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How much data will I download and upload while participating with World Community Grid?
The amount of data that you transfer depends upon how your processing preferences are set to run, how powerful your computer is and how often your computer is on. It also varies based upon which research projects you run on your computer. An average computer contributing to World Community Grid returns about 2 results per day.
Each of the research projects at World Community Grid uses a different application, input files and output files. As a result, the size used for each of these varies by project. This is outlined on the chart below. Please note that the data is compressed during transfer and is decompressed after it has been downloaded. As a result it will occupy more space on disk then the numbers shown below.
| Research Project | One-Time Download | Per Workunit Download | Per Workunit Upload |
| Africa Rainfall Project | 100 MB | 100 MB | 60 MB |
| FightAIDS@Home - Phase 2 | 10 MB | 0.2 MB | 1 MB |
| Help Stop TB | 30 MB | 5 MB | 10 MB |
| Mapping Cancer Markers | 40 MB | 0.1 MB | 3 MB |
| Microbiome Immunity Project | 100 MB | 50 MB | 1.5 MB |
| OpenPandemics - COVID19 | 10 MB | 0.2 MB | 0.1 MB |
| Smash Childhood Cancer | 2 MB | 0.2 MB | 0.1 MB |
What is contained in the files I send back to the World Community Grid servers?
When the software has completed processing a work unit, it will create a file containing the results which will be sent back to the World Community Grid servers. If a work unit was aborted due to an error, a report of the occurrence may be submitted in place of the result file.
Why were there so many copies of a work unit sent out for AfricanClimate@Home?
Each computer that receives a work unit for AfricanClimate@Home will compute a two week period for the climate model based on the same starting conditions as other computers that receive a copy of the same work unit. The result data for AfricanClimate@Home is very large (greater then 100MB). Very few computers are able to return a result of this size. Therefore the result file is divided between each computer computing the work unit and each returns a unique section of the result file. Additional information is returned as well to ensure that the section of the result file returned is correct.
Why do I lose my work and have to download a new work unit if Windows crashes?
This occurrence is not unique to the software, though it is visible because of the way that the software works. When the Operating System completely freezes and power to the computer must be cut (a forceful/hard boot is performed) open files are mishandled and often corrupted. This occurs in virtually all operating systems, and can lead to corruption of open program files, or even of the operating system itself. The software performs a check of its files when it is started and if they have been damaged, for example during a hard reboot, then it will discard them and download a new work unit.
How do I set up the software to automatically start on Windows?
If you find that the software is no longer starting up automatically when you start your computer, then please follow the steps below to set it up to automatically start up again:
- Go to C:\Program Files\BOINC using the Windows Explorer
- Right mouse click on the file 'boincmgr.exe' and select 'Create Short Cut'
- A new file is created called 'Shortcut to boincmgr.exe'. Right mouse click on this file and select 'Cut'
- Next go to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
- In the folder, right mouse click on some empty space and select 'Paste'. The short cut will appear.
The next time you restart your computer, the software will be started automatically.
I have a result that the BOINC Manager reports as being "Ready to Report." What does that mean?
The BOINC client returns a completed work unit to the server in a two-step process. The first step is the uploading of the calculated data (called the result file). The second step is for the BOINC client to contact the server and report that the work unit is complete and to provide additional information, including how long it took to process the work unit. The BOINC Manager will report a work units status as 'Uploading' as soon as the work unit has completed. Once the file has been uploaded, then the BOINC Manager will report the work unit as 'Ready to Report'. More information about work unit status messages may be found here.
Why do some work units remain on the Results Status page for a long period of time after they have been validated?
When more than one work unit for a particular research project shares the same input files, they are removed from the database in a different way than normal work units. All the work units that share the common input are left in the database until all work units that share the input files have completed successfully. If there a few work units in that group that error out, we then discuss with the research scientists how they would like the work units handled. In those cases, the work units will not be cleared from the database until we have agreement with the research scientists on how to proceed. This can cause some work units to stay in the database for an extended length of time.
How does the software return results?
The software returns a result to the World Community Grid servers in two phases. The first phase begins as soon as the workunit has finished processing. The first phase involves uploading the result files to the World Community Grid servers. The second phase consist of the software contacting the World Community Grid scheduler and notifying it that all the result files have been uploaded and the result is ready for validation. The second phase might not occur for several hours after a workunit has finished processing. This delay is because the software tries to minimize the number of scheduler communications that are made in order to minimize the load on the World Community Grid servers. By delaying the request, the software may be able to combine two communications into one.
If you have a ‘always on connection’ or if your machine is configured to automatically dial-up when an internet connection is needed, then the software will perform all of these activities automatically without any member intervention required.
Why do some validated work units remain on my results status page for a long period of time?
When different work units share input files, then they are deleted in a different way than normal work units. All the work units that share the common input are left in the database until all work units that share the input files have completed successfully. Sometimes there will be a few work units in that group that error out and we need to discuss with the researchers how they want them handled. In those cases, the work units will not be cleared from the database until we have agreement with the researchers about how to proceed. This can cause some work units to stay in the database for a very long time.
I entered in my proxy information but I still cannot get work. How do I get it to work?
If after you enter your proxy information and you still see messages such as those displayed in the FAQ "How do I determine why I cannot connect to the World Community Grid servers?" above and you have checked and made sure that you are on the latest version of the World Community Grid software, then you will need to take the following additional steps:
You need to determine what type of proxy authentication you are using. To determine your proxy authentication please refer to this FAQ.
Once you have determined your proxy authentication, open windows explorer and go to C:\Program Files\BOINC. In this directory you will see a file called cc_config.xml. Assuming you are using windows, right mouse click on the this file and select 'Open With' and select 'Notepad'.
This will open a new window that will be populated with the contents of your cc_config.xml file. It will look something like the following:
<cc_config>
<log_flags>
<file_xfer_debug>1</file_xfer_debug>
<http_debug>1</http_debug>
<http_xfer_debug>1</http_xfer_debug>
<proxy_debug>1</proxy_debug>
</log_flags>
</cc_config>
You want to replace this with additional settings for your 'ntlm' or 'basic' proxy.
<cc_config>
<log_flags>
<file_xfer_debug>1</file_xfer_debug>
<http_debug>1</http_debug>
<http_xfer_debug>1</http_xfer_debug>
<proxy_debug>1</proxy_debug>
</log_flags>
<options>
<force_auth>xxxxx</force_auth>
</options>
</cc_config>
Replace the above 'xxxxx' with either ntlm, basic or gss-negotiate based on what type of authentication you are using and save the file.
In order to make the software re-read the file do the following:
Double click on the World Community Grid icon in the system tray
When it opens, if you see some text that says 'Advanced View', then click on it
From the options on the top of the screen select 'Advanced' -> 'Read config files'
Finally, in order to check that you are able to download work, please do the following:
Select the 'projects' tab
Select World Community Grid from the list
Click on the 'Update' button.
Go to the messages tab
If all is working correctly, then you will see that you are downloading work and you will start processing it. If this has not helped you, then you can seek further help in the forums or by contacting us through the contact us feature on our website.
How do I uninstall the World Community Grid Software?
Right click on the World Community Grid icon in the lower right corner of your screen and select "Exit". This will stop the agent. Then use your Add/Remove programs feature to remove the World Community Grid software. If that does not work, use the task manager to stop the processes starting with WCGrid. Then you should be able to delete the C:\Program Files\WorldCommunityGrid directory and its contents. After that remove the corresponding start menu items.
Why does the software immediately download a large file as soon as it is started?
The task downloaded by your software is comparing small pieces of data against a larger database. In order to make this task effective and to maximize the potential of your machine, it is necessary to keep some data locally. For the time being, this is a one-time download. Subsequent tasks may or may not have an up-front download depending upon the nature of the computational problem.
If I have more than one GPU on my computer, how do I let World Community Grid run on all of my GPUs?
In order to do this, you have to use the <use_all_gpus> tag in the cc_config.xml file. Instructions to do this are available here.
Why is my computer not getting as many work units for the Africa Rainfall Project as I want?
Due to the large file sizes of the input and output for this project, the number of tasks sent out per day will be much less than typical projects. For launch, we started out slow, and while the total number of tasks sent out per day may increase some as we get further in to the project, at this point we anticipate those increases to be minimal.
Why is my device uploading result data (intermediate upload files) while a research task is still in progress?
We are using a mechanism called intermediate uploads whereby at certain processing milestones, your device would send us back partial results for the research task your device is currently working on. This allows us to validate the work you have completed up to that point and helps the researchers examine and interpret the results being returned by the volunteers.
I'm having trouble downloading the software
Perhaps your Internet Explorer is configured to block installing downloads. Within Internet Explorer, click on Tools-> Internet Options -> Security -> Custom Level -> Downloads. Check to see that File downloads are enabled. There might be other settings which need to be enabled such as the ability to execute Javascript. Please also check to see if your network requires a proxy, click here for Proxy FAQs.
How do I determine why I cannot connect to the World Community Grid servers?
To determine why you are not receiving or sending workunits to World Community Grid, make sure you are using the latest version of the World Community Grid software and check your client firewall to ensure that the 'World Community Grid' software reflects "permit all" or similar verbiage that your firewall software uses to reflect an approved program.
If you are on the latest version and your firewall is set to allow the BOINC client to communicate, then please double click on the World Community Grid or BOINC icon in your system tray. Select messages and see if you have any entries like the following:
09/10/2007 14.30.14|World Community Grid|[file_xfer] Started upload of file li349_00025_8_0
09/10/2007 14.30.15|World Community Grid|[file_xfer] Temporarily failed upload of li349_00025_8_0: http error
or
05/03/2008 11.55.14|World Community Grid|Sending scheduler request: Project initialization. Requesting 1 seconds of work, reporting 0 completed tasks
05/03/2008 11.55.19|World Community Grid|Scheduler request failed: Failure when receiving data from the peer
If you do, then you may need to set your proxy. Here is the FAQ that describes how to set your proxy. If you do not know your proxy information, contact your IT help desk.
Do you have a startup script for the BOINC client on Linux?
There are two common ways to have BOINC automatically start on a Linux system. The first will start BOINC when you log in to your Linux system. This involves placing code into your shell resource file (such as .bashrc). The second will start BOINC when the system is started. You can read more about this at the following sites: http://www.spy-hill.net/~myers/help/boinc/unix.html#start and http://boinc.berkeley.edu/autostart_dennett.txt
How do I know if my computer is running the 64-bit research application?
On a Windows machine, you can use the Windows task manager to view the process name. 64-bit research applications will end with "windows_intelx86_64", while 32-bit applications will end with "windows_intelx86"
On a Linux machine, you can find the PID of the research application (which will start with the name "wcg") and then execute the command "file -L /proc/PID/exe"
On OS X we only support 64 bit applications, therefore all World Community Grid tasks will be running a 64 bit application.
Why is Phase 2 of the Clean Energy Project an opt-in project?
These calculations require work units that may run longer, have higher memory, disk space and data transfer requirements. Therefore, we are providing the users the option to opt-in to the project.
In addition, The Clean Energy Project is the first World Community Grid project to use an external server. That is, your result data is directly uploaded to the Harvard research server. Security checks are in place to make certain that uploaded data is transferred correctly and validated by the Harvard research server that is receiving the data. World Community Grid controls which servers the data is sent to and the Harvard servers will not send data files to the member machines.
Therefore, if you're interested in advancing the science of solar cells, please help us out in this great effort!
Is there an API to get a list of in-progress and recently returned results for a member?
Yes. The URL for the API to access a members results is:
https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/api/members/{member name}/results?code={verification code}
member name is the member name of the member whose results data you wish to access
verification code is found on the My Profile page of the member whose results data you wish to access
The default format is JSON.
You must set your data sharing preferences to "Display my data" for this API to return data for your account.
Optional parameters are (can be combined):
- limit: Defines the number of results returned. Default is 25. Max is 250.
- offset: Defines how many results are skipped before the API returns any data. Default is 0.
- sortBy: Defines the sorting order of the results. Options are: DeviceId, SentTime, ReportDeadline, ReceivedTime or CpuTime. Default is SentTime.
- format: The format of the data. Options are XML or JSON. Default is JSON.
- modTime: Return results which were last modified on or after this time. This value is a Unixtimestamp (number of seconds since midnight Jan 1 1970).
- serverState: Return results based on whether they are currently in progress or have already been reported back to World Community Grid. 4 would return in-progress results, 5 would return results which have already been reported back to the server.
- outcome: Return results based on the outcome of their processing. 1 means success, 3 means error, 4 means no reply, 6 means validation error, 7 means abandoned./
- validateState: Return results based on the validation status. 0 means pending validation, 1 means valid, 2 means invalid, 4 means pending verification, 5 means results failed to validate within given deadline.
- fileDeleteState: Return results based on their file delete state. 0 means not deleted. 1 means ready to delete. 2 means deleted.
How do I figure out what type of proxy authentication I am using?
- Double click on the World Community Grid icon in the system tray
- When it opens, if you see some text that says 'Advanced View', then click on it
- Select 'Options' → 'Event Log Options'
- In the window that opens, make sure that the following are checked (don't change any of the others):
- file_xfer_debug
- http_debug
- http_xfer_debug
- proxy_debug
- Click 'Apply'
- Click 'Save'
- 03/25/2008 12:24:54||[http_debug] [ID#0] Received header from server: Proxy-Authenticate: NTLM
- 03/25/2008 12.24.54||[http_debug] [ID#0] Received header from server: Proxy-Authenticate: Basic realm="realmname"
Use these messagess to determine the type of proxy that you are using:
- If the first line contains "Negotiate" then you are using gss-negotiate authentication
- If the first line contains "NTLM" then you are using ntlm authentication
- If the first line contains "Basic" then you are using basic authentication