Results For Computer Page

From Unofficial BOINC Wiki

Contents 1 General 2 Column by Column 2.1 Result ID 2.2 Work Unit ID 2.3 Sent 2.4 Time Reported or Deadline 2.5 Server State 2.6 Outcome 2.7 Possible Outcomes 2.7.1 Unknown 2.7.2 Success 2.7.3 Couldn't Send 2.7.4 Client Error 2.7.5 No Reply 2.7.6 Didn't Need 2.7.7 Validate Error 2.8 Client State 2.9 Client States 2.9.1 New 2.9.2 Done 2.9.3 Downloading 2.9.4 Computing 2.9.5 Uploading 2.10 CPU Time 2.11 Claimed Credit 2.12 Granted Credit 3 Notes, Oddities, and "Watch Out For This" 4 Web Addresses of the "Results For Computer" Page

[edit] General

This page presents you with a list of the latest 20 Results that have been created for one of your computers "attached" to the Project and the ones that your computer has already returned to the Project. Also included are the relevant data about the Work Unit and the Result with links so that you can "drill-down" to the detail information about that one specific Result or the parent Work Unit.

Of particular interest in this page is that you can see the Work Units that you have processed and look to see the difference between the Claimed Credit and the Granted Credit.

At the end of the page (out of sight, unfortunately) there is a link that will display the next 20 Results that you have returned to the Project.

[edit] Column by Column

[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] Work Unit ID

This is the internal "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 BOINC 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 "Results For User" Page to the "Work Unit" Page.

Other projects will be doing the same type of thing, but in the context of their project. For the most part this is a lot of "who cares?" other than we know that the Work Unit has an identifier.

[edit] Sent

This is the date and time when the Result was issued to the Participant's Computer.

[edit] Time Reported or 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] Server State

[edit] Outcome

The Web Pages that display the actual Results and their Outcome has as part of its display, the Outcome for the Result.

If you need a reminder of the meaning of the Outcomes, you can click on the "explain" link to get the definition.

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:

1. Not started (New), or
2. Processing is Finished (Done), or
3. 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] CPU Time

The reported CPU Time that it took to "process" this Result.

[edit] Claimed Credit

The amount of Credit that the BOINC Daemon decided that this Result was "worth".

[edit] Granted Credit

The amount of Credit that was awarded. The rules are explained in the Glossary entry Credit.

[edit] Notes, Oddities, and "Watch Out For This"

1. None.

[edit] Web Addresses of the "Results For Computer" 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.