Hello,

I work for a large corporation. I have permission from the IT department to run BOINC software but they do not support it in any way.

I have downloaded the latest BOINC and tried to attach to different projects (SETI, World Community Grid etc) but am unable to connect. My IT dept has told me that they use a proxy server and I have set this accordingly but thid does not resolve the problem. The IT dept has told me that other people have been able to use BOINC but I am having no luck!

Any ideas?

Nevica

---

Some more info is needed. :)
What OS?
Which version of BOINC?
What are the error messages?

I am using Windows Vista 64 bit with latest drivers.

BOINC 6.6.36

Error message I get when I try to 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.'

---

It would probably also help if you could post the technical details your IT department gave you about their proxy server so you could set BOINC to use it (not the security stuff, obviously).

Some versions of BOINC have problems with some sorts of proxies, or need special settings (HTTP 1.0, for instance).

Proxy Server is:

http://wwwcache.rl.ac.uk/proxy.pac

Computer details:

Windows IP Configuration

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : space.rl.ac.uk
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::7c91:d710:b92f:97db%10
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 130.246.121.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.252.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 130.246.120.254

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 6:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : space.rl.ac.uk

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 7:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : space.rl.ac.uk
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2002:82f6:7902::82f6:7902
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 2002:c058:6301::c058:6301


Is this any help?

---

Looking at the BOINC proxy dialogs (advanced -> options, third and fourth tabs), you also need to know:

Whether it is a HTTP or Socks proxy
The address to use
The port number to use
Whether the proxy requires authentication

Similar information will be needed for your web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox or whatever) to work, but the IT department may have configured their network to supply the relevant details automatically to those programs. You may be able to read the values you need from the configuration pages of your browswer (tools -> internet options, connections tab, click 'LAN settings' for IE).

I believe there are attempts afoot to teach BOINC how to detect proxy servers automatically, but I don't think they're generally available until the v6.10 range - and you don't want to add testing an unstable version to all your other tasks. So I think you'll have to copy the information to BOINC by hand.

Thanks Richard,

Yes, I have tried all sorts of configerations with SOCKS and http settings and setting the port numbers with authentication and not. What sort of authentication is required? Will it be my network ID or something that only the IT dept will know?

I know the port number supplied to me by my IT dept. I have also tried setting this.

I have tried putting in my user name and password in the relevant space in ADVANCED/OPTIONS/http PROXY

but with the same response,

NEVICA

---

Those are the sort of questions only your IT department can answer. I would have thought that a university (going by the .ac.uk suffix) would maintain a supply of factsheets or FAQs for research staff to refer to in situations like this.

No, we are not an academic institution despite the .ac suffix. The IT dept has said that they do not support BOINC.

So this is the problem then? One of those which you have mentioned. Could anything else be the problem apart from the configuration of http/SOCKS/IDs etc to be found in the ADVANCED/OPTIONS/3rd-4th TABS/ etc.


Nevica

---

Well, rl.ac.uk is a public domain registered to the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory - so if you are not a publically-funded reasearch institution (either RAL or another part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council), you/they shouldn't be using it. But if you are a research lab, my comments about factsheets/FAQs still apply.

This isn't a BOINC question, it's a networking question. If you were allowed to bring a personal laptop into work, and use the rl.ac.uk network to browse external websites, you would need exactly the same proxy information to configure your browser - hence my suggestion to see if the information is visible in your work computer's browser configuration.

Might it have something to do with this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31844065@N08/3865084028/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31844065@N08/3865084074/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31844065@N08/3864301949/

Might this be the problem? I don't understand what these extra settings are?

Nevica

---

Well, that brings PPTP tunneling into the equation too - do I presume that you're not even on the same site as the proxy server? This is getting too complex for an outsider to diagnose - I think you need:

a) to sweet-talk IT into telling you how it's done
b) to find one of those 'other people' you mention in your first post as having run BOINC, and ask them
c) nip up the A34 to Oxford, and enrol on an advanced networking course
d) wait until one of the real networking gurus here comes on line, and can talk you through the http_debug route.

I think I've taken you as far as I can - good luck.

Hello Richard,

Thanks for your help. I'll delve deeper somehow.

Any networking engineers out there who could help me out.

Nevica

---