Managing SMP on Windows

1

I’ve not contributed anything since my Windows laptop died (unrelated to running SOB, mind), but I’ve got a 2x2.8Ghz Intel machine here now running XP. Currently I’ve got two seperate instances of the client, both running for TeamHaiku of coure, but I’m not sure this is long term safe - for the client not the machine, it can well handle it. Is there anything else special to make sure both cores are kept busy?

Be interesting to see where I end up in a few hours at this rate, I remember on the 1.4 slug I used to get a place most nights :wink: 60th now,

2

AFAIK all you have to do is run 2 instances of the client to peg both processors.

3
MYOB wrote:
I've not contributed anything since my Windows laptop died (unrelated to running SOB, mind), but I've got a 2x2.8Ghz Intel machine here now running XP. Currently I've got two seperate instances of the client, both running for TeamHaiku of coure, but I'm not sure this is long term safe - for the client not the machine, it can well handle it. Is there anything else special to make sure both cores are kept busy?

Be interesting to see where I end up in a few hours at this rate, I remember on the 1.4 slug I used to get a place most nights :wink: 60th now,

The proper way to run multiple clients simultaneously on Windows is to run it using the sobsvc.exe.

sobsvc -i

installs it

sobsvc -o

optimizes it to your number of CPUs - automatically sets up one per processor (see the readment.txt for more info).

If the processor is HT-enabled, you can run:

sobsvc -o2

to give it one per logical processor (2 processors with HT each would yield 4 clients). You get a small boost this way - not double, but something like an additional 50% per processor.

sobsvc -k

tells it to restart the clients whenever a user logs in (they run even when a user is not logged in when using the service) - this gives you a tray icon for each client so you can control them manually and track their progress.

Update: make sure you configure the client BEFORE setting up as a service. Turn OFF the "automatically start with windows" feature (the service does this more effectively) - and set the priority you want default (i recommend "Idle" - although most of mine run in "Low" anyway)

4
umccullough wrote:
The proper way to run multiple clients simultaneously on Windows is to ...... ...... ....

We should put useful information like this on the TeamHaiku website.
Of course, I’ve been meaning to write up descriptions of the projects (at least the ones I know), and still haven’t gotten to it yet. :roll:
Also, who is currently in charge of the TeamHaiku website?

5
Katisu wrote:
umccullough wrote:
The proper way to run multiple clients simultaneously on Windows is to ...... ...... ....

We should put useful information like this on the TeamHaiku website.
Of course, I’ve been meaning to write up descriptions of the projects (at least the ones I know), and still haven’t gotten to it yet. :roll:
Also, who is currently in charge of the TeamHaiku website?

Currently, Serpentor runs the webserver - and he registered teamhaiku in his own name. I transferred teamhaiku.com to my name and have http requests forwarded to teamhaiku.

I also have the old teamhaiku.com content pulled out of webarchive and google cache if anyone is interested - although it really wasn’t all that substantial…

6

I would be more than willing to throw up a couple of pages that have info about setting up distributed clients for TeamHaiku on the TeamHaiku website. PM me here and I will be sure to get it.

7
umccullough wrote:
MYOB wrote:
I've not contributed anything since my Windows laptop died (unrelated to running SOB, mind), but I've got a 2x2.8Ghz Intel machine here now running XP. Currently I've got two seperate instances of the client, both running for TeamHaiku of coure, but I'm not sure this is long term safe - for the client not the machine, it can well handle it. Is there anything else special to make sure both cores are kept busy?

Be interesting to see where I end up in a few hours at this rate, I remember on the 1.4 slug I used to get a place most nights :wink: 60th now,

The proper way to run multiple clients simultaneously on Windows is to run it using the sobsvc.exe.

sobsvc -i

installs it

sobsvc -o

optimizes it to your number of CPUs - automatically sets up one per processor (see the readment.txt for more info).

If the processor is HT-enabled, you can run:

sobsvc -o2

to give it one per logical processor (2 processors with HT each would yield 4 clients). You get a small boost this way - not double, but something like an additional 50% per processor.

sobsvc -k

tells it to restart the clients whenever a user logs in (they run even when a user is not logged in when using the service) - this gives you a tray icon for each client so you can control them manually and track their progress.

Update: make sure you configure the client BEFORE setting up as a service. Turn OFF the "automatically start with windows" feature (the service does this more effectively) - and set the priority you want default (i recommend "Idle" - although most of mine run in "Low" anyway)

OK, how do I reconcile "doing it right" with "not losing the two tests in progress" ?

8
MYOB wrote:
OK, how do I reconcile "doing it right" with "not losing the two tests in progress" ?

Can be done with some tricky manipulation of the registry…

Here’s what I would probably do:

Copy the 2 residue files off somewhere (and write down the exact k and n values from the client windows - you can also get them from the "Pending Test Management" section in your profile on the Seventeenorbust.com site - the n value is usually part of the filename of the residue file, but i think the last digit gets cut off now-a-days)

Set up the client using sobsvc as i posted above, and restart the service… this will cause it to obtain 2 NEW tests, which you should immediately stop. (stop the clients, and exit them)

Once the 2 new tests are stopped, edit the registry with regedit (this is the part that sucks) and look here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\LhDn\sob\

In that key, you should see some sub-keys (probably cache and cache2) - the service maintains these and when it launches the client (sb.exe) - it specifies which of these keys each client should use.

You will edit the k/n values in these cache keys to match your already-obtained tests (make sure you edit them in decimal, not hex).

Delete the residue files that you just obtained (if they exist) - since they don’t amount to much work.

Once you have placed the proper k/n values to match your residue files - copy the files back that you backed up before and restart the service (from Computer Management).

now, drop the tests you are no longer working on (the 2 you started and immediately stopped) by going to Pending test management in your profile page on seventeenorbust.com.

When this happens to me, I personally just take these tests and hack the registry on another machine to run them manually one at a time until they’re done - no reason to throw them away :wink:

for more information, SoB has a FAQ on this (sorta - but it’s related and uses the same basic steps): http://wiki.seventeenorbust.com/index.php/Fix_For_Lost_Proth_Test

9

Service Installer

10
Minbari wrote:
Service Installer

That’s kinda neat - even has “importing and exporting” of k and n values… I’ll have to take a look at it sometime.