boinc/doc/server_components.php

<?
require_once("docutil.php");
page_head("What is a project?");
echo "

<p>
A BOINC project involves of the following components:
<ul>
<li> A <a href=database.php>database</a>
<li> A <a href=server_dirs.php>directory structure</a>
<li> A <a href=backend_programs.php>set of daemon processes</a>
</ul>

<p>
The easiest way to set up a basic server
is to use the <a href=make_project.php>make_project</a> script,
which creates skeletal versions of the above components.
<p>
A project is described by a <a href=configuration.php>configuration file</a>.
A basic configuration file is generated by <b>make_project</b>.
Some changes to a project require editing the configuration file.
<p>
A project must be <b>stopped</b> when maintenance activities
(e.g. changing the configuration file or database) are being performed.
This is accomplish using
<a href=tool_start.php>project control scripts</a>.
<p>
The scripts can be used to create multiple BOINC projects on the same host.
This can be handy for creating separate projects for testing and debugging. 

<h3>The master URL</h3>
<p>
Each project is publicly identified by a <b>master URL</b>.
The <b>master page</b> at this URL has two functions.
<ul>
<li> It is the home page of the project; when viewed in a browser it
describes the project and contains links for registering and for
downloading the core client.
<li> It contains XML elements of the form
<pre>
";
echo htmlspecialchars("
<scheduler>http://host.domain.edu/cgi/scheduler</scheduler>
<scheduler>http://host2.domain.edu/cgi/scheduler</scheduler>
");
echo"
</pre>
that give the URLs of the project's scheduling servers.
These tags can be embedded within HTML comments.
The BOINC core client reads
and parses the master page to locate scheduling servers.
If at any point it is unable to
connect to any scheduling server for a project,
it rereads the master page.
This mechanism lets a project change the locations of its scheduling
servers, or add new servers. 
</ul>
<p>
<b>make_project</b>
creates a master page in project/html/user/index.php.
This file includes the file 'schedulers.txt',
which contains the list of ", htmlspecialchars("<scheduler>"), "elements.
</ul>
";
page_tail();
?>