Bitcoin Forum

If I was paying for use of a server or multiple servers and I wanted to use that/those server's resources to run a mining application, could this be done and how...?

yes you *can* but most places you hire servers from will not like this
TOS read them :)

Well, this is just speculation at the moment, but I was thinking of asking my Uncle who runs his own graphic design and web hosting business (graphicsforgood.org) If I could use a couple servers and pay him for it.

How would I run the mining software on the server using it's resources?

That would depend on the hardware and operating system on the server you are hiring, do make him aware that his power bill will shoot up and to factor that into what he charges you :)

I plan to fully educate him and hopefully bring him into the bitcoin community. I'm sure the servers would be running Linux.

in linux you would ssh to the server and install mining software and run it, most mining software has setup guides.
though unless he has ATI HD  cards in his servers (unlikely) you wont make many coins.

I was thinking more about using the server cpu's to mine litecoins, I figured dedicated business level web servers must have some pretty serious processing power. If not, I'm sure I could probably talk him into buying some cards, though I'm not really sure how many pci-e slots a web server mobo is going to have...

So, I would need to ssh tunnel to the server? I can't upload via ftp and then install from cpanel or something similar?

Would it be easier if the servers were running Windows Server?

talk to him, find out if he will let you then find out what he is running then do the research on how do it with the os he has.
honestly I don't have time to explain all the permutations. get some facts that we can work with :)
also you realise Litecoin is being inundated by GPUs currently and cpu is pretty limited in its profitability?
most webservers are in 1 or 2ru cases, hard to fit a GFX card in even if they do have pci-e - not to mention cooling...
sorry really no time for "if...but...maybe"

Then what are you doing in the "Mining Speculation" board of this forum...? That's what this board is for which is why I posted it here. Don't act like I've inconvenienced you somehow by asking a hypothetical question on a forum board designed specifically for hypothetical speculation.

I am aware of cpu and gpu mining capability and limitations for litecoin. I have run cpu and gpu miners on intel and amd cpu's, nividia and ATI gpu's with just about every miner available on multiple os's including windows xp, windows 7 and linux. I'm not ignorant.

All I need to know is if it's possible and if it is how do I do it? Is it just the same process as installing a miner on a pc, where I install it to the server's c: drive somewhere or should I create special directories for the miners? I'm not asking for a step-by-step walk-through, just a basic overview.

like I said it depends on the operating system, all good mining software has setup instructions included

I will speculate and say he will refuse and this has been a waste of time :)

Fair enough.

Let us know what he thinks of it and what specs his servers are, both hardware and OS - I'm kinda interested in how it pans out (honestly)

Will do.

I too am interested in this topic, I have a bank of Intel Xeon E3-1230's(6 2u setups) and I tested mining on them, they were getting from 35 to 45  kHash/s

I will be speaking with him this weekend about it, I will let everyone know how it turns out.

I'm curious, were you getting 35 to 45 KH/s as a total or for each server? Were they mining BTC or LTC?

That was per each server mining LTC on litecoinpool.org

So around 250-270 kHash/s all together.

That all depends...do you have full access to these servers and permission to work on them?

I'm a SysAdmin and Network Consultant, so I get to control dozens of servers and hundreds of workstations spread over 15 of my clients. It should be pretty easy to create a quick batch file to silently run cgminer from a hidden folder with admin only permissions, specifically utilizing 25% or less of CPU power on the servers and workstations (not as noticeable).

But...just because I can do it doesn't mean I would. I'll stick with the ethical side of things :P

LOL, no this would be legitimate, authorized use. I am a "wiseman" level hacker on "HackThisSite":

http://i978.photobucket.com/albums/ae270/Caniotherapper/c4n10.jpg

But I am also a long-standing member of the Legion of Ethical Hacking.

As sated earlier in the thread, these would be run on my Uncle's business-level web hosting servers IF he approves.

Ah, nice. I haven't been on that site in years!


Hmm, that might be a problem. Production servers are usually better than hosting servers if you're looking to run CPU intensive software (at least in my experience since hosted sites are constantly accessed, though it depends on the hardware). Personally, if I was willing to put out the mining software I'd get it on all the workstations which would crank out more power overall compared to the servers.

As Graet said, it really depends on the hardware, OS, and number of servers.

Yeah, I don't remember my last login on HTS either, it's been some time, lol...

So, it would be better to run a bunch of desktops and use the server to host the client then?

I can pretty much do that with my home network, I'm sure I could manage a few zombie boxes here, I just need to find some cheap (or free) old hardware...