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# BOINC


<img src="https://netdata.cloud/img/bolt.svg" width="150"/>


Plugin: python.d.plugin
Module: boinc

<img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/maintained%20by-Netdata-%2300ab44" />

## Overview

This collector monitors task counts for the Berkeley Open Infrastructure Networking Computing (BOINC) distributed computing client.

It uses the same RPC interface that the BOINC monitoring GUI does.

This collector is supported on all platforms.

This collector supports collecting metrics from multiple instances of this integration, including remote instances.


### Default Behavior

#### Auto-Detection

By default, the module will try to auto-detect the password to the RPC interface by looking in `/var/lib/boinc` for this file (this is the location most Linux distributions use for a system-wide BOINC installation), so things may just work without needing configuration for a local system.

#### Limits

The default configuration for this integration does not impose any limits on data collection.

#### Performance Impact

The default configuration for this integration is not expected to impose a significant performance impact on the system.


## Metrics

Metrics grouped by *scope*.

The scope defines the instance that the metric belongs to. An instance is uniquely identified by a set of labels.



### Per BOINC instance

These metrics refer to the entire monitored application.

This scope has no labels.

Metrics:

| Metric | Dimensions | Unit |
|:------|:----------|:----|
| boinc.tasks | Total, Active | tasks |
| boinc.states | New, Downloading, Ready to Run, Compute Errors, Uploading, Uploaded, Aborted, Failed Uploads | tasks |
| boinc.sched | Uninitialized, Preempted, Scheduled | tasks |
| boinc.process | Uninitialized, Executing, Suspended, Aborted, Quit, Copy Pending | tasks |



## Alerts


The following alerts are available:

| Alert name  | On metric | Description |
|:------------|:----------|:------------|
| [ boinc_total_tasks ](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/src/health/health.d/boinc.conf) | boinc.tasks | average number of total tasks over the last 10 minutes |
| [ boinc_active_tasks ](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/src/health/health.d/boinc.conf) | boinc.tasks | average number of active tasks over the last 10 minutes |
| [ boinc_compute_errors ](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/src/health/health.d/boinc.conf) | boinc.states | average number of compute errors over the last 10 minutes |
| [ boinc_upload_errors ](https://github.com/netdata/netdata/blob/master/src/health/health.d/boinc.conf) | boinc.states | average number of failed uploads over the last 10 minutes |


## Setup

### Prerequisites

#### Boinc RPC interface

BOINC requires use of a password to access it's RPC interface. You can find this password in the `gui_rpc_auth.cfg` file in your BOINC directory.


### Configuration

#### File

The configuration file name for this integration is `python.d/boinc.conf`.


You can edit the configuration file using the `edit-config` script from the
Netdata [config directory](/docs/netdata-agent/configuration/README.md#the-netdata-config-directory).

```bash
cd /etc/netdata 2>/dev/null || cd /opt/netdata/etc/netdata
sudo ./edit-config python.d/boinc.conf
```
#### Options

There are 2 sections:

* Global variables
* One or more JOBS that can define multiple different instances to monitor.

The following options can be defined globally: priority, penalty, autodetection_retry, update_every, but can also be defined per JOB to override the global values.

Additionally, the following collapsed table contains all the options that can be configured inside a JOB definition.

Every configuration JOB starts with a `job_name` value which will appear in the dashboard, unless a `name` parameter is specified.


<details open><summary>Config options</summary>

| Name | Description | Default | Required |
|:----|:-----------|:-------|:--------:|
| update_every | Sets the default data collection frequency. | 5 | no |
| priority | Controls the order of charts at the netdata dashboard. | 60000 | no |
| autodetection_retry | Sets the job re-check interval in seconds. | 0 | no |
| penalty | Indicates whether to apply penalty to update_every in case of failures. | yes | no |
| name | Job name. This value will overwrite the `job_name` value. JOBS with the same name are mutually exclusive. Only one of them will be allowed running at any time. This allows autodetection to try several alternatives and pick the one that works. |  | no |
| hostname | Define a hostname where boinc is running. | localhost | no |
| port | The port of boinc RPC interface. |  | no |
| password | Provide a password to connect to a boinc RPC interface. |  | no |

</details>

#### Examples

##### Configuration of a remote boinc instance

A basic JOB configuration for a remote boinc instance

```yaml
remote:
 hostname: '1.2.3.4'
 port: 1234
 password: 'some-password'

```
##### Multi-instance

> **Note**: When you define multiple jobs, their names must be unique.

Collecting metrics from local and remote instances.


<details open><summary>Config</summary>

```yaml
localhost:
  name: 'local'
  host: '127.0.0.1'
  port: 1234
  password: 'some-password'

remote_job:
  name: 'remote'
  host: '192.0.2.1'
  port: 1234
  password: some-other-password

```
</details>



## Troubleshooting

### Debug Mode

To troubleshoot issues with the `boinc` collector, run the `python.d.plugin` with the debug option enabled. The output
should give you clues as to why the collector isn't working.

- Navigate to the `plugins.d` directory, usually at `/usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/`. If that's not the case on
  your system, open `netdata.conf` and look for the `plugins` setting under `[directories]`.

  ```bash
  cd /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/
  ```

- Switch to the `netdata` user.

  ```bash
  sudo -u netdata -s
  ```

- Run the `python.d.plugin` to debug the collector:

  ```bash
  ./python.d.plugin boinc debug trace
  ```


