@@ -79,8 +79,11 @@ function show_scenarios() {
BCE emulates a BOINC client attached to one or more projects.
It predicts, in a few seconds,
what the BOINC client will do over a period of day or months.
- This makes it easier for BOINC developers to fix bugs and improve performance.
-
+ This lets you predict how future versions of BOINC
+ will perform on your computers.
+ By reporting problem situations to BOINC developers,
+ you can help us fix bugs and improve performance.
+
Scenarios
The inputs to BCE, called scenarios,
describe a particular computer and the project to which it's attached.
A scenario consists of 4 files:
@@ -93,28 +96,58 @@ function show_scenarios() {
You can use the files from a running BOINC client
to emulate that client.
- You can modify these files, or create new ones, to study hypothetical hosts
- (e.g. ones with a large number of CPUs,
- attached to a large number of projects, and so on).
+ You can modify these files, or create new ones, to study hypothetical scenarios
+ (e.g. hosts with a large number of CPUs,
+ hosts attached to a large number of projects,
+ projects with very short or long jobs, and so on).
See The
BCE documentation for details.
You create a scenario by uploading these files to the BOINC server.
- You can then run any number of simulations based on the scenario.
+
Simulations
+ You can run simulations based on existing scenarios
+ (including scenarios created by other people).
The parameters of a simulation include
The duration and time resolution of the simulation.
-
Choices for various client policy alternatives.
+
Choices for various client policy alternatives, including:
+
+
Whether to use Recent Estimated Credit scheduling
+ (the proposed policy for the 6.14 client)
+
Whether to use Hysteresis-based work fetch
+ (the proposed policy for the 6.14 client)
+
The outputs of a simulation include
A 'time line' showing CPU and GPU usage.
The client's message log
graphs of scheduling-related data (debt, REC).
-
A summary of several 'figures of merit',
- including idle and wasted processing fraction,
- resource share violation, and monotony.
+
A summary of several figures of merit, including
+
+
idle fraction: the fraction of processing power that was unused
+
wasted fraction: the fraction of processing power
+ that was 'wasted' on jobs that missed their deadline
+
resource share violation: a measure [0..1] of the extent
+ to which resource shares were disobeyed.
+
monotony: a measure [0..1] of the extent to which
+ the client ran jobs of a single project for long periods
+
+
Comments and reports
+ When you examine the results of a simulation,
+ you may find places where the BOINC client
+ made bad scheduling or work-fetch decisions.
+ Or you find may places where the simulator doesn't
+ seem to be working correctly.
+
+ In such cases, please add a comment to the simulation,
+ indicating the nature of the problem
+ and the simulation time when it occurred.
+
+ Also, please post to the boinc_dev email list
+ if you have problems using BCE,
+ or if you have suggestions for new features.