Well, i downloaded the correct project yesterday afternoon and i've been running it for 12hrs. Still no points?!?
Is there a long update time or something?
I realize this part of crunching has a few folks going, "WTF"? OK, I will try to explain it as completely and clearly as I can.
Your machine (aka BOINC) crunches a work unit (WU). When it's done on your machine, your machine will send the crunched results (the data itself) immediately to WCG. BOINC will then show that a work unit has completed. That WU will be marked "ready to report". It will not report the WU to WCG until you either hit the update button under the project tab, or when the BOINC does it automatically. (Side note - The automatic parameter can be set up in your profile on your WCG account page. Most of us run something like report every .2 to .3 days.)
OK, now you've reported a work unit to WCG. What happens next? That WU is shown as "pending validation" on your WCG results page. Why? The same WU was sent to other machines crunching the project. Why? Because the system looks at the result of the WU and expects to find similar results from the other machines that did the work. Why? Because they are trying to be precise in the science. Sending the WU out to more than one machine insures a level of accuracy.
OK, now you're waiting for other machines to process the WU. When all of the machines in that quorum finish working on it, then the results can be evaluated. Your machine claimed some level of point credit for doing the work. This is based on your benchmarks. Other machines may claim different points for credit. The algorithm that evaluates the result for that WU determines a score and gives that score to everyone in the quorum.
Now what? The WU is assigned that score, and you get points on the board. The WU also shows up under "valid" in your WCG results page. If it is your first completed WU ever, WCG sends you an email telling you so and thanking you...
So, what are the take-aways from this.
1. There is a lag between when you complete the unit and the system assigns point scores.
2. You score is actually also dependent on what others in the quorum are claiming.
3. You can't really predict a given days score since the quorum tends to "smooth" over your scores for a given day. It is all based on the timing of when your quorum partners finish their work.
4. If you just plain dump BOINC without first detaching from the project, you will be screwing up other folks since WCG is waiting for your WUs to be competed. When the deadline elapses, the servers will send it out to a reliable machine as a high priority WU. It will jump ahead of other WUs in your queue. I see these all the time on my farm since it always runs and is known to be reliable by the WCG work servers. The better way to quit crunching is to use the detach button on the project tab. This lets WCG know that you're bugging out. It will then resend the units that were queued on your machine to someone else, before the deadline.
@fits....You're welcome to use this text or any of the "books" I've written here. I was looking to compose something about the what and why we do this. I have not had time to do it yet.
I've gotten permission from some of the better authors at XS to plagiarize some of their better threads. I would not rip off any of it without their permission. That has been given....
in advance to SiG and a few other XS authors...
I would also be happy to proof read anything you want me to look at.
And to all, WE HAVE A WHOLE FORUM, DON'T BE AFRAID TO START A THREAD!! It makes the search engine do the work since it can find individual keywords on topics contained in separate threads. That was my primary reason to help with getting this forum for us. Let's make it easy for all of us. :up: (Sorry this is XS for
)
@ Paulieg, can we get this smiley? Is there a smiley committee I need to ask?
Thx
Regards,
Bob
