Hi all. I'm trying to limit cpu usage to half of the available CPUs on a couple of larger hyperthreaded Linux boxes.

In the BOINC directory, I've created a global_prefs_override.xml:

<global_preferences>
<cpu_usage_limit>50.0</cpu_usage_limit>
<max_ncpus_pct>50.0</max_ncpus.pct>
</global_preferences>

But on a 32-thread box, BOINC is still spawning 32 processes. Likewise on a 56-thread server (spawning 56 processes).

Any suggestions?

Do you have GUI control (BOINC Manager) available on that machine? If not, you may need to have access to the Boinccmd tool manual.

Two possible problems:

You need to read in the override file you've created - options --> Read local prefs file from the Manager, --read_global_prefs_override from boinccmd

You (may) have to set Activity to 'run based on preferences' - 'Activity' menu in Manager, --set_run_mode auto from boinccmd. [That may not be needed for this change, but it's worth remembering it for some of the other options]

Sorry... as the title indicated, this is a headless box - no GUI.

I presumed restarting BOINC would cause the global override file to be read. Is that not the case?

That said, I ran "boinccmd --read_global_prefs_override" - and not seeing any difference.

That's why I added boinccmd :-)

But yes, if you've restarted the machine, that should have done it.

You obviously have a second machine, with GUI, to post here. If they're on the same LAN, it's quick and easy to set up Controlling BOINC remotely - that would be worth doing, because then you could see the Event Log messages using the normal Manager across the LAN. That would make it much easier to see what was happening.

Hi all. I'm trying to limit cpu usage to half of the available CPUs on a couple of larger hyperthreaded Linux boxes.

In the BOINC directory, I've created a global_prefs_override.xml:

<global_preferences>
<cpu_usage_limit>50.0</cpu_usage_limit>
<max_ncpus_pct>50.0</max_ncpus.pct>
</global_preferences>

But on a 32-thread box, BOINC is still spawning 32 processes. Likewise on a 56-thread server (spawning 56 processes).

Any suggestions?

If this is the actual text, there's a typo.

<max_ncpus_pct>50.0</max_ncpus.pct>
should be
<max_ncpus_pct>50.0</max_ncpus_pct>

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If this is the actual text, there's a typo.

<max_ncpus_pct>50.0</max_ncpus.pct>
should be
<max_ncpus_pct>50.0</max_ncpus_pct>

Ah... sanity is restored. Thank you!

Great, glad I could help and it was an easy fix.

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