NotFred Questions

[Adak]

I have multiple VM instances of NotFred's program, on the same rig. They are folding different WU's, but they all show their machine ID as 1 !

Is that a problem with these VM clients?

If it is, how do you fix it? I tried editing the client.cfg file, but it didn't work out. On on Windows7, and looking at the client.cfg file in notepad, it did not have the same format as all the previous (non-virtual) client.cfg files.

I set all 4 of these VM's up by double clicking on the folding.vmx file. Should I have done the other 3 by using the first instance's VM console window?

Thanks!

[Jolly-Swagman]

Thats OK as they are Virtual Machines, just like running 4 separate PC,s

It is only needed to change Machine ID for GPU client to other than #1 or if running with multiple Win SMP clients or Multi Linux SMP clients on same PC you need then to Change Machine ID,s

[Adak]

If you lose power or need to shut the rig down for any reason, do you lose all your work?

[Jolly-Swagman]

The only time I have ever lost any work is if you lose power while they are writing to drive,

I usually shut down the VM,s first if have to power off Rig for any reason, then they will resume from last saved point, and continue on there merry way.

[ChasR]

You may have a problem if you installed notfreds once and then copied the VMs. I'm not real familiar with notfreds, but I know, if you copy a Ubuntu VM after installing and running FAH, it will be seen by the AS as the same machine, unless you delete machinedependant.dat or give each VM in the same machine a different machine id. Of course, when copying a VM running FAH, you should also delete the Work dir. and queue.dat as they contain duplicates of the WU in the original VM. If you made multiple installs of notfreds, no problem, each will ha ave obtained a different user ID. Notfreds may not have this issue due to the way it reinstalls itself each time it is started. You may only have a duplicate on the first WU copied from the original VM. Since you have different WUs, that's likely the case.
THis kind of makes me wonder how many folks running VMware/Ubuntu are running duplicate WUs on multi VM rigs as a result of copying the original VM after running FAH.

[Adak]

I did copy the original files (only 2), but I made the copy *before* I ran any VMPlayer.

There was no copying done after they were started up. I'm not sure if that copying afterward is stressed in the install guide we have, or not.

[ChasR]

The quide says don't run FAH until after you've made the copy. It doesn't say what to do if you're copying a VM already running FAH, as in setting up another machine.

[Jolly-Swagman]

What I do is have 2 VM Folders - 1/ named Fold-VM-1 and 2/ named Fold-VM-2 then drop the Notfreds folding folder into in each one.

Then when I point VMware to each of the instances an configure them once they have started with the Web Browser and restart the VM,s to take the new configs.

Havent had any problems, so far, other than the Known issues that you can usually disregard, as they sort them selves out

[Adak]

Careful, JS! You're starting to sound like PeddlerOfFlesh, now!

How do you "point VMPlayer, at the instances"?

I'd like to streamline my way of installing NotFred's, if possible.

[Jolly-Swagman]

BTW! I use VMWare Server, when I have the VMWare Server running just open existing Virtual Machine or browse to where the folding.vmx file is EG :- "D:/Fold-VM-1/folding/folding.vmx"

In the VMPlayer just Browse for the configuration file of the virtual machine that you want to play.

EG :- "D:/Fold-VM-1/folding/folding.vmx" or wherever you have your Virtual Machines Stored

[dark bishop]

well, i seem to have gotten my vm magically working again.

now what do i copy to where? and how do i set up ip's on each to monitor it with HFM?

[Bon3thugz43v3r]

One reason I can't stand VMware any longer is because I keep getting these errors that nobody can explain. First I get the cannot access beyond end of device than I get a fatal error that deletes my current workunit that says input/output could not be written. Usually happens in between 85%-100% on my 1920 pointers.

[ChasR]

Sounds like not enough hard drive space alloted to the VM.

[Bon3thugz43v3r]

Sounds like not enough hard drive space alloted to the VM.

I allocated 2,000 mb in vmware.

[ChasR]

You have to have a minimum of 4 GB for a Ubuntu install in a VM. Mine all show about 3.6GB used. I'm sure there are distros that use a lot less space than ubuntu, but 2 GB isn't going to be enough for anything but notfreds.

[Adak]

well, i seem to have gotten my vm magically working again.

now what do i copy to where? and how do i set up ip's on each to monitor it with HFM?

I love magic! :D

I set up 2 sub-directories:

VM1\folding

VM2\folding

In the same parent directory. In each one, I copied the two folding files, right after they were extracted, before you configured them to anything.

Then I double clicked on the VM1\folding\folding.vmx file, to start the VMPlayer working with that directory.

Since I was pressed badly for time with all the changes I made for the CC, I'm still using FahMon right now. It should be in the HFM thread, however.

[Adak]

One reason I can't stand VMware any longer is because I keep getting these errors that nobody can explain. First I get the cannot access beyond end of device than I get a fatal error that deletes my current workunit that says input/output could not be written. Usually happens in between 85%-100% on my 1920 pointers.

I was on the Tech Report's forum, and NotFred explained that:

Some WU's have lots more steps than others, and NotFred's is not designed to handle that yet.

I believe he viewed it as a cosmetic issue, previously. He's now moved it up to the front burner, because of the feedback he's received.

[Surferseth]

If you lose power or need to shut the rig down for any reason, do you lose all your work?

I find it easiest to "suspend" the VM's prior to shutting down the host system. This can take more physical disk space though, about double the size of the VM. Once you start the VM back up the space taken by the suspend file(s) is no longer used. If you dont want to suspend, I suggest shutting down the VMs prior to shutting down the host.

In regard to copying VMs. When you copy a VM in the file system of your OS, and then launch the new copy, you are normally prompted to choose "I copied" or "I moved" the virtual machine. If you choose "I copied" it will give the machine a new virtual mac address so it will appear as a different physical system to the network.
From what I have expierenced, if you choose the "I copied" option you dont have to worry about machine ID's, but, as ChasR mentioned, you want to clear out the queue.dat and work files on the newly copied system. I use both VMWare Fusion (like player, but for OSX) and VMWare Server 2.0.

[Bon3thugz43v3r]

I am using not freds. HD space should not be an issue I have plenty.

[Jolly-Swagman]

I am using not freds. HD space should not be an issue I have plenty.


Make sure allocated Ram is 1024MB for VM,,and you havent checked the make private box as this can cause an issue with read/write

When configuring the VM client also make the write to Backup time 30mins

The other error that you are getting cannot access beyond HDD ,,, just disregard this a known problem with Notfreds VM,s

They still run,

[Bon3thugz43v3r]

Make sure allocated Ram is 1024MB for VM,,and you havent checked the make private box as this can cause an issue with read/write

When configuring the VM client also make the write to Backup time 30mins

The other error that you are getting cannot access beyond HDD ,,, just disregard this a known problem with Notfreds VM,s

They still run,

All my settings matched those perfectly, and I still get these problems. Only one I don't know about is the "make private box" where can I find this?

[dark bishop]

how do you change ram settings for the vm? is it just editing the .vmx file to 1024?

[Bon3thugz43v3r]

how do you change ram settings for the vm? is it just editing the .vmx file to 1024?

Yes, and also in the vmplayer window you click VMWare Player>TroubleShoot>Change memory allocation

[dark bishop]

ah, thats the one im looking for, thanks.

[Burninate35]

how do I know if I am running smp?


I think I am just running a single core WU on each of my 2 cpus


I want to be running smp I think. can someone tell me how I can get my vm running smp


thanks

[Adak]

If NotFreds detects multiple cpu's, it will automatically set it up for smp wu's, if possible.

In fact, I don't have any single processor rigs right now, so I don't know if NotFreds will set a rig up for the uniprocessor client, but I believe it will.

The easiest way to see what NotFred's is doing, is to set up your HFM or Fahmon, or FahSpy monitoring program, with NotFred's as a client, to show the data for you.

[Bon3thugz43v3r]

I find that I lose more work units if I actually power off the virtual machine rather than suspend it.

[Surferseth]

I find that I lose more work units if I actually power off the virtual machine rather than suspend it.

If you are running NotFred and simply power off through the VMWare GUI then yes, that is like pulling the power cable out of the back of a live system... Not good.

I forget if there is an option for a "graceful" shutdown of the NotFreds VMs since I normally just suspend them.

[Bon3thugz43v3r]

If you are running NotFred and simply power off through the VMWare GUI then yes, that is like pulling the power cable out of the back of a live system... Not good.

I forget if there is an option for a "graceful" shutdown of the NotFreds VMs since I normally just suspend them.

Would be good for this information to be included in the sticky for setting this stuff up. Not everyone should have to find out the hard way and lose precious wu's.

[Burninate35]

can someone tell me how to link fahmon to my vm? I have read some things that explain it, but I am still confused.

Thanks

[PeddlerOfFlesh]

Would be good for this information to be included in the sticky for setting this stuff up. Not everyone should have to find out the hard way and lose precious wu's.

Done. I was under the impression that going into suspend mode was the default and assumed that anybody changing it knew what they were doing. Any other suggestions to help clarify anything are more than welcome.

[Adak]

How to Add a VMPlayer client to FahMon:

When the VM begins folding, it presents a folding name for you, something like, "fold-907B". Write it down.

If that were the folding name, then you'd right click on the center area of FahMon, and select "Add a new client". Mark the box that says "client is on a virtual machine".

Put in this string as the location: \\fold-907B\c\etc\folding\1\

Where "fold-907B" represents your folding instance's name from the VMPlayer window.

Now give your client a name like "VM#1" or whatever, and click on the big OK button.

Note that there is no http, and no colon, in the cleint's location, and all the slashes are backslashes like in DOS, not forward slashes like the net uses.

[Burninate35]

Great, thank you =)

[PeddlerOfFlesh]

Great, thank you =)

Just out curiosity, what part of him explaining it clarified it more than my explanation? I'd like to add it to the guide as I see people asking this a lot.

[Burninate35]

I am not sure, when I get around to trying again I will try to remember to tell you. I need to make some hardware changes before I give this whole VM thing another go. I am going to get my quad core into my gaming pc and run 2 VMs. I hope I can get 5k ppd out of it bringing my pc up to around 10kppd!! Bringing my total production up to around 12.5k ppd after I get another VM on my other pc. :)