Sprints 2024 - timetable and projects selected

[UBT - Timbo]

I only get short tasks on ARM Linux 2-6 hours
Windows X86 only gets long tasks 33 hours (so will get two passes)
Linux X86 only gets long tasks 38-45 hours (will only get one pass, sprint ends at 1.5 days)

Its been like this for a long while

Hiya

Yup - I was expecting something like this - it just means that there will not be a huge number of crunched work units by the end and not so many BOINC credits will be earned, (esp on x86 hosts) so it might turn out to be a closer Sprint result !

Sadly, the number of projects with lots of available tasks seems to be reducing with every month...and some stalwart BOINC projects like Einstein, MilkyWay, Moo Wrapper, Rosetta, etc no longer have hundreds of thousands of tasks available on any one day.

And I put this down partly to the fact that many projects are expecting hosts to be of the latest generation and the projects are creating longer tasks that can fully exploit the significantly faster, more agile CPUs available these days, rather than some of the older, slower tech some of us might still be using ! (self included). Of course longer running tasks mean less stress on the project download servers, less bandwidth accessing the portal for tasks every 5 minutes and fewer hourly demands for tasks !

So, we just have to accept this and at least any project selected for a Sprint will benefit from whoever wants to get involved.

regards
Tim

[jave808]

Hi all

The project selected for Sprint #7 is SiDock

https://formula-boinc.org/sprints.py?ra ... sprintid=9

There ARE tasks available:

https://www.sidock.si/sidock/server_status.php

But on one of my hosts BOINC Manager is displaying the message "Communications deferred for 23:59:50" (and counting down) which is nearly 24 hours !!! .

Hope everyone has better luck than me.

(And PS The project admin said there would not be an issue !).

regards
Tim

Tim, I love you, I love what you do here but please, can we not have projects with tasks taking over 24 hours! I have tasks crunching away now, but will probably only get one pass.

[UBT - Timbo]

Tim, I love you, I love what you do here but please, can we not have projects with tasks taking over 24 hours! I have tasks crunching away now, but will probably only get one pass.

Hi

Thanks for the message.

As explained in my previous posting, the problem is that there are fewer active projects available and those that are available seem to be offering longer running times for their work units.

And the Sprint project selection process already takes into account which projects have an abundance of tasks to start with as well as having the infrastructure to be able to cope with a high level of demand for tasks, over a short period of time and of course for the project to actually be fully operational during the Sprint weekend.

So, it was inevitable, that the random selection process would throw up a project where the tasks would take longer than a few minutes or maybe 3 or 4 hours. It's just how it is and of course, the slow processing time is not ideal, but it is the same for everyone involved...so, it makes a level playing field, if most people are using x86 based hosts, as SiDock only offers long duration tasks for these platforms - whereas if you have some ARM based hardware you will benefit from being able to process the short duration tasks.

I should also point out that not every project publishes the typical run-time for each of the applications available from it (on its server status webpage). So, it is sometimes impossible to see how long each task takes (on average) for any given host OS or hardware. This then makes it even harder to ensure that there will be lots of tasks that can be completed quickly.

Ultimately, the FB Sprints are totally dependent on each and every BOINC project to be active with plenty of available tasks and these days, that is not the case with the majority of projects

regards
Tim

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi all

Just to give you all a guide as to the day to day availability of tasks from BOINC projects, please view the attached Excel spreadsheet, which shows the number of tasks and the duration of processing time for recently returned work units.

You will note the column showing UNSENT tasks - this is how many tasks were available this morning from each project application (and please note that the figures shown change all the time - this is just a snapshot of stats from today!).

active-boinc-projects-2024-05-17-v2.jpg (796.1 KiB) Viewed 1099 times

Sorry if this strains your eyes, but I can only upload as a JPG and the forum limits how big such a file can be.

And please note that some projects are NOT suitable for a Sprint, even if they have thousands of available tasks, as we all know from previous experiences that the FB members can really stress project servers with the significant demands for downloads and uploads.

regards
Tim

[entity]

Your post on May 16, 2024 at 12:03pm seems to rule out Milkyway as a viable project due to not having a lot of tasks on any given day. Milkyway was selected as the Steeplechase project in this years Pentathlon and hasn't had a single issue in the last four days. Alternatively, Numberfields seems to be a regular selection for Sprints due to it having a large number of tasks but it struggled during the Pentathlon due to bandwidth issues. I think Milkyway is a viable project for Sprints.

[UBT - Timbo]

Your post on May 16, 2024 at 12:03pm seems to rule out Milkyway as a viable project due to not having a lot of tasks on any given day. Milkyway was selected as the Steeplechase project in this years Pentathlon and hasn't had a single issue in the last four days. Alternatively, Numberfields seems to be a regular selection for Sprints due to it having a large number of tasks but it struggled during the Pentathlon due to bandwidth issues. I think Milkyway is a viable project for Sprints.

Hi

Thanks for your valuable feedback.

I am, as you might expect, walking a tightrope in terms of making sure that each Sprint can run as best as possible and as such I have to accept responsibility if something bad happens, which is fine as I can handle that. And of course I try to ensure that this does not happen !!

I try really hard to keep the selected project admins advised ahead of time and to also try and take into account other limiting factors, which occur from time to time and which can never be predicted.

I also try not to rule out ANY of the valid Sprint projects but if a project goes offline (planned or otherwise) or has any specific project-related issues, then this also has to be considered. And sometimes, a project admin will actually generate MORE tasks a day or so in advance of the Sprint dates, in order to ensure that FB members have lots of tasks available.

And yes, I do monitor the number of available tasks from each project and those with very few are eliminated from any specific random selection process, so as to ensure, as much as possible, that the Sprint should run smoothly.

But I only have one pair of eyes and I can only spend a limited amount of time checking projects and keeping an eye on all of them to ensure that the right projects go into the hat.

So, any feedback any FB member would like to pass on, (such as the info about the Pentathlon or any other Challenges such as those by BOINCstats, WCG or BOINCGames) would always be much appreciated, either posted on this topic or via PM.

regards
Tim

[UBT - wbiz]

Tim, I love you, I love what you do here but please, can we not have projects with tasks taking over 24 hours! I have tasks crunching away now, but will probably only get one pass.

I've been juggling everything to get two passes, I'll probably end up with something like 1.7 passes.

But there might be another way with Sidock, the credits appear to be awarded by time taken, so if you slow your computer down by reducing the clock speed to take nearly three days for one pass, you might get similar credits to somebody that hammers everything to get two passes.

Normally the incentive is to get as much work done as possible in the shortest time, but for the sprints its a fixed time frame which exposes this anomaly.

Don't shoot me if I'm wrong, I'm the guy that thinks outside the box because I can never remember where the box is.

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi all

I have made contact with the Project Admin at the specially selected project for Sprint #8 (for reasons that will become clear soon).

Every league has the same project during each sprint, no matter which League each Team is in.

I await confirmation that their server will be able to cope with the expected high number of task downloads once the Sprint starts.

regards
Tim

[BarnardsStern]

Wow, something different. Ok, wait a day until the first results are available, but then things will move forward. The interim result for our team today is nothing to sneeze at. Manage the amount of tasks so that nothing goes overboard and off you go

greetings from Switzerland

BarnardsStern

[UBT - Timbo]

Hi all

Despite messages being sent to 2 different project admins over the last 5 days, neither has actually replied to me with confirmation that their project can cope with our members needs for tasks during the period 23rd-26th May.

So, I have now contacted the back-up project and hopefully they will be happy to support the Sprint by way of tasks.

Hopefully they reply to me before 4pm UTC tomorrow (Thursday).

As for this other project - let's just say that they have had their chance and they've blown it and their project will not be selected again this year. (And no, I will not divulge which project it is... !!).

regards
Tim