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<title>Projects and applications</title>
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<body bgcolor=ffffff>
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<h2>Projects and applications</h2>
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A <b>project</b> is a group of one or
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more distributed applications, run by a single organization, that use BOINC.
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Projects are independent; each one has its own applications,
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databases and servers, and is not affected by the status of other projects.
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<p>
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Each is identified by a <a href="master_url.html">master URL</a>,
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which refers to an XHTML document describing the project.
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<p>
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Creating projects is relatively easy.
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An organization can create
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projects to do Alpha and Beta testing of applications.
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Testers can register for these projects, in addition to or instead of the
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organization's public project.
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<p>
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The components of a project are shown below.
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<br>
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<img vspace="10" src="project.png" alt="Project Organization
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Diagram">
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<p>
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The server side of a project consists of two parts:
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<ul>
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<li> A <b>project back end</b> that supplies applications and work
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units, and that handles the computational results.
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Input and output files are distributed by <b>data servers</b>,
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which are HTTP servers able to handle CGI programs with POST commands.
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These servers need not be owned or operated by the project.
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A project might, for example,
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recruit other organizations to donate network bandwidth by hosting data
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servers; data could be moved on tape between the project back end and
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the data servers.
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<li> A <b>BOINC server complex</b> that manages data distribution and
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collection.
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</ul>
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The BOINC server complex includes the following components:
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<ul>
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<li> One or more <b>scheduling servers</b> that communicates with
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participant hosts.
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<li> A relational database storing information about work, results,
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and participants.
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<li> Utility programs and libraries that allow the project back end
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to interact with the server complex.
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<li>
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Web interfaces for participants and developers.
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</ul>
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