Thread 'BOINC client installed -- how to confirm it is working/crunching as expected?'

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Sean-M
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Message 117587 - Posted: 29 Nov 2025, 22:48:20 UTC

Hello BOINC Folks,

I have have a few VPS's (headless display) running Ubuntu 18.04 which I am using for the Einstein@Home project.
I am very new to the world of BOINC and would welcome any advise on how best to get my VPS's working hard on BOINC.

installed boinc-client is v 7.9.3
this is 'active' and 'enabled'

● boinc-client.service - Berkeley Open Infrastructure Network Computing Client
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/boinc-client.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Sat 2025-11-29 23:08:43 CET; 31min ago
Docs: man:boinc(1)
Main PID: 496 (boinc)
Tasks: 2 (limit: 14340)
Memory: 10.8M
CPU: 2.712s
CGroup: /system.slice/boinc-client.service
└─496 /usr/bin/boinc

Nov 29 23:08:44 vmi2939000 boinc[496]: 29-Nov-2025 23:08:44 [---] don't use GPU while active
Nov 29 23:08:44 vmi2939000 boinc[496]: 29-Nov-2025 23:08:44 [---] suspend work if non-BOINC CPU load exceeds 25%
Nov 29 23:08:44 vmi2939000 boinc[496]: 29-Nov-2025 23:08:44 [---] (to change preferences, visit a project web site or select Preferences in the Manager)
Nov 29 23:08:44 vmi2939000 boinc[496]: 29-Nov-2025 23:08:44 [---] Setting up project and slot directories
Nov 29 23:08:44 vmi2939000 boinc[496]: 29-Nov-2025 23:08:44 [---] Checking active tasks
Nov 29 23:08:44 vmi2939000 boinc[496]: 29-Nov-2025 23:08:44 [---] Setting up GUI RPC socket
Nov 29 23:08:44 vmi2939000 boinc[496]: 29-Nov-2025 23:08:44 [---] Warning: GUI RPC password is empty. BOINC can be controlled by any user on this computer. See https://boinc.>
Nov 29 23:08:44 vmi2939000 boinc[496]: 29-Nov-2025 23:08:44 [---] Checking presence of 0 project files
Nov 29 23:08:44 vmi2939000 boinc[496]: 29-Nov-2025 23:08:44 [---] This computer is not attached to any projects
Nov 29 23:08:44 vmi2939000 boinc[496]: 29-Nov-2025 23:08:44 Initialization completed

However I reckon my machine had 'attached' to the project via:
boinc --daemon --no_gpus --no_gui_rpc --attach_project https://einsteinathome.org/ <key>

however it does not seem to be processing/crunching work units?

Being headless I have installed boinctui (v2.7.0) for a text-mode manager to the BOINC client.
But it does not show any information, panels are empty, with right-most panel saying 'offline'?

Please advise on what I should be checking to confirm the status of the BOINC engine.

Thanks, Sean
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ProfileKeith Myers
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Message 117589 - Posted: 29 Nov 2025, 23:01:27 UTC - in response to Message 117587.  
Last modified: 29 Nov 2025, 23:03:51 UTC

The use of --no_gui_rpc is incorrect if you expect to access the client via any kind of RPC connection typically used for headless installations. That is why boinctui cannot connect to the client. You need rpc enabled in the client.
You also haven't attached the client to Einstein either which requires use of the boinccmd tool on the command line.
boinccmd --project_attach https://einsteinathome.org/ <account_key>
is the correct call.
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Sean-M
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Message 117590 - Posted: 30 Nov 2025, 0:32:55 UTC - in response to Message 117589.  

Thanks Keith, I will try this and feedback results.
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mmonnin

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Message 117593 - Posted: 30 Nov 2025, 17:52:14 UTC

A remote PC can be controlled by other PC via BOINC Mgr or https://efmer.com/boinctasks/
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Sean-M
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Message 117594 - Posted: 30 Nov 2025, 21:46:46 UTC - in response to Message 117589.  

Hi,

I have updated boinc-client to the current latest version 8.2.8 and this seems to have helped.

boinctui is showing information on some of the servers but not on others.
Servers are a mix of Debian12 and Ubuntu 20.04 (had to upgrade the Ubuntu for boinc-client).

Now I am finding that the boinc-client is failing after several hours with an oom (out-of-memory) error on one of the Debian servers.
Is there a log or diagnostic I should be looking at, not just the output of systemctl status?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Sean
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mmonnin

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Message 117595 - Posted: 1 Dec 2025, 0:21:45 UTC

top, htop will show you which executables are using memory. You need to provide more info like how much memory do you have. E@H O4 apps use several GB of memory or task.
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Message boards : BOINC client : BOINC client installed -- how to confirm it is working/crunching as expected?

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