Work Server

From FaHWiki

The Work Server is the server from which the Folding@home client downloads Work Units (WUs). It is also the server to which the WU results should be uploaded when it has finished. The Work Server's IP address is recorded in each WU index of the queue.dat file and the servers are listed on the Folding@home server status webpage.

In the case that the Work Server is unable to receive results from a WU it has previously assigned, the Folding@Home clients of version 5 and above should automatically try to upload the results to the Collection Server.

The unavailability of the Work Server should be logged in FAHlog.txt with a message like the below:

[07:47:13] + Attempting to send results
[07:47:13] - Reading file work/wuresults_06.dat from core
[07:47:13]   (Read 3273771 bytes from disk) 
[07:47:13] Connecting to http://171.65.103.68:8080/
[07:47:13] - Couldn't send HTTP request to server
[07:47:13] + Could not connect to Work Server (results)
[07:47:13]     (171.65.103.68:8080)
[07:47:13] - Error: Could not transmit unit 06 (completed July 5) to work server.
[07:47:13] - 3 failed uploads of this unit.

In some cases the messages logged in FAHlog.txt may be slightly different, depending on the status of the server. If the server is experiencing a high network load, as shown on the Folding@home server status webpage, an Error 503 is frequently logged in fahlog.txt:

[15:05:12] + Attempting to send results
[15:05:13] Error: Got status code 503 from server
[15:05:13] + Could not connect to Work Server (results)

A Folding@Home client is assigned to a Work Server through one of the Assignment Servers which act as load-balancers. The client is sent the Work Server IP among other information by the Assignment Server. The client will send some information it got from the Assignment Server to the Work Server as a validation of the assignment. This information is stored by the client in the queue.dat file.

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