Folding@Cloud

Scripts to setup a Folding@Home GPU instance in Azure.

Note: Azure was the best place for me to set this up, but it should be possible to use at least the cloud-init on any cloud. I will happily take PRs to add support for other cloud providers.

Prerequisites

1. An Azure account.
2. Install the Azure CLI.
3. Login your Azure account via the CLI.

Getting Started

1. Update the Folding@Home configuration in cloud-init.yaml. See the Folding At Home Configuration section below for more detail.
2. Run start.sh -h
3. Run start.sh --name NAME with any customizations that you want. Name is required and must be lowercase alphanumeric (plus - characters).
4. Wait a few moments, it can take some time to evaluate the cloud-init.yml and install the appropriate software.
5. Check the logs: ssh <public_dns> tail -f /var/lib/fahclient/log.txt

Note: You may not be able to get resources in the default region of eastus.

• If this is the case, you can pass --region REGION to the start.sh command. REGION can be any name attribute listed by this command: az account list-locations.
• If you are denied resources in one area, you will need to delete the resource group on azure's online GUI.

Folding At Home Configuration

These values are located in the cloud-init.yaml file under the write_files: section. The values can be found in your Folding@Home account.

1. User:

• This can be any unique identifier that you want to use to track your work contribution. Read more about users.
• This was chosen when you set up your Folding@Home account.
• This is the <user value='gorzell'/> line in the cloud-init.yaml file.

2. Team:

• The team that you want to associate your work with. The existing identifier is for the github team. Read more about teams.
• This was optionally setup when you made your Folding@Home account. If you aren't sure, you can change this to <team value=''/>
• This is the <team value='236463'/> line in the cloud-init.yaml file.

3. Passkey:

• A unique identifier that ties your contributions directly to you (not just those with your username). Read more about passkeys.
• This was optionally setup when you made your Folding@Home account. If you aren't sure, you can change this to <passkey value=''/>
• This is the <passkey value=''/> line in the cloud-init.yaml file.