Hi there,
Just wondering if you can help.. we are building a boinc project for our university unit and cant seem to get boinc client to pick up the tasks from the server.. the project status on shows daemons are running and there are tasks ready to be sent. below is the error log from the client.. any help or suggestions are appreciated.. thank you

25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | Starting BOINC client version 7.0.64 for windows_x86_64
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | Libraries: libcurl/7.25.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1 zlib/1.2.6
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | Data directory: C:\ProgramData\BOINC
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | Running under account Nurish
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | Processor: 4 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2350M CPU @ 2.30GHz [Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7]
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss htt tm pni ssse3 cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt syscall nx lm vmx tm2 pbe
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | OS: Microsoft Windows 7: Home Premium x64 Edition, Service Pack 1, (06.01.7601.00)
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | Memory: 3.97 GB physical, 7.94 GB virtual
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | Disk: 284.10 GB total, 192.91 GB free
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | Local time is UTC +10 hours
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | VirtualBox version: 4.2.8
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | CAL: ATI GPU 0: AMD Radeon HD 6570/6670/7570/7670 series (Turks) (CAL version 1.4.1664, 1024MB, 991MB available, 1152 GFLOPS peak)
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | OpenCL: AMD/ATI GPU 0: AMD Radeon HD 6570/6670/7570/7670 series (Turks) (driver version CAL 1.4.1664 (VM), device version OpenCL 1.1 AMD-APP (851.6), 1024MB, 991MB available, 1152 GFLOPS peak)
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | cplan | URL http://137.154.147.167/cplan/; Computer ID not assigned yet; resource share 100
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | No general preferences found - using defaults
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | Reading preferences override file
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | Preferences:
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | max memory usage when active: 2033.18MB
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | max memory usage when idle: 3659.72MB
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | max disk usage: 192.81GB
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | max CPUs used: 3
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | (to change preferences, visit a project web site or select Preferences in the Manager)
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | Using proxy info from GUI
25/05/2013 10:25:09 PM | | Not using a proxy
25/05/2013 10:25:10 PM | cplan | Sending scheduler request: To fetch work.
25/05/2013 10:25:10 PM | cplan | Requesting new tasks for CPU and ATI
25/05/2013 10:25:11 PM | cplan | Scheduler request failed: Couldn't resolve host name
25/05/2013 10:25:19 PM | cplan | update requested by user
25/05/2013 10:25:21 PM | cplan | Sending scheduler request: Requested by user.
25/05/2013 10:25:21 PM | cplan | Requesting new tasks for CPU and ATI
25/05/2013 10:25:22 PM | cplan | Scheduler request failed: Couldn't resolve host name
25/05/2013 10:25:39 PM | | Project communication failed: attempting access to reference site
25/05/2013 10:25:41 PM | | Internet access OK - project servers may be temporarily down.
25/05/2013 10:32:54 PM | cplan | update requested by user
25/05/2013 10:32:58 PM | cplan | Sending scheduler request: Requested by user.
25/05/2013 10:32:58 PM | cplan | Requesting new tasks for CPU and ATI
25/05/2013 10:32:59 PM | cplan | Scheduler request failed: HTTP service unavailable

25/05/2013 10:25:22 PM | cplan | Scheduler request failed: Couldn't resolve host name

This one means that the client couldn't connect to the server, possibly due to BOINC not being allowed through the firewall. BOINC (boinc.exe specifically) needs internet access on TCP ports 80 and 443.

25/05/2013 10:32:59 PM | cplan | Scheduler request failed: HTTP service unavailable

This is the standard HTTP error 503: return "HTTP service unavailable";

The server is currently unable to handle the HTTP request due to a temporary overloading or maintenance of the server. The implication is that this is a temporary condition which will be alleviated after some delay. Some servers in this state may also simply refuse the socket connection, in which case a different error may be generated because the socket creation timed out.


Are the client and the server on separate computers?
Or are you running the BOINC server from the same computer, but in a VirtualBox VM?

---

This looks like a misconfigured BOINC server. You should check if you can access http://137.154.147.167/cplan/ from a browser on the client. And also if the scheduler tag inside the html code of index.php is correct. It seems like you have to tweak your config.xml settings and also the file projects/cplan/html/user/scheduler.txt on the server.

25/05/2013 10:25:22 PM | cplan | Scheduler request failed: Couldn't resolve host name

This one means that the client couldn't connect to the server, possibly due to BOINC not being allowed through the firewall. BOINC (boinc.exe specifically) needs internet access on TCP ports 80 and 443.

Surely "Couldn't resolve host name" indicates a DNS error? "Resolve" isn't a firewall function.

Back in the day, BOINC used the http_post_fields function. A POST request from the server can be blocked by a firewall, which then results in the aforementioned error. But these days it uses gethostbyname(), which can still be blocked by NAT in a firewall or router and results in the aforementioned error.

---

I allowed boinc.exe through firewall and just to make sure I tried even turning it off and turning off anti virus software temporarily aswell..The boinc client is running on my laptop and the boinc server is an virtual image setup on one of the university servers.. I only have access to it via SSH and VNC therefore I have asked the admins to get back to me on opening the ports.. is there something else I need to configure if its an image like NAT maybe?

I dont doubt that Ive misconfigured the Boinc server.. but I can tell you that when im connected to the uni vpn I can access the http://137.154.147.167/cplan page.. However the page in our /var/www directory as in the index.php doesnt have anything functional in it.. is there a way to use the cplan as the master index page or is that not the idea? is this the scheduler tags im suppose to insert?

<scheduler>http://host.domain.edu/cgi/scheduler</scheduler>
<scheduler>http://host2.domain.edu/cgi/scheduler</scheduler>

In regards to my config.xml I think I caused more damage to it than fixing it..

The contents of the schedulers.txt in the /html/user:

<!-- <scheduler>http://debian6.localdomain/cplan_cgi/cgi</scheduler> -->
<link rel="boinc_scheduler" href="http://debian6.localdomain/cplan_cgi/cgi">

should this be changed to the IP of the server?

please excuse my noobness I just really want to be clear on what needs to be done to fix this.. really appreciate it :)

Hi guys,

Its me again.. so I took the help and fixed the config file and also the shedulers.txt file and it appears to have made some big changes.. when my friend runs the update for the project it begins trying to download from the server but then receives: 30/05/2013 4:18:55 AM | cplan | Temporarily failed download of logo.jpg: transient HTTP error.. could it now just be that the universities servers are behind a firewall that is blocking ports 80 and 443? the administrators at the university advised that the ports should be open now however when i log in via vnc and browse to canyouseeme.org it says: Error: I could not see your service on IP on port 80, Reason: connection timed out

Any ideas? Thank you all :)

It's probably quicker if you post your questions to the boinc_projects email list. That way other project administrators and the developers can answer you.

You can still reference this thread, if need be.

---

Things to keep in mind when designing a BOINC project (either as a test or for real):

1. choose a URL for your project (e.g: http://scienceathome.edu/project)
   
2. make sure this URL is reachable for your audience (via a browser). If this is only available inside a private network (as most universities have) you can only connect from the inside.
   
3. create your project with these URL (by running make_project)
   
4. change the config.xml (master_url, download_url) and html/user/schedulers.txt according to this URL/Hostname if you already created the project (for the client this will be a whole new project!)
   
5. create work for your project
   
6. connect the clients
   * ...

If you create work before changing the URL you should cancel it because the wrong URL is associated to the Jobs.