HFM.NET - Client Monitoring Application for Folding@Home

[mcyuke]

Thanks, I've been using this for a few days now and I'm really liking it.

I haven't had a problem with it yet... but then again maybe I'm the perfect balance between being enough of a newbie to not have stuff work, and being elite enough to break stuff!

Thanks for the contribution Harlam!

[Sticky]

Originally Posted by Jason

I just looked at the psummary.html file and noticed it is missing some WUs that you can search manually. Perhaps FAHSpy queries and parses different pages than hfm & fahmon?

One good thing about hfm is you can edit the text file to add missing projects.

Can't remember when i fixed it. But just seen this again an remembered i found the fix harlam post.

http://groups.google.com/group/hfm-n...800fed6577853e

[Jason]

One suggestion I have for the program. I noticed that times / ppd can be a little "jumpy" for works units with short TPF (like the GPUs)...

The default setting is "Last three Frames", I've changed it to "All Frames", but I'm not really sure how that is going to affect numbers for clients I don't run 24/7.

Likewise does anyone know what "Effective Rate" means and how it's calculated?

Maybe an option to smooth out more, like 5-10 frames?

[globalist]

Wit the new A3 cores hfm.net seems to be "forgetting" the number of Completed units, i.e. it says 0 although I've submitted a few already. Is this a bug or am I doing something wrong?

[PatonB]

everytime you reboot, hfm.net resets to 0 as it only seems to read the current log.

[harlam357]

Originally Posted by Maniac

I am switching between HFM and fahspy right now. HFM seems to have trouble with my GPU (when I have a result that can't send right away it says unknown or something, I forget) and fahspy sometimes doesn't get the bonuses right for Win SMP A3 (though it works fine for my VM).

I might try FAHmon again.

More features == more code == more ways to screw up. This bug has to do with clients trying to send in work units (and thus writing a Project string like Project: 6021 (Run 0, Clone 148, Gen 49)) where I haven't been expecting it. Actually, I'm expecting a Project string... but I'm expecting the current Project string... not one from a previous unit. The build I'm about to post has changes to the routines to look at all the applicable Project strings in the area where I'm expecting it to be written by the log file and doing a match against them all to find the right one... not just the first one that is encountered.

Try 0.4.9 and see if it doesn't alleviate the issue...

Originally Posted by mcyuke

Thanks, I've been using this for a few days now and I'm really liking it.

I haven't had a problem with it yet... but then again maybe I'm the perfect balance between being enough of a newbie to not have stuff work, and being elite enough to break stuff!

Thanks for the contribution Harlam!

You're most welcome!!!

Originally Posted by Sticky

Can't remember when i fixed it. But just seen this again an remembered i found the fix harlam post.

http://groups.google.com/group/hfm-n...800fed6577853e

Glad someone is reading the HFM Google Group.

Originally Posted by Jason

One suggestion I have for the program. I noticed that times / ppd can be a little "jumpy" for works units with short TPF (like the GPUs)...

The default setting is "Last three Frames", I've changed it to "All Frames", but I'm not really sure how that is going to affect numbers for clients I don't run 24/7.

Likewise does anyone know what "Effective Rate" means and how it's calculated?

Maybe an option to smooth out more, like 5-10 frames?

Hi Jason!

If GPUs are left uninterrupted then they will yield decently consistent frame times on GROGPU2 core... however, the GROGPU2-MT core is much different. These WUs vary in TPF whether the core process is interrupted (by actually using your machine) or not.

However, I'll definitely take that under advisement... to add options for maybe last Last 6 Frames and probably Last 10 Frames. Easy enough to do... to start with I just mimicked the options in FahMon. So that's where those options came from.

Last Three is self explanatory... All Frames takes into account all the frames HFM has observed for the WU. So if you're 30 frames into the unit, HFM will average all those frame times and that's what it will report as TPF and thus PPD. The Effective Rate takes into account the Download Time vs. the Current Time on the machine running HFM. It takes the difference of those two values and then divides that time span by the number of frames completed to yield a TPF and PPD value. As you might expect, this is really a more accurate view of the production of a client since it started its current WU. The one thing that must be correct, however, is the Download Time with respect to the machine running HFM. If the monitored client thinks it's 8:00pm when it downloads a WU, but the machine running HFM thinks it's 6:00pm, then this effective rate and the bonus calculations will not be correct. I don't bill HFM as the layman's Folding tool. However, if one wants accurate results the tools are there in the tool to get them.

That said, there is a "Client Time Offset" value to help combat clients not running in the same time frame as HFM. As of this latest release that offset value also effects the reported Download Time. Allowing one to adjust the value to fix errant Effective Rate and Bonus calculations... as well as clients reporting as 'RunningAsync'. The general rule of thumb... if your client is reporting 'RunningAsync' (Blue) then its reported frame times are off, and thus the reported Download Time will be as well.

Originally Posted by PatonB

everytime you reboot, hfm.net resets to 0 as it only seems to read the current log.

It looks at the whole FAHlog.txt file, but only cares about what's happened since you last fired up the client.

Now... without further ado...

New Version: 0.4.9 - Revision 154 - Beta - Download

Wow Again!!! (see my last release post) It's been a few since I've made an HFM update but I think it is well worth the wait. With the advent of the SMP2 client and readily available Bonus/KFactor work, HFM v0.4.8 hit an all time high in downloads for single version. Clock him in at over 2600 downloads!!! ...and I was all giddy about the 500 that v0.4.7 reeled in.

Check the HFM Google Code page for downloads and details on the changes.

---

Need help with HFM? Have a Feature Request? Please Join the Discussions. Post in the HFM Google Group.

http://groups.google.com/group/hfm-net

[PatonB]

Originally Posted by Harlam

It looks at the whole FAHlog.txt file, but only cares about what's happened since you last fired up the client.

Only downside is with the wu and eue counters.. I like keeping an eye on my eue rate..

Thanks for the new version.

[Maniac]

Thanks Harlam, I'll check it out.

One thing I like in fahspy that seems to be missing from HFM is a "Predicted" time field... am I just missing it?

[PatonB]

?? Do you meant time to completion?

[Sticky]

It's has a ETA field. But you have to work it out for yourself. It's not hard, just nice in FahSpy to look at it quick and not even think about it. The one thing i don't like is it's military time. Very simple thing to fix though.

[Maniac]

Originally Posted by Sticky

It's has a ETA field. But you have to work it out for yourself. It's not hard, just nice in FahSpy to look at it quick and not even think about it. The one thing i don't like is it's military time. Very simple thing to fix though.

I'm either blind or that wasn't the field I was thinking about >.<

Thanks

[bambihunter]

I am just starting to use it (installed it a week ago). I imported my FAHMON settings. The odd thing, is that what it imported was like 3-6 months old. I am not sure where it got that data from, maybe an old install or something. I had a lot of trouble with FAHMON at first. Over the last few months, it would randomly get boxes, hearts, spades, and other ascii type characters for names or paths.

Anyway, it looks like HFM.net will be as good or better than FAHMON. I am using both right now just to see which I like better and now well it work. Thus far, I like it...

[harlam357]

Originally Posted by PatonB

Only downside is with the wu and eue counters.. I like keeping an eye on my eue rate..

Thanks for the new version.

I have plans on adding the ability to specify whether you want the current session (what I call a client run) total completed units, or see the total completed number as reported by the FAH client (which is stored in the client.cfg file).

As far as persisting the number of EUEs. I don't have any immediate plans to do so, although it has been something I've considered.

Originally Posted by Maniac

Thanks Harlam, I'll check it out.

One thing I like in fahspy that seems to be missing from HFM is a "Predicted" time field... am I just missing it?

Yep... you're looking for the ETA field. There is already a request in the system to allow this field to be displayed as a true Date and Time. It's coming.

Originally Posted by bambihunter

I am just starting to use it (installed it a week ago). I imported my FAHMON settings. The odd thing, is that what it imported was like 3-6 months old. I am not sure where it got that data from, maybe an old install or something. I had a lot of trouble with FAHMON at first. Over the last few months, it would randomly get boxes, hearts, spades, and other ascii type characters for names or paths.

Anyway, it looks like HFM.net will be as good or better than FAHMON. I am using both right now just to see which I like better and now well it work. Thus far, I like it...

FahMon moved its configuration file to a "user" folder. On XP something like this, for example: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\FahMon\clientstab.txt

And it probably left behind what it copied from your installed folder when you updated to the version that moved the configuration file. This all has to do with Vista and Windows 7 compliance. Data files should not be being written to the \Program Files folder. You'll find that HFM does the same thing. You can find the HFM data files here:

* XP: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\HFM

* Vista / Win7: C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\HFM

I'm glad you're enjoying HFM. Now... to the not so happy news.

New Version: 0.4.10 - Revision 156 - Beta - Download

It has been brought to my attention that Stanford has rules against accessing their cgi-bin based pages and HFM violates those rules by accessing the Project Information pages in a scripted manner. Please note, HFM only attempts to access these pages when users enable the Web Generation option on the Preferences -> Scheduled Tasks Tab. Continued use of the Web Generation feature in ANY prior version of HFM MAY result in your IP being blacklisted by Stanford. Please update to avoid any undue action against your IP and undue load on Stanford's servers. I apologize to anyone who may have been blacklisted. I have asked the Pande Group if they would remove any user's IP from the blacklist if they come forth citing this issue with HFM. I assure you my intentions are for the betterment of the FAH community and in no way was I intentionally trying to violate the rules - I was simply ignorant of them.

What upsets me the most is that I am not the victim here, but rather my users are the victim. Again, I apologize if you were effected and I hope you will continue to use and support HFM.


NOTE: Don't worry Jason, I'm not pounding on your XML feeds. You have explicit instructions stating how to handle this access and what the consequences would be for violation. I have the queries setup for once every three hours and the user cannot change this on their own... it's hardwired.


Check the HFM Google Code page for downloads and details on the changes.

---

Need help with HFM? Have a Feature Request? Please Join the Discussions. Post in the HFM Google Group.

http://groups.google.com/group/hfm-net

[bambihunter]

harlam, your HFM wins! Just since my last post, fahmon has errored several times and HFM still working strong. It took me a bit to get it set the way I wanted to, but it is looking good. I will install the new one in the next few days.

Many thanks for your continued efforts. :-)

[Jason]

Which page exactly is HFM.net downloading from Stanford that they don't like?

Also, you don't have to use the "EOC ID" setting in your web statistics... You can use the 'un' field (User Name) instead of 'u' (User ID)... I plan on eventually doing away with the ID field anyhow and just using the regular username / teamid.

[harlam357]

New Version: 0.5.0 - Revision 180 - Beta - Download

Whew! Been a couple of months since I last came around huh? I'm pleased to annouce the availability of HFM v0.5.0 - which includes the long awaited "auto-update" feature. Just a couple (five) words about this.

You have the option to turn on or off the check for updates on start-up. The ONLY time HFM will auto-check for updates is on start-up. However, there is also a manual check in the Help Menu that will provide you more verbose feedback than the auto-check will.

What does this mean? It means I'll be able to deliever updates and fixes more quickly and easily. It means I will be in a thread near you even less often than I already am now. I have about 9 threads where I maintain/update this same information when I release an update. It's time consuming and I can easily spend several hours getting all my threads updated. So, for smaller, less significant updates my plan is to forego the usual thread updates since running HFM can now tell you when an update is available. I'm going to look into scheduling update checks or another means of ongoing notification since, if you're like me, you don't shutdown HFM that often.

When receiving an update notification you can download either the MSI or Zip distribution. If you're on Windows and download the MSI it will install once you exit HFM. No change to the Zip distribution, you're on your own.

Check the HFM Google Code page for downloads and details on the changes. As always, if you need to find me quickly, see below. I usually answer pretty quickly.

---

Need help with HFM? Have a Feature Request? Please Join the Discussions. Post in the HFM Google Group.

http://groups.google.com/group/hfm-net

[Maniac]

Great, thanks!