Folding@home Configuration FAQ

Table of Contents

- Introduction
- General Settings
- Settings Unique to the Version 5.x Client
- Settings Unique to the Version 6.x Client
- Special Issues

Introduction

The Folding@home (FAH) 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 FAH. 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 much more complex, and are not intended for machines in environments where machine stability or usability is a primary concern (e.g. corporate or education environments). Also, note the high performance clients (SMP, GPU2, PS3, etc.) by design use a lot of resources and should only be run on machines which can tolerate heavy use, and by people who are willing to put in the extra effort to run those demanding high performance clients.

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 from the complexity of the Work Units (WUs). 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 Bonus points may be adjusted or withdrawn at any time.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. These work units are inherently less stable than regular WUs. The donor should monitor the client regularly and report unusual situations to the Folding Support Forum.

Settings Unique to the Version 5.x Client

The configuration setting Accept WUs > 5MB ("greater than 5 MB" also known as the "BigWU" setting) allows for large WUs (large in either download size, upload size, RAM requirements, or all the above). 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).

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.

Settings Unique to the Version 6.x Client

In the v6 client, the BigWU options are now "[small, normal, big]?" which equates to expected file upload sizes of <5MB, 5-10MB, >5MB.

Use IE Settings has been removed because of operating system and web browser updates from Microsoft that effectively breaks this feature for most people. Additionally, it causes extra load on the Stanford servers when it breaks, so this change is a necessity. Please use the proxy settings as the alternative.

Additional Parameters allows placing client switches in the client configuration file (client.cfg) instead of creating and editting a new shortcut.

The SysTray client replaces the GUI client, and adds support for Windows Vista. Please note the fah data files are stored separately from the executable files with this client. Also, code has been added to support an "all-in-one" type client. While this feature is not yet available in all clients, the Linux Console client is the first to use it. With no client switches, it runs the single-threaded CPU client, but with the -smp switch it runs the multi-threaded SMP client with corresponding SMP work units.

Support for more Machine IDs has been adding, increasing from 8 [1-8] to 16 [1-16]. The Service setup has been moved to the Advanced Settings section. Also added a feature for disabling Affinity Lock and for setting an IP address for the WU Viewer (still in development).

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 real CPU core). 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.

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Last Updated on April 02, 2009, at 10:53 PM by