that can be decoded if you send in enough box-tops and get the Genuine Captain Paul Marvell's Magic Secret Decoder Ring (the ring itself is free, but the shipping and handling is a low, low $56.95 U.S.; don't wait, rush down to the post office while supplies last …).
A Result Name is simply a modification of the Work Unit Name by adding an identifier. This identification number, as a suffix to the Work Unit Name, provides a means of establishing a unique Result identifier. So, when the Work Unit is split into Results to be sent out to the Participant's Computers, a Result Identifier is appended to the Work Unit Name. The format of this identifier is "_#". An underscore ("_") separates the Result Identifier from the Work Unit Name. The "#" is replaced with the sequence number beginning with zero (0) and continuing upwards in increasing value.
This value may, if the Project requires, be more than a single digit in length.
[edit] Created
This is the date and time stamp that identifies when the Result was created.
[edit] Sent
This is the date and time stamp that identifies when the Result was sent to the Participant.
[edit] Received
This is the date and time stamp that identifies when the Result was received back from the Participant.
[edit] Server State
This is a display of the current state of the Result in the opinion of the Project's BOINC Database, Data Server, and Scheduling Server.
If you need a reminder of the meaning of the status states, you can click on the "explain" link to get the definition.
This is a categorization of a Result when the Result has been created for a Work Unit by the Project and is ready to be issued by the Data Server to a Participant to be processed by the Participant's Computer.
There are 4 Server States that are related to any one specific Result (for a specific Work Unit) that is processed by the Science Application under the control of the BOINC Client Software. Several of these states will not be seen by the Participants as a normal part of their processing because they are only of interest by the Project's managers.
This is a categorization of a Work Unit when the Work Unit has been created and is ready to be issued by the Data Server to a Participant to be processed by the Participant's Computer.
Normally, the only two Server States that the Participant will see are the "In Progress" and "Over" states.
Server State Descriptions
Inactive
The Result is not ready to send (for example, because its input files are unavailable).
A Result in this state can only be seen by a Participant if they look for a specific Result by Result ID number, which is not a task that most Participants will perform for any particular Result.
A Result with this state have been generated for the specific Work Unit but the Result is not ready to be issued. As stated in the "official" explanation one or more of the input files are missing. With some of the current BOINC Powered Projects you not only need the Work Unit itself, you may also need one or more "library" or reference data files before the Result can be issued for processing.
Unsent
The Result is ready to send, but hasn't been sent yet.
This is a Result that has not yet been issued to any Participant but is ready and available on the Data Server.
In Progress
The Result has been sent; waiting for completion.
This is the state of a Result that has been issued to a Participant and the Project is waiting for a return of the completed Result.
Over
The Result has been sent to a Participant's Computer and either it has timed out or the Participant's Computer has reported its completion.
In general, we have two cases:
- The deadline is in the future and the Result was returned, or
- The Deadline is in the past and the result was not returned
In sum, the Result has been processed on the Participant's Computer and a Result has been returned or an error occurred. Results in this state can still be in error, not processed completely, returned past the Deadline, exceeded allowable Result Data File size, etc. but the Scheduler and the Data Server are no longer waiting for this Result to be returned by this Participant.
[edit] Outcome
The end state of the analysis for the specific Result.
Possible Outcomes
Unknown
A Result in this state has not yet been processed, the Result was issued to a Participant as an "empty" Result, but that Participant has not yet returned the completed Result.
Success
A Result in this state was processed successfully and there were no errors detected by the BOINC Client Software and the Science Application on the Participant's Computer. This does not mean that the Result is scientifically valid or meaningful. It is entirely possible that the Result is "bad" and when compared to other Results will not achieve consensus and the Work Unit will be rejected because it exceeds the Max success results limit.
Couldn't Send
During the time that this Result was available on the Data Server no Participant that requested work had sufficient resources to process this Result (Work Unit).
Client Error
The Result was issued and the Participant's Computer returned an error during processing of this Result. There are a number of Client Error conditions that can occur and that can be detected by the BOINC Client Software and recorded.
No Reply
The Result was issued to a Participantt and the Result was not returned within the time specified by the Deadline. This error may occur due to problems in the data transfers, processing, or simply because the Participant's Computer was not able to complete the processing within the time allotted.
Didn't Need
The Result was not sent out at all, either due to already had enough Results returned by other Participants and a Quorum of Results was created before this Result was issued to someone, or the Work Unit was aborted. Most commonly, these aborts are due to the Work Unit reaching one of the error-limits before this Result was issued to someone.
Validate Error
The Result was reported but could not be Validated. This error, most typically, is because the Result Data Files were lost on the Data Server. Other causes include Result Data Files, or the Result itself was not correctly received usually due to data transfer errors or heavy server loads.
Note: A Result Outcome of "Validate Error" is not the same as a Valid Result. See Validate State for an explanation of the various types of Validation outcomes. As an example, an Outcome can be "Success" but the Validate State may be "Invalid".
[edit] Client State
Broadly, this is the stage at which the processing of a Result encountered an error.
The Client State of a Result is defined as one of three basic states:
- Not started (New), or
- Processing is Finished (Done), or
- Processing interrupted with an error condition (Client Error)
Client States
New
The BOINC Client Software has not yet completed the work. Since the processing is not over, the the final Client State at the Result Outcome is not yet known.
The Result has been issued to the Participant's Computer and the Data Server is awaiting a returned Result.
Done
No error occurred.
The Result has been processed on the Participant's Computer and a Result has been returned.
Downloading
The BOINC Client Software couldn't download the Science Application or Work Unit Data Files.
A Result with this state had an error detected while it was being downloaded to the Participant's Computer and the data transfer cannot/could not be completed even after several retries have occurred.
Computing
An error occurred during computation.
A Result with this state had an error detected while it was being processed by the Participant's Computer. These errors can be errors that are detected by the BOINC Daemon or the Science Application.
Uploading
The BOINC Client Software couldn't upload the Result Data Files.
A Result with this state had an error detected while it was being uploaded from the Participant's Computer and the data transfer cannot be completed even after several retries have occurred.
[edit] Exit Status
This line contains a value that indicates the internal state of the Science Application at the end of the processing of the Result. If the value is zero (0) then there was no detected error condition. If the value is not zero, then there was some sort of internal error that prevented the Science Application from completing the processing of the Work Unit.
[edit] Computer ID
This is a unique identifier for the computer that processed this Result. The Computer ID is a link to the descriptive record for the computer/host that processed this Result. Obviously, clicking on the link will take you to the page that will list the characteristics of the Participant's Computer. In some cases the link will not be there because the Result was not needed.
Clicking on one of the links will take you to the "Computer Summary" Page for the Participant's Computer that was assigned the Result.
[edit] Deadline
A point in time. As each Work Unit (or Result; depending on how you want to look at it, what the Data Server gives you are Work Unit Data Files and a Result, your computer processes the data files and you return the Result and the Result Data Files) is issued by the Project's Data Server this value will be established in the BOINC Database for that Project.
Keep in mind that Results that are returned after the Deadline has been passed may generate no Credit.
For the Projects that are currently in a production status, that is, they are actually performing the intended science even though the Science Application (or Science Applications in the case of Projects like the Predictor@Home Project) may still be in a Beta Testing status the current Deadline lengths are:
| Project | Application | Deadline | Quorum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Climateprediction.net (CPDN) | hadsm3 | 347 Days, 5 Hours, and 20 Minutes | 1 |
| Sulphur Cycle | 150 Days, 5 Hours, and 20 Minutes | 1 | |
| Einstein@Home | einstein | 14 Days | 3 |
| LHC@Home | sixtrack | Variable, around 5 days | 3 |
| Predictor@Home | mfold | 7 Days | 3 |
| Charmm | 1 day | ||
| Rosetta@Home | rosetta | 7 or 28 Days | 1 |
| SETI@Home | setiathome enhanced | Variable, 4 to 60 days | 3 |
| SIMAP@Home | simap | 10 Days | 2 |
| SZTAKI Desktop Grid | search | 4 Days | 4 |
| World Community Grid | faah | unknown | unknown |
| rosetta | unknown | unknown |
One of the newer features of the BOINC Web Site Software is the color coding of the Deadline, where the date and time listed are shown in one of three colors:
- When the date and time is BLACK; the Deadline was not reached before the Result was returned, or
- When the date and time is GREEN (GREEN); the Deadline is in the future, or
- When the date and time is RED (RED); the Deadline is in the past
[edit] CPU Time
This is the amount of time that the BOINC Daemon and the Project's Science Application took to process the Work Unit into a Result and a set of Result Data Files.
[edit] stderr out
This line contains the actual data output by BOINC Daemon and the Project's Science Application when the processing has been completed. This output may contain additional information that may be of use to the Project regardless of the success or failure of the processing.
[edit] Validate State
The Validate State is the way we classify the final stage of the processing done with the BOINC Client Software. After the Work Unit has been processed by the Participant it is returned as a Result and this returned Result (and the associated Result Data Files) are then compared with the other returned Results in the Validation Process. The end product of the Validation Process is, hopefully, a successful formation of the Quorum of Results.
As an output of the Validation Process, each Result is tagged with a Validate State. Well, when the Result is created, the Validate State is "Initial"; but aside from that, you knew what I meant.
Possible Validate States are:
- Initial
- This Validate State is assigned to the Result when the Result is first created. It simply means that there has never been an attempt to perform the Validation Process on this Result.
- Valid
- The Result passed Validation and is considered to be a valid Result.
- Invalid
- The Result failed Validation and it is not considered to be a Valid Result. There are many reasons that can cause this, including the simplest explanation, it did not compare with the other returned Results. Keep in mind that it is possible that those other Participants are wrong and you are right. Some of the web pages will highlight invalid Results.
- But that is why we use a consensus method to test the returned values. When several Results compare within the limits of error, it is most likely that the ones that do compare are correct.
- Workunit error - check skipped
- This generally means there is something wrong with the Work Unit itself, not any specific copy of a Result. It also means that it is very unlikely that any Credit will be granted for any Result returned for that Work Unit.
- Checked, but no consensus yet
- There have been several Results returned, and a Validation was attempted; but, it was not possible to form a Quorum of Results. If this occurs, the current Results should be marked with this state and additional Results issued if the maximum number of erroneous Results has not been reached.
- If, at the time of the last Validation attempt, the Work Unit had accumulated the maximum number of erroneous Results allowed, then all of the current Results will be tagged with "Invalid".
- Result was reported too late to validate
- For whatever reason, your computer did not return the Result until sometime past the established Result Deadline. It is most likely that because of this, the other Results were already back and you will not be granted any Credit for the work performed.
[edit] Claimed Credit
This line contains the amount of Credit that was claimed by the Participant's Computer for processing the Work Unit. These claim values are derived by the amount of time spent in the calculations and the values of the Benchmarks.
[edit] Granted credit
This line contains the amount of Credit that was granted to the Participant for processing the Work Unit, if any; remember, if there was an error it is possible that there will be no Credit granted for the time spent processing the Result.
[edit] Client version
Some of the Projects track the version number of the Science Application that processed the Result for internal purposes. This does improve the traceability of the Results back to the actual derivation of the science data.
[edit] Notes, Oddities, and "Watch Out For This"
- None
[edit] Web Addresses of the "Result" Page
Because most BOINC Powered Projects "purge" their BOINC Databases, where the Work Unit and Result data is stored, I cannot give you direct links to the pages on the Project Web Sites.
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