Hey Guys,
I'm a BOINC Volunteer helper and have been using BOINC for quite some time, but after updating to 6.10.18 (I was running 6.6.something (yikes!)) I noticed there was a problem with two of the tasks. I'm attached to 32 different projects, including CPDN. The CPDN projects have deadlines of next year, yet BOINC runs them as high priority, when there are other tasks that have a deadline of 4 days that it hasn't even started. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and I can provide anything that is needed to help solve this problem. Thanks.

Hey Guys,
I'm a BOINC Volunteer helper and have been using BOINC for quite some time, but after updating to 6.10.18 (I was running 6.6.something (yikes!)) I noticed there was a problem with two of the tasks. I'm attached to 32 different projects, including CPDN. The CPDN projects have deadlines of next year, yet BOINC runs them as high priority, when there are other tasks that have a deadline of 4 days that it hasn't even started. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and I can provide anything that is needed to help solve this problem. Thanks.

You are looking only at the deadline. Boinc looks at the amount of work on the system, deadline, time to completion and most importantly the resource share for each project. Short deadline is only one criteria to running high priority.

Large cache, a lot of projects and low resource share equal Boinc panic mode.

Boinc is still very good at determining which project is heading for problems and bringing things back into balance. If you micromanage it you make the problem worse. I've only once seen Boinc not be able to wiggle its way out of a problem and that was caused by a project underestimating run time by more than a factor of ten.

Note: CPDN with several projects on a single CPU system can be problematic. With two or more CPUs Boinc can easily manage most any project combination.

---

Boinc V 7.4.36
Win7 i5 3.33G 4GB NVidia 470

So, it's fine to let those tasks run high priority, even though there are tasks with a 4 day deadline? I have BOINC set to switch tasks every two hours, and they seemed to be running more than two hours. Also, my processor is a dual core, so having two CPDN tasks running at one time is no big deal for it.

Oh and also, should I increase the resource share for CPDN over my other projects? They're all even right now.

Even is fine.
The value to perhaps adjust is the "Maintain enough work ...", so as to not get too many work units.
But don't KEEP fiddling. This just means that BOINC has to start over again with it's 'learning'.

So what should I set that to?

The cache should be set to less than half the shortest deadline project. If you have more than a couple of projects you will never have them all go down at the same time, so you don't really need much of a cache at all, unless you don't have an always on connection. Laptops or modem users should set their cache to cover the longest period between Internet access.

With my project list, I have Boinc set to connection of .1 days and 0 additional cache on my dual core. At the moment I have a work unit on hand for 10 of the 11 projects that is currently supplying work.

---

Boinc V 7.4.36
Win7 i5 3.33G 4GB NVidia 470

Well my computer is constantly connected to the internet when it's on, so should I set "Connect About Every ______ Days" to 0.10, and set "Additional Work Buffer ______ Days" to 0?

Well my computer is constantly connected to the internet when it's on, so should I set "Connect About Every ______ Days" to 0.10, and set "Additional Work Buffer ______ Days" to 0?

If you turn the system off you should take that into account in the connection time. Boinc does keep track of the system percentage of on time to ensure work is done on time. Additional buffer is a matter of personal choice. I just don't see a need for a large cache when you have a lot of projects. Boinc will make sure to get enough work from a variety of projects and give it the CPU time to maintain its resource share in the long run.

---

Boinc V 7.4.36
Win7 i5 3.33G 4GB NVidia 470

Well that's what I set my values to. My computer isn't off for more than 10 hours usually. So I set connect to internet to every 0.10 days, and maintain work for this many days to 0.