Could there be a problem with BOINC failing to update the debt values when networking is disabled?

I'm running BOINC v5.8.16 under Windows Vista, on an 8-core dual Xeon. I'm monitoring it remotely with BOINCView 1.4.2, which is capable of displaying STD and LTD in real time. [The columuns - on the projects tab - are not visbile by default, but can be selected]

When BOINC networking is enabled (normal), the debt values update every 60 seconds or so, and I can predict pretty accurately when applications are going to switch and which project is going to be 'called forward' next.

For the last couple of days, I've been running with networking disabled (because the CPDN servers are full, and there's an alpha test going on at SETI). While networking is off, BV doesn't update the displayed debt figures regularly, only at major events like tasks finishing.

Worse, I don't thing BOINC is updating the values internally, either. One project got up to +9274 STD, and has gradually taken over all 8 cores (it's on 3/8ths resource share). As the first task finished, it jumped immediately to -2987 STD. The most recent task switch happened less than 30 minutes before the recalculation, so if the debts had been up-to-date, there's no way it should have taken an extra core and pre-empted a running project. The project which got the core released by the task end was already at +7627 STD.

... For the last couple of days, I've been running with networking disabled (because the CPDN servers are full, and there's an alpha test going on at SETI). While networking is off, BV doesn't update the displayed debt figures regularly, only at major events like tasks finishing. ...

Straying off the main point in your query (sorry), I wonder if it would be a good idea for Boinc to have a per-project network activity disabled flag. At the moment, projects can unilaterally disable your communications with them for a period of time, but there's no way for the user to do the same.

Has anyone suggested this before, and would it be worth adding to Trac?

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I've added my version to trac as ticket # 136.

Mike - I think your version has been mentioned before, but I couldn't lay my hands on a reference easily. I think it's a good idea, but I'll leave you to add it to trac if you want to.

Richard...

I went ahead and put it into the correct (I hope) component category. It got assigned to David.

Mike...

Interesting. I think you should add it in as a feature request.

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Kathryn :o)

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Mike...

Interesting. I think you should add it in as a feature request.

I've added it as ticket 139.
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/ticket/139

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Mike - I think your version has been mentioned before, but I couldn't lay my hands on a reference easily. I think it's a good idea, but I'll leave you to add it to trac if you want to.

ISTR making a similar suggestion in a SETI@home discussion a while back ... (searching) … yes, here, in January on the Number Crunching forum. I doubt I'm the only one who has.

P.S. Any idea when these message boards will get updated to handle non-ASCII characters in postings? They seem to be among the last few places where this old bug persists!

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