Offline Work Units

[squirrel]

My apologies if this is the wrong place.

Is there any way to download WUs for offline machines? I have found some old topics (2009) discussing this, but haven't seen anything new in my searches. If there is a way, what is the process for registering those machines with one's identity?

Thanks!

[Joe_H]

With changes in the client and the servers over the years, sneaker netting WU's really is not possible. Returns need to be from the same system a WU was assigned to, otherwise they are discarded.

[squirrel]

Do all clients need to have internet access, or is is possible to set up an orchestration/distribution node?

[ChristianVirtual]

All need access during assignment, download and upload. You can firewall and portforward as you wish to protect. But eventually each client need access to outside world.

[bruce]

Unlike many other distributed computing projects. FAH is specifically designed to avoid off-line units BECAUSE of it's concept surrounding deadlines. If you finish a WU at, say 3am and then the client is unable to upload the result until, 7am when you manually move the WU, the result is delayed by 4 hours which is costly to the project (and to the points you earn).

Other CD projects have "deadlines" but even small delays in returning the results is costly. The same is true for WUs that are downloaded in advance of being processed.

As has already been stated, sneakernet is still possible, but discouraged.

[squirrel]

Unlike many other distributed computing projects. FAH is specifically designed to avoid off-line units BECAUSE of it's concept surrounding deadlines. If you finish a WU at, say 3am and then the client is unable to upload the result until, 7am when you manually move the WU, the result is delayed by 4 hours which is costly to the project (and to the points you earn).

Other CD projects have "deadlines" but even small delays in returning the results is costly. The same is true for WUs that are downloaded in advance of being processed.

As has already been stated, sneakernet is still possible, but discouraged.

Thank you, I wasn't entirely sure of the reason but it makes sense.

All need access during assignment, download and upload. You can firewall and portforward as you wish to protect. But eventually each client need access to outside world.

Does anyone have a nice up-to-date list of the ports, protocols, and websites that would need to be added to a firewall for FAH?

[bruce]

Firewalls are designed to limit traffic into and out of your system but rarely interfere with traffic between various software packages communicating WITHIN your system. FAH needs access to the same internet ports that a browser uses -- specifically port 80 and 8080 to communicate with the servers. FAH uses other ports to communicate with itself on your system, but that's for local traffic such as between FAHClient and FAHControl and WebControl.

If you're running behind a proxy server (not common on home systems), it may intercept port 8080 traffic but in most o those cases, FAH can upload/download even if restricted to port 80 only. You'll have to have more detailed information about your proxy server.

The websites are (more or less) listed on the server status page but it's not a perfect list. Servers can be added or removed based on the needs of the research, but they're limited to sites actually doing FAH research. A better source is probably http://folding.stanford.edu/about/the-f ... onsortium/