TACC-2-BOINC project

This project provides a conduit for routing High-Throughput Computing (HTC) jobs from TACC rsources to BOINC clients (which run on volunteered hardware resources). The code in this repository can be customized for supporting similar projects at other institutions as well.

This repository includes the following:

1. Front-end code for the TACC-2-BOINC website.
2. Scripts and API that run on the BOINC server for pulling job requests from TACC resources and pushing the requests to BOINC clients.
3. A back-end script that can be run on TACC resources for determining if a job can be run on BOINC clients, or whether it should be run on TACC resources only.
4. A system for generating docker images from source code.

Updates to the BOINC-Docker system created by Marius Millea

• user-interface: Creates a web interface to allow users to submit jobs more easily. Designed for slow, personal interactions, not for APIs.
• api: Designed for large job batches.
• applications: Dockerized applications for BOINC usage, do not run in the server.
• stampede2-backend: Stampede2 connection, allows to establish a client for ieasier interaction with the server

To execute the jobs submitted through this server, download BOINC and Virtualbox if not installed already. Then, add the project using:
http://SERVER_IP/boincserver
The server will automatically recognize your system as a volunteer and submit tasks when they are available.

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Installation Guide

0. Install Docker and Docker-compose in their most recent versions

1. Follow the installation instructions provided by boinc-server-docker

   • Modify the docker-compose.yml to make it similar to the one provided in this repository. This updated compose file opens the ports necessary for API usage. The only changes needed are in the ports for mysql and apache containers.
   • Most likely, this server will be installed on a cloud server. If that is the case, do not compose up directly. It is necessary to specify the IP of the system using the following syntax:
   • If not using root, it is possible that an error appears about Docker not being able to connect to the daemon. If this is the case, use sudo to obtain root access, and use sudo for all docker and/or docker-compose commands.

	URL_BASE=http://IP_ADDRESS docker-compose up -d

2. Wait a few seconds until the make_project container sets up the BOINC server and its mysql database This process is complete when a webpage is accessible on SERVER_IP/boincserver

3. Set-up basic administrative credentials

   • Execute docker ps do obtain all the data about the BOINC containers. If the setup is done correctly, there is an apache container.
   • Log into the apache container by using docker exec -it {apache container ID} bash
   • Follow to the guide in BOINC HTMLOps to set -up an administrative account with .htpasswd
     • .htpasswd is located in /root/project/html/ops
   • Login into the administrative BOINC page at SERVER_IP/boincserver_ops with the username and password provided above

4. Clone this repository

   • If git is not installed, do it by executing: apt-get update && apt-get install git-core -y
   • If not already there, cd /root/project
   • Clone via: git clone https://github.com/noderod/boinc-updates
   • cd boinc-updates

5. Establish user email credentials

   • Run the appropriate bash script to set up the email and password
   • The basic set-up only allows for gmail, for all others, modify both ./api/preprocessing.py and ./email_assimilator.py
   • Be sure to have input the correct name and password, to change them again, change /root/.bashrc
   • The same applies to the Docker, MIDAS credentials
   • Log out of the container and in again so the changes take effect Do:

	 bash password_credentials.sh
	 bash dockerhub_credentials.sh
	 exit
	 docker exec -it {APACHE SERVER} bash

6. Run the setup file
   • It will install all the necessary packages, python libraries, set-up the internal Redis database, properly locate the files, set-up the APIs, Reef cloud storage, and automatic job processing
   • The set-up file will also automatically prompt to enter the credentials for the email. Use caution, since an error would require to manually fix the /root/.bashrc file

	 cd /root/project/boinc-updates
	 bash red_setup.sh

7. Create organization acounts
   *
   • A new token must be assigned to each new user (researcher who wants to submit BOINC jobs)
   • There are 2 options on assigning tokens:
     • Create one automatically through create_token.py (deprecated)
     • Create organization accounts
   • Organization accounts are preferred since they allow users to sign up in an easier way
   • Furthermore, users signing signing through this way will have to provide email authorization
   • To create an organization, following the instructions below and enter inputs accordingly
   • An automatic Reef account will be created for each user signing up through this method
   • For more instructions on supplying tokens through organizations, check the API documentation
   • To do this:

	cd /root/project/html/user/token_data
	python3 create_organization.py

Future Use and Complains

1. Disconnecting the APIs, including Reef:
   • Disconnecting the APIs will not delete any files currently saved in Reef

	cd /root/project
	./API_Daemon.sh -down

2. Pulling the APIs up again:

	cd /root/project
	./API_Daemon.sh -up

3. I just submitted a job and it does not appear in the results ops page

   • boinc-docker-server needs to download the images before any further processing is done. For large images (> 1 Gb) this process can take time if the server has a low amount of RAM.

4. I received a job without an empty compressed results file
   Try to obtain your results in a regular file, since those are the files that our file retrieval tool supports. In general, use the general outputs or texts files. Avoid images and binary files for results. Using plotting inside a BOINC job may cause problems, since most graphic libraries assume a screen.