Project Overcommited?

BOINC Manager Message: Using earlier-deadline-first scheduling because computer is overcommited.

Tasks marked as running in High Priority.

Why?

This message will occur if BOINC finds, that the total time required to finish all on-hand work units, exceeds one or more deadlines if all work is run with the resource shares specified by the user. The CPU scheduler normally runs in modified round robin mode between projects and First In First Out mode within each project.

Thoroughly over commited:

If you have 10 work units downloaded to your machine, and each will take about 24 hours to complete. But, all deadlines are within 4 days. BOINC starts with the earliest deadline, attempting to complete as much work within the deadlines as possible. The CPU scheduler is going to miss some deadlines in this case,.

Slightly over committed:

Most of the time it is merely that a task will not complete on time if it is run with the user specified runnable resource fraction. The runnable resource fraction is the resource share / the sum of all resource shares of projects with work on the system. In this case the CPU scheduler can recover on its own by the earliest deadline tasks from projects with tasks in deadline trouble. The CPU time spent clearing this up will be paid back by not downloading work from that project until such a time as most of the CPU time borrowed has been paid back to the other project(s).

False Overcommited Message?

At times, this message can be false, and not require attention. Because, when starting a different size work unit. BOINC automatically assumes the work unit will take a longer period of time, than usually required. So, you may be able to wait until one or more work units finish, to find the actual time required to complete one. In either case, BOINC will eventually update the time estimates to a more accurate completion time.

What do I do?

If this message is because the CPU is thoroughly overcommitted, and your computer is going to miss deadlines, the best option is to stop this from occurring in the future. When updating your account, using General Preferences, from one of the project websites, under 'Connection To Network Every ... Days'. Lower the amount of days. If you are using a constant internet connection. 1 day, may suit you well. If you are using dial-up, and do not connect to the network every day, set this option to the period of days, that you do connect to the internet. In this way, your computer should not download, more work that it is able to complete before deadlines. Another option for those that are not connected all the time is to disconnect from projects with deadlines that are too short. Not all projects are suitable for dialup connections.

NOTE: If you "Connect To Network Every ... Days" is already set to 1 day. The most likely cause of the issue, is your machine is not able to complete the work units in time, due to your General Preferences. You can attempt to set your preferences to work during all times, not only idle time. Or also, you may set it to use 100% CPU power as well.

Original writer	Original FAQ	Date
Dex	118	13-01-2007