FahSpy (monitoring tool)

[Behc]

FahSpy - powerful monitoring tool for Folding@Home.

http://fahspy.org/

The utility is intended for monitoring Folding@Home client work (locally or by network). It uses little system resources, can handle unlimited number of client installations and is stable against network problems.

FahSpy key features:
- information on current work unit (WU): project number, run, clone, gen;
- status of client (working, stopped, has unsent completed units, cannot reach
client folder);
- percent of current WU completed;
- preferrable term of completion and deadline for current WU;
- core name;
- amount of points for current WU;
- prediction for the time of completion of current WU;
- estimated points per hour and per day;
- operating with services on local and remote PC (sc.exe utility from
Windows XP Professional and higher required. However, you may copy it to your
Windows 2000/XP Home folder);
- information on possible client setup and computing errors;
- color log viewer and client configuration editor.

Developer: Angel999 (TSC! Russia team)

WHAT'S NEW:
(version 2.0.1, released on 01/13/2010. English, Russian, Ukrainian)
(+) Support bonus points for "-bigadv" WU (bonus factor).
(+) "Intellectual" log window scrolling.
(!) Minor fixes and improvements.
(!) Updated WU database.

[theMASS]

I've used FahSpy for awhile and really like it. I like the amount of information that can be viewed for all monitored clients simultaneously.

I have one question and one request.

Often a client shows status as "ready to send" and is highlighted in red text. This happens when there is nothing to send and once the status is "ready to send" it will stay that way until the queue or work directory is deleted. Anyone know what causes this?

I would like to have the option to view predicted completion in hr/min format as an alternate format to the date/time currently available.

[Angel999]

I know
Status "Ready to send" happens when wuresults_*.dat file present in "work" subfolder. Sometimes fah cores doesn't delete this file after result was successfully sended.

[francois]

This is my favorite monitoring tool too.
Only thing lacking is the user stat!

Thanks!

Best regards,
François

[Angel999]

Colleagues.
I have translated FahSpy FAQ, but unfortunally English is not my native language. Could you please check possible translation issues? May be you have new questions (or answers) for FAQ? Your remarks and suggestions are welcome.

[uncle_fungus]

I'm just going through it now

Edit: Ok, I think it reads a little better now (YGPM too):

Question:
Why does FahSpy still show the status as "Ready to send", when the next work unit already has X% calculated?
Answer:
The program has a number of statuses that are mutually exclusive. "Running" and "Ready to send" are among those that cannot occur simultaneously.
In some circumstances a unit can have been completed but not sent to the server, while a new unit has been downloaded and is already being processed.
In this case FahSpy decides (and I absolutely agree with it), that it is more important to inform the user about unsent units.
Occasionally "Ready to send" will remain, despite the unit being successfully sent. In this case you should manually remove any "work\wuresults_*.dat" files.

Question:
I'm sure that a client is running, but FahSpy displays the "Stopped" status on Linux/FreeBSD/*nix.
Answer:
FahSpy detects the "Running" status of a client by looking for a file lock "FAHlog.txt". On some OSes, the files are not locked during processing, due to the way the cores are handled.
In the latest version experimental support for these systems was added.

Question:
I see only zeros and "no data" in core's details.
Answer:
You should update the work unit database. Open this URL: http://fah-web.stanford.edu/psummary.html and save the page into FahSpy's "Data" folder as "psummary.html"

Question:
The program doesn't display a prediction.
Answer:
A prediction cannot be displayed right after a unit is started. You should wait until the client has completed at least 2-3% of the unit.

Question:
I cannot see a prediction on slow computers.
Answer:
You should increase the checkpoint interval of the client. Edit "client.cfg" in the following way: in the [core] section, set the "checkpoint=xx" parameter to be 30 or greater. This bug is fixed since 1.2.2.

Question:
The interface is too complex. There are too many columns.
Answer:
You can tune the interface: hide unnecessary columns or change their order using program settings. It makes sense to disable "Group by computer" if task cache is not used.

Question:
What does the column "Run-Clone-Gen" display? What it for?
Answer:
It shows the unique identifier of the unit. If you have processed several units with the same project number and the same value of "Run-Clone-Gen", you will only get the points for one unit. FahSpy highlights these values in red.

Question:
Does a version for Linux exist?
Answer:
No, and is not planned. However FahSpy should work w/o any problems or limitations under any Windows emulator (or Windows virtual machine). There has been a particularly positive experience of using FahSpy under WINE.

Question:
I appreciate the time and effort the author has spent writing FahSpy and would like to donate money to him. How can I do it?
Answer:
FahSpy's author has the following electronic purses with the WebMoney payment system (http://www.wmtransfer.com/):
EURO - E163067797907
USD - Z392465765314

[Angel999]

Oh! Thanks a lot, uncle_fungus. Translation was updated. Your PM recommendations are considered.
Thanks again.

[Tobit]

man, I'd love to be using this. However, 90% of my clients are on Linux and I cannot figure out how to make it work around the locking issue as mentioned in the faq.

[theMASS]

man, I'd love to be using this. However, 90% of my clients are on Linux and I cannot figure out how to make it work around the locking issue as mentioned in the faq.

Most of my clients are Linux and several are running under VMWare Server and it works great. What flavor of Linux are you running?

[Tobit]

Most of my clients are Linux and several are running under VMWare Server and it works great. What flavor of Linux are you running?

Ubuntu 8.04 Server - clients are diskless and netboot to this.

[siadi]

works fine, and very very very helpful. much much more handy than fahmon. thx heaps!

[compuguy1088]

works fine, and very very very helpful. much much more handy than fahmon. thx heaps!

Agreed, far more powerful than fahmon.

[Pette Broad]

I've been using this for a few months now. My only gripe is that I'm unable to navigate to other computers on the Network. I have to enter the paths into the box manually, am I doing something wrong?

Thanks,

Pete

[compuguy1088]

I've been using this for a few months now. My only gripe is that I'm unable to navigate to other computers on the Network. I have to enter the paths into the box manually, am I doing something wrong?

Thanks,

Pete

That's the same thing I did with FAHspy in terms of setting up remote clients.

[Great_Gig]

What a great little program. I normally use FahMon, but this displays so much more in 1 window.

Fantastic tool and many thanks Angel999