Hello,

I am trying to connect to projects (SETI and World Community Project) via BOINC. I am sure I need to go through a proxy server as where I work they have said that it is not against their policy for users to run BOINC software on works computers. But there is a proxy server to negotiate. How do I connect to the outside world via a proxy server and is this the problem I am having.

Nevica

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The error message I receieve when I try and connect to a project is:

PROJECT NOT FOUND

The URL you supplied is not that of a BOINC-based project. Please check the URL and try again.

Nevica

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Are you asking us what to fill in about the proxy server in BOINC Manager->Advanced view->Advanced->Options? That is information you need to ask your work's IT department.

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No, I'm, I'm asking if this is the problem. Is the fact that there is a proxy server present in the network I sue the problem? And if so do I simply simply select the proxy server as you suggested in your mail?

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In essence, yes, that is the way to do it.
When the network relies on the proxy server, you will have to tell BOINC to use it as well. Or else it won't get through to the internet.

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Hello,

I now know the proxy server name. I put this into the required place in advanced/options but unfortunately it does not work. I try with and without putting paswords in. Is it important to have the port correct?

Nevica

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Yes, it is very important to have the port correct as else BOINC won't be able to reach the internet. So you should get that information from your IT department as well. If you want to go guess, there are quite a lot. In principle 0 to 65536. It'd take a fortnight to test them all. So asking people at work who know it in an instant is the easier way. :)

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Unfortunately,

My IT dept have told me port 80. I have put in all this information correctly, trying both logging on and without but I still get the same error.

Any ideas?

Nevica

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HTTP Proxy or SOCKS proxy?
Which BOINC version?
On what operating system?

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I have tried both http proxy and socks proxy (what is the difference?)

I am using Windows Vista 64 bit with the latest BOINC version. (downloaded today).

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I have tried both http proxy and socks proxy (what is the difference?)

According to Wikipedia:

SOCKS uses a handshake protocol to inform the proxy software about the connection that the client is trying to make and may be used for any form of TCP or UDP socket connection, whereas a HTTP proxy analyses the HTTP headers sent through it in order to deduce the address of the server and therefore may only be used for HTTP traffic. The following examples demonstrate the difference between the SOCKS and HTTP proxy protocols:

SOCKS

Bill wishes to communicate with Jane over the internet, but a firewall exists on his network between them and Bill is not authorised to communicate through it himself. Therefore, he connects to the SOCKS proxy on his network and sends information about the connection he wishes to make to Jane. The SOCKS proxy opens a connection through the firewall and facilitates the communication between Bill and Jane. For more information on the technical specifics of the SOCKS protocol, see the sections below.

HTTP

Bill wishes to download a web page from Jane, who runs a web server. Bill cannot directly connect to Jane's server, as a firewall has been put in place on his network. In order to communicate with the server, Bill connects to his network's HTTP proxy. His internet browser communicates with the proxy in exactly the same way it would the target server - it sends a standard HTTP request header. The HTTP proxy reads the request and looks for the Host header. It then connects to the server specified in the header and transmits any data the server replies with back to Bill.

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Now then, you set up the proxy. Whichever of the two is in use is known to your IT department so you have to ask them. While you have them on the phone anyway, tell them that they on their turn should also still allow BOINC (boinc.exe) to pass through the firewall on TCP ports 80 and 443.

Since you also have a Windows (software) firewall on your computer, you too should allow BOINC (boinc.exe) to pass through that firewall, also on TCP ports 80 and 443.

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