Folding@home Configuration FAQ

Table of Contents

- Introduction
- General Settings
- Settings Unique to the Version 5.x Client
- Special Issues

Introduction

The Folding@home client can be configured in several different ways. The reason for this range of configurations is to make it possible for donors to choose the amount of resources they wish to donate to Folding@home. Below are listed some of the configuration switches and their impact on the FAH client. Please note that certain switches will lead to experimental projects, which will be much less stable or more complex and are not intended for machines in environments where the machine stability or usability is a primary concern (e.g. corporate or education environments). Also, note that the high performance clients (SMP, GPU, PS3, etc.) by design use a lot of resources and should only be run on machines which can tolerate heavy use.

Several settings or flags will lead to projects with bonus points. Please note that bonus points are a reward for the additional resource demands that may be placed on your system or the complexity of the Work Units. WUs with a bonus are not suited for machines in high reliability environments and should only be used with caution and strong familiarity with FAH. They should never be used on machines that are not monitored regularly. Bonus points may be adjusted or withdrawn at any time.

General Settings

The default configuration uses no flags. The most stable way to run FAH is without any flags and with the default answers to the client configuration settings. The client will get a variety of work units. The majority of disease related WUs are assigned to clients without any flags.

-advmethods This flag requests "advanced methods" work units (WUs). These work units are inherently less stable than regular WUs. The donor should monitor the client regularly and report unusual situations to the Folding Community Forum.

Settings Unique to the Version 5.x Client

The configuration setting Accept WUs>5MB (also known as the "BigWU" setting) allows for large WUs (large in either download size, upload size, or RAM requirements). Note these work units are the most demanding work units in download and/or RAM. In the FAH console client, this is set in the client configuration (changes can be made using the -config flag). You will be asked "Allow receipt of work unit assignments and return of work results greater than 5MB in size (such units may have large memory demands) [Yes/No]." In the GUI client, this is set through the configuration panel. We do not recommend the BigWU setting for clients with modems, due to the large file sizes involved (and greater potential for transmission problems and WU loss). In the v6 client, the BigWU options are "[small,normal,big]?" which equates to <5MB,5-10MB,>5MB.

Combining advanced methods and BigWU This combination unlocks the most demanding work units with very large RAM and/or large file size WUs. We do not suggest this setting for a machine which is not readily administered, as this setting is the most demanding and would likely require more donor intervention than any other setting. To compensate for this, these WUs have a large bonus. The donor should monitor the client regularly and report unusual situations to the Folding Community Forum. This combination should be only used with extreme caution and familiarity with FAH - there will be huge demands on the client machine, including (but not limited to) processor usage, memory demand, hard drive utilization, and network bandwidth. Bonus points are awarded due to these increased demands, but may be adjusted at any time.

Please note that work unit availability is based on the current projects that are running. If you choose to use -advmethods, BigWU, or the combination of both, it does not guarantee that you will get a specific type of work unit all of the time. These work units, like all others, come and go depending on the research we are doing. If an advanced, QMD, or BigWU project is not available, you will be assigned to another server that may give you a work unit that does not carry bonus points.

Special Issues

Computers with multiple CPUs (SMP) are supported under FAH in two ways. For Intel-based Macs, x86-64 PC's running linux, and x86 PC's running Windows, there is a special SMP client. For other machines, one can use multiple processors by running multiple clients (one for each CPU). This is clearly non-ideal and better support is under development. There are certain caveats of using SMP boxes with special flags. Do not run multiple clients with each set to the most aggressive settings (BigWU + adv), as this can overwhelm most computers. Instead, we suggest BigWU+adv on one client and the default settings on the other(s). In situations where reliability, stability, and/or responsiveness a premium, we suggest either all clients with the default settings, or just one client with the BigWU option enabled.

Slower computers or computers which spend only of a fraction of the day on FAH should run with "timeless" or deadlineless work units, when available. These work units are designed to not require a deadline time for return, and thus are well suited to these types of machines. In the GUI, deadlineless WUs can be selected in the config panel. Do not use the -advmethods flag or the BigWU setting in combination with the deadlineless option. Note that when a FAH client is configured for deadlineless WUs, and if those WUs are not available, the FAH client may be idle for long periods until more of those WUs are released.

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Last Updated on January 24, 2008, at 06:05 AM