F@H on a dedicated server?

[Quackwich]

I have a dedicated server I use to run game servers off that I wish to now use to contribute to the F@H project. Will this be viable? It has an Intel Xeon E3 1230 and runs on Ubuntu 18.04. Also, is there a guide to getting F@H started and working on Ubuntu?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Eigenvektor]

Sure, why not.

 

I've set up F@H on my small home server (Debian). Basically you need to install the .deb package from here: https://foldingathome.org/support/faq/installation-guides/linux/manual-installation-advanced/

 

The only package you need is the fahclient_7.4.4_amd64.deb. Then you need to configure its config.xml file and you should be good to go.

 

After installation you should be able to start the client with

/etc/init.d/FAHClient start

(Yeah, no systemd yet, but should be fairly easy to create your own systemd service file)

 

The config file should be in "/etc/fahclient/config.xml". Mine looks like this:

Spoiler

<config>
  <!-- Client Control -->
  <fold-anon v='true'/>

  <!-- Folding Slot Configuration -->
  <gpu v='false'/>

  <!-- HTTP Server -->
  <allow v='127.0.0.1 **internal-ip**/24'/>

  <!-- Network -->
  <proxy v=':8080'/>

  <!-- Remote Command Server -->
  <command-allow-no-pass v='127.0.0.1 **internal-ip**/24'/>

  <!-- Slot Control -->
  <power v='full'/>

  <!-- User Information -->
  <passkey v='**REDACTED**'/>
  <team v='223518'/>
  <user v='**REDACTED**'/>

  <!-- Web Server -->
  <web-allow v='127.0.0.1 **internal-ip**/24'/>

  <!-- Folding Slots -->
  <slot id='0' type='CPU'/>
</config>

 

You probably need to take some additional steps to get (secure) access to the web interface (e.g. SSH tunnel)

[Quackwich]

34 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

-snip-

Thanks!

 

I have installed it. How do I check if it's running/control it from my PC?

The Folding@home client is now installed

You can access the Web interface by going to:

  http://folding.stanford.edu/client/

in a browser on this computer.

For information about configuring the Folding@home client for
remote access please see the comments in:

  /etc/fahclient/config.xml


Processing triggers for mime-support (3.60ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for systemd (237-3ubuntu10.39) ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-21) ...

 

[Eigenvektor]

Just now, Baos said:

Thanks!

I have installed it. How do I check if it's running/control it from my PC?

I've installed FAHControl on my local PC. This can communicate with the remote client over port 36330. Afaik this isn't secured in any way (you can use a password, but communication is not encrypted). So for a remote computer over the Internet, I would probably use an SSH tunnel.

 

E.g. "ssh <hostname> -L36331:localhost:36330". Then you can tell FAHControl to connect to "localhost:36331" and the SSH tunnel should forward that to "localhost:36330" on the other end and you should be able to control the remote F@H client.

[Quackwich]

Just now, Eigenvektor said:

I've installed FAHControl on my local PC. This can communicate with the remote client over port 36330. Afaik this isn't secured in any way (you can use a password, but communication is not encrypted). So for a remote computer over the Internet, I would probably use an SSH tunnel.

 

E.g. "ssh <hostname> -L36331:localhost:36330". Then you can tell FAHControl to connect to "localhost:36331" and the SSH tunnel should forward that to "localhost:36330" on the other end and you should be able to control the remote F@H client.

My server is on a different network from my local PC. Does the above still apply? Do I need to install F@H Control on my server? Thanks.

[Eigenvektor]

3 minutes ago, Baos said:

My server is on a different network from my local PC. Does the above still apply? Do I need to install F@H Control on my server? Thanks.

Yes, it specifically applies to servers on the Internet. No, the server only needs the FAHClient, that is doing all the work.

 

FAHControl needs to be installed on your local computer. Then SSH into the server (using the argument from above to establish a tunnel) and you can use FAHControl to configure the client on the remote machine.

 

~edit: If your local machine is on Windows, you can use PuTTY to connect to the server via SSH. PuTTY also has the option to set up an SSH tunnel.

[Quackwich]

2 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

Yes, it specifically applies to servers on the Internet. No, the server only needs the FAHClient, that is doing all the work.

 

FAHControl needs to be installed on your local computer. Then SSH into the server (using the argument from above to establish a tunnel) and you can use FAHControl to configure the client on the remote machine.

To be clear, I run the following command on my server?

ssh <server ip> -L36331:localhost:36330

My PC is running Windows 10 with FAHControl already installed as part of the FAH standard install.

[Eigenvektor]

Just now, Baos said:

To be clear, I run the following command on my server?

ssh <server ip> -L36331:localhost:36330

My PC is running Windows 10 with FAHControl already installed as part of the FAH standard install.

No. The SSH command is used on your local computer to connect to the server with SSH. I assume you have root access to your dedicated server and you're managing it over SSH?

 

Since you're using Windows you're probably better off using PuTTY to connect to the server.

 

On the server:

1. Install the FAHCLient
2. Configure the FAHClient (config.xml)
3. Start the FAHClient as a service (/etc/init.d/FAHClient start)

 

On your machine:

1. Install FAHControl
2. (If you have F@H running on your local machine, you should automatically see it there)
3. Download PuTTY (if you don't have it already)
4. Start it and enter hostname
5. Configure the SSH tunnel
   1. Connection > SSH > Tunnels
   2. Enter "36331" as source port
   3. Enter "localhost:36330" as destination
   4. Click on add
6. Save this as a session so you don't have to configure it all the time
7. Connect to the server
8. In FAHControl (on your local PC):
9. Click on "Add"
10. Enter "localhost" as the host name
11. Enter 36331 as the port

FAHControl will connect to localhost:36331. PuTTY will be listening on that port and forwarding the connection to the server, so you're actually connecting to "localhost:36330" on the server.

[Quackwich]

8 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

-snip-

Thank you! Works great. Will this mean I have to have the SSH terminal up and running on my PC (i.e.: connecting to the server) all the time?

[Eigenvektor]

7 minutes ago, Baos said:

Thank you! Works great. Will this mean I have to have the SSH terminal up and running on my PC (i.e.: connecting to the server) all the time?

Only when you want to watch/configure the client with FAHControl. You can close both FAHControl and PuTTY otherwise, the client should continue running regardless.