BAMT - Easy persistent USB key based linux for dedicated miners/mining farms

[chunglam]

Thanks for this great update, I love the mgpumon web interface

[fitty]

I've never used cgminer, it took awhile to get up to speed. Here's what I've done on the one GPU running cgminer.

I added this in the bamt config right below settings:

  cgminer: 1
  cgminer_port: 4028
  cgminer_opts: --config /etc/bamt/cgminer.conf

Fairly sure you don't need the port, but I added it anyway. Then just add cgminer: 1 to any gpu you want to use cgminer (I put put it right under the disabled: setting for the gpu).

I'm doing the 5830s first. Here's what I have so far. This is the cgminer.conf file

{
   "device" : "3",
   "auto-gpu" : true,
   "temp-target" : "72",
   "gpu-engine" : "800-950",  
   "gpu-threads" : "4",  
   "url" : "http://pool.bitclockers.com:8332",
   "user" : "user",
   "pass" : "pass",
   "intensity" : "8",
   "api-listen" : true,
   "vectors" : "2",
   "worksize" : "256",
   "no-dynamic" : true
}

I believe it's JSON which explains the formatting.

Since I'm just doing it on one gpu, I put device 3 (the 4th videocard). Without that settings were getting applied to all cards and/or messing up shit.

Auto-gpu will lower the gpu engine clock if it starts going over the target temp.

gpu-threads I read 4 was best for the 5830, also intensity 8 was best for the 5xxx series. 9 for 6xxx series.

worksize 256 and vectors 2 was also the best suggestion I found for the 5830s.

No dynamic means don't save any of the gpu for the desktop. Use it for dedicated/headless miners.

Api-listen is needed for bamt.

Please note it takes 30-60 seconds for the cgminer to start showing up in gpumon. It looks like it's not working because the phoenix info starts showing up right away. When you add options it seems to take longer. Give it at least 60 seconds to start showing the mhash.

It does seem to get better performance. I'm not sure if that's based on how it reports mhash or there's real world performance improvements. I'm going to test it and see how the share/invalids look after 24 hours.

Clocking down the gpu when its overheating is pretty cool. My farm is single core semprons so the cpu mining part of it probably doesn't help much.

If anyone has some cool cgminer tips/tweaks to share that would be great since most of us using bamt are probably pretty new. That config should at least give you a decent start. I didn't add the autofan because I don't like the fan speeds going up and down. Longevity wise I think its better to run at a constant speed then to constantly be lowering/raising the speed in order to save some rpms. I might be wrong on that but that's my story I'm sticking with it. =)

[lodcrappo]

I've never used cgminer, it took awhile to get up to speed. Here's what I've done on the one GPU running cgminer.

I added this in the bamt config right below settings:

  cgminer: 1
  cgminer_port: 4028
  cgminer_opts: --config /etc/bamt/cgminer.conf

Fairly sure you don't need the port, but I added it anyway. Then just add cgminer: 1 to any gpu you want to use cgminer (I put put it right under the disabled: setting for the gpu).

I'm doing the 5830s first. Here's what I have so far. This is the cgminer.conf file

{
   "device" : "3",
   "auto-gpu" : true,
   "temp-target" : "72",
   "gpu-engine" : "800-950",  
   "gpu-threads" : "4",  
   "url" : "http://pool.bitclockers.com:8332",
   "user" : "user",
   "pass" : "pass",
   "intensity" : "8",
   "api-listen" : true,
   "vectors" : "2",
   "worksize" : "256",
   "no-dynamic" : true
}

I believe it's JSON which explains the formatting.

Since I'm just doing it on one gpu, I put device 3 (the 4th videocard). Without that settings were getting applied to all cards and/or messing up shit.

Auto-gpu will lower the gpu engine clock if it starts going over the target temp.

gpu-threads I read 4 was best for the 5830, also intensity 8 was best for the 5xxx series. 9 for 6xxx series.

worksize 256 and vectors 2 was also the best suggestion I found for the 5830s.

No dynamic means don't save any of the gpu for the desktop. Use it for dedicated/headless miners.

Api-listen is needed for bamt.

Please note it takes 30-60 seconds for the cgminer to start showing up in gpumon. It looks like it's not working because the phoenix info starts showing up right away. When you add options it seems to take longer. Give it at least 60 seconds to start showing the mhash.

It does seem to get better performance. I'm not sure if that's based on how it reports mhash or there's real world performance improvements. I'm going to test it and see how the share/invalids look after 24 hours.

Clocking down the gpu when its overheating is pretty cool. My farm is single core semprons so the cpu mining part of it probably doesn't help much.

If anyone has some cool cgminer tips/tweaks to share that would be great since most of us using bamt are probably pretty new. That config should at least give you a decent start. I didn't add the autofan because I don't like the fan speeds going up and down. Longevity wise I think its better to run at a constant speed then to constantly be lowering/raising the speed in order to save some rpms. I might be wrong on that but that's my story I'm sticking with it. =)

good info.  this should help people try it out.  you are right it does take a while for cgminer to appear in gpumon.  it takes longer than phoenix to start and then doesn't start the api we need for pulling stats right at first.. so give it a bit to get going.  I even tweaked the cgminer socket code a tiny bit to help it get the api up faster, but still pokey. 

i was getting worse results with cgminer than phoenix (about 15hash lower) until I turned intensity up to 9.  not sure if thats normal.  now it is about the sameon 5830s, maybe even a little better on my 6870.  I haven't tried letting it mess with my o/c yet though, so maybe it can do better.

[jamesg]

Getting an error trying to load fix 23b on 3 of my rigs....

Code:

Running pre_action script...
ln: creating symbolic link `/usr/lib/libamdocl32.so': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/usr/lib/libGLEW.so': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/usr/lib/libglut.so': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/usr/lib/libOpenCL.so': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/usr/lib/libOpenCL.so.1': File exists
/tmp/fix/pre_action: line 4: 21741 Bus error               ldconfig
Hit http://security.debian.org stable/updates Release.gpg
Ign http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates/main Translation-en
Ign http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates/main Translation-en_US
Hit http://cdn.debian.net stable Release.gpg
Ign http://cdn.debian.net/debian/ stable/main Translation-en
Ign http://cdn.debian.net/debian/ stable/main Translation-en_US
Hit http://security.debian.org stable/updates Release
Hit http://cdn.debian.net stable Release
Hit http://security.debian.org stable/updates/main i386 Packages
Hit http://cdn.debian.net stable/main i386 Packages
Reading package lists... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
libcurl3 is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libjpeg8 xli libjpeg-progs xscreensaver-data
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 154 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up libssh2-1 (1.2.6-1) ...
Bus error
dpkg: error processing libssh2-1 (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 135
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libcurl3:
 libcurl3 depends on libssh2-1 (>= 1.2); however:
  Package libssh2-1 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libcurl3 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
configured to not write apport reports
                                      configured to not write apport reports
                                                                            Errors were encountered while processing:
 libssh2-1
 libcurl3
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

bamt_fix_23b.tar: FAIL

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[lodcrappo]

Getting an error trying to load fix 23b on 3 of my rigs....

Code:

Running pre_action script...
ln: creating symbolic link `/usr/lib/libamdocl32.so': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/usr/lib/libGLEW.so': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/usr/lib/libglut.so': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/usr/lib/libOpenCL.so': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/usr/lib/libOpenCL.so.1': File exists
/tmp/fix/pre_action: line 4: 21741 Bus error               ldconfig
Hit http://security.debian.org stable/updates Release.gpg
Ign http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates/main Translation-en
Ign http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates/main Translation-en_US
Hit http://cdn.debian.net stable Release.gpg
Ign http://cdn.debian.net/debian/ stable/main Translation-en
Ign http://cdn.debian.net/debian/ stable/main Translation-en_US
Hit http://security.debian.org stable/updates Release
Hit http://cdn.debian.net stable Release
Hit http://security.debian.org stable/updates/main i386 Packages
Hit http://cdn.debian.net stable/main i386 Packages
Reading package lists... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
libcurl3 is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libjpeg8 xli libjpeg-progs xscreensaver-data
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 154 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up libssh2-1 (1.2.6-1) ...
Bus error
dpkg: error processing libssh2-1 (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 135
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of libcurl3:
 libcurl3 depends on libssh2-1 (>= 1.2); however:
  Package libssh2-1 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing libcurl3 (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
configured to not write apport reports
                                      configured to not write apport reports
                                                                            Errors were encountered while processing:
 libssh2-1
 libcurl3
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

bamt_fix_23b.tar: FAIL

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

"Bus Error" isn't good.
there are some apt problems now, probably created when apt failed due to whatever bus error means.
those can be fixed easily enough, but i think something more is wrong.

type 'dmesg' after trying the update and getting the bus error.  it will have lots of stuff, but the end of it should explain what is going on.  paste last 10 lines or so here, or paste bin the whole thing and I will take a look.

[BitMinerN8]

Fix #22 - mgpumon gets webified

The updated mgpumon takes an optional argument on the command line, this is a configuration file to use.

the fix will put an example configuration in /etc/bamt/mgpumon.conf that is setup to generate the web interface in the screenshot above at http://yourminer/mgpumon/

to start mgpumon with this config (as root):

mgpumon /etc/bamt/mgpumon.conf

you can adjust the value ranges that are considered problems and several other parameters in the config.  if you would like a mgpumon that generates the web interface and presents the console based interface at the same time, set both genhttp and screen to 1.  the other settings available should be pretty obvious.

Running mgpumon works in console mode and I see all my rigs, stats, etc.
When I run "mgpumon /etc/bamt/mgpumon.conf" as root, it just sits there... I let it run for about 10 min. Should the stock sample mgpumon.conf that came with Fix 22 run without changes? When I go to http://yourminer/mgpumon/ I get what looks like a CSS page.

Little help? Thank you.

[lodcrappo]

Fix #22 - mgpumon gets webified

The updated mgpumon takes an optional argument on the command line, this is a configuration file to use.

the fix will put an example configuration in /etc/bamt/mgpumon.conf that is setup to generate the web interface in the screenshot above at http://yourminer/mgpumon/

to start mgpumon with this config (as root):

mgpumon /etc/bamt/mgpumon.conf

you can adjust the value ranges that are considered problems and several other parameters in the config.  if you would like a mgpumon that generates the web interface and presents the console based interface at the same time, set both genhttp and screen to 1.  the other settings available should be pretty obvious.

Running mgpumon works in console mode and I see all my rigs, stats, etc.
When I run "mgpumon /etc/bamt/mgpumon.conf" as root, it just sits there... I let it run for about 10 min. Should the stock sample mgpumon.conf that came with Fix 22 run without changes? When I go to http://yourminer/mgpumon/ I get what looks like a CSS page.

Little help? Thank you.

"just sitting there" is normal for http mode, which is what the stock .conf gives you.  you could enable screen in that file to get console and web generation at the same time.

look in /tmp/mgpumon

is index.html being created there?  thats what mgpumon does in httpd mode.. it creates that file.

apache should serve it up when you goto http://whatevr/mgpumon/

if you forget the / at the end of the url, you might get mgpumon.css which is at /var/www

you could try http://whatevr/mgpumon/index.html

to be more specific, might help

[BitMinerN8]

Fix #22 - mgpumon gets webified

The updated mgpumon takes an optional argument on the command line, this is a configuration file to use.

the fix will put an example configuration in /etc/bamt/mgpumon.conf that is setup to generate the web interface in the screenshot above at http://yourminer/mgpumon/

to start mgpumon with this config (as root):

mgpumon /etc/bamt/mgpumon.conf

you can adjust the value ranges that are considered problems and several other parameters in the config.  if you would like a mgpumon that generates the web interface and presents the console based interface at the same time, set both genhttp and screen to 1.  the other settings available should be pretty obvious.

Running mgpumon works in console mode and I see all my rigs, stats, etc.
When I run "mgpumon /etc/bamt/mgpumon.conf" as root, it just sits there... I let it run for about 10 min. Should the stock sample mgpumon.conf that came with Fix 22 run without changes? When I go to http://yourminer/mgpumon/ I get what looks like a CSS page.

Little help? Thank you.

"just sitting there" is normal for http mode, which is what the stock .conf gives you.  you could enable screen in that file to get console and web generation at the same time.

look in /tmp/mgpumon

is index.html being created there?  thats what mgpumon does in httpd mode.. it creates that file.

apache should serve it up when you goto http://whatevr/mgpumon/

if you forget the / at the end of the url, you might get mgpumon.css which is at /var/www

I'm totally embarrassed. It was the missing / it all works now going to http://whatevr/mgpumon/

Killer product you've got here. Thank you for the fast support. A 5.91 BTC donation is inbound sir.

[lodcrappo]

Fix #22 - mgpumon gets webified

The updated mgpumon takes an optional argument on the command line, this is a configuration file to use.

the fix will put an example configuration in /etc/bamt/mgpumon.conf that is setup to generate the web interface in the screenshot above at http://yourminer/mgpumon/

to start mgpumon with this config (as root):

mgpumon /etc/bamt/mgpumon.conf

you can adjust the value ranges that are considered problems and several other parameters in the config.  if you would like a mgpumon that generates the web interface and presents the console based interface at the same time, set both genhttp and screen to 1.  the other settings available should be pretty obvious.

Running mgpumon works in console mode and I see all my rigs, stats, etc.
When I run "mgpumon /etc/bamt/mgpumon.conf" as root, it just sits there... I let it run for about 10 min. Should the stock sample mgpumon.conf that came with Fix 22 run without changes? When I go to http://yourminer/mgpumon/ I get what looks like a CSS page.

Little help? Thank you.

"just sitting there" is normal for http mode, which is what the stock .conf gives you.  you could enable screen in that file to get console and web generation at the same time.

look in /tmp/mgpumon

is index.html being created there?  thats what mgpumon does in httpd mode.. it creates that file.

apache should serve it up when you goto http://whatevr/mgpumon/

if you forget the / at the end of the url, you might get mgpumon.css which is at /var/www

I'm totally embarrassed. It was the missing / it all works now going to http://whatevr/mgpumon/

Killer product you've got here. Thank you for the fast support. A 5.91 BTC donation is inbound sir.

no worries.  i should probably change the css file's name so if ppl mistype the url they get an error instead of the css.

[BitMinerN8]

I have a suggestion for a future update to the web based status screen: (http://myminer/mgpumon/)
 - Add the ability to click on the miner/rig (The name next to the green check) and then see the Munin based graphs.

Thank you for your time and hard work.

[BitMinerN8]

Can you use the Win32DiskImager.exe tool to re-image a fully patched. .04b before customizing the config files? I'm just trying to save time with having to make 10+ USB keys for all the rigs. Maybe you have a .05 image coming out soon?

Thank you.

[lodcrappo]

Can you use the Win32DiskImager.exe tool to re-image a fully patched. .04b before customizing the config files? I'm just trying to save time with having to make 10+ USB keys for all the rigs. Maybe you have a .05 image coming out soon?

Thank you.

Yes you can and should..  I highly recommend to update and then read the image back, then use that for making keys.  Save even more time by preconfiguring as much as you can on your master image (bamt.conf and pools file, etc).  If your rigs use mostly the same hardware, you can make an image that is practically ready to go.

And yes there is a new image coming "soon".  Not sure how soon.

[DeathAndTaxes]

So I am having trouble getting cgminer to start.

I modified /opt/bamt/bamt.conf

Code:

  cgminer: 1
  cgminer_port: 4028
  cgminer_opts: -o pool - u user - p pass

I am familiar w/ cgminer and cgminer.conf but I decided to just use command line to keep it simple

I then modified GPU section to enable 2 GPUs w/ cgminer

Code:

# GPU Configurtation

# You'll need one gpuX: section per GPU installed.  Not sure what's installed,
# or the order?  Open a root shell and type:  aticonfig --list-adapters
#
# You can delete gpu sections if you don't have that many cards..

gpu0:
  disabled: 0
  cgminer: 1
  monitor_temp_lo: 45
  monitor_temp_hi: 80
  monitor_load_lo: 90
  monitor_hash_lo: 350
  monitor_shares_lo: 4

gpu1:
  disabled: 0
  cgminer: 1
  monitor_temp_lo: 45
  monitor_temp_hi: 80
  monitor_load_lo: 90
  monitor_hash_lo: 350
  monitor_shares_lo: 4

When I execute sudo /etc/init.d/mine restart
it seems to launch everything with defaults (default pool, default phoenix miner, default settings).



I double check the bamt.conf and it looks good. reboot and same thing.  call restart same thing.

It is almost like bamt is simply ignoring the bamt.conf completely.  no errors it creates 2 screen gpu0 & gpu1 it just runs everything w/ default (and not using cgminer).

[lodcrappo]

So I am having trouble getting cgminer to start.

I modified /opt/bamt/bamt.conf

Code:

  cgminer: 1
  cgminer_port: 4028
  cgminer_opts: -o pool - u user - p pass

I am familiar w/ cgminer and cgminer.conf but I decided to just use command line to keep it simple

I then modified GPU section to enable 2 GPUs w/ cgminer

Code:

# GPU Configurtation

# You'll need one gpuX: section per GPU installed.  Not sure what's installed,
# or the order?  Open a root shell and type:  aticonfig --list-adapters
#
# You can delete gpu sections if you don't have that many cards..

gpu0:
  disabled: 0
  cgminer: 1
  monitor_temp_lo: 45
  monitor_temp_hi: 80
  monitor_load_lo: 90
  monitor_hash_lo: 350
  monitor_shares_lo: 4

gpu1:
  disabled: 0
  cgminer: 1
  monitor_temp_lo: 45
  monitor_temp_hi: 80
  monitor_load_lo: 90
  monitor_hash_lo: 350
  monitor_shares_lo: 4

When I execute sudo /etc/init.d/mine restart
it seems to launch everything with defaults (default pool, default phoenix miner, default settings).



I double check the bamt.conf and it looks good. reboot and same thing.  call restart same thing.

It is almost like bamt is simply ignoring the bamt.conf completely.  no errors it creates 2 screen gpu0 & gpu1 it just runs everything w/ default (and not using cgminer).

this would happen if you don't have fix 23 installed.  did you run the fixer? 
also never use sudo in bamt.  all kinds of bad things may happen.  always login as root. 

[DeathAndTaxes]

Yes I ran fixer with and installed every patch without error.

[lodcrappo]

Yes I ran fixer with and installed every patch without error.

well.. that is weird.  if it wasn't reading bamt.conf, it wouldn't know to start the 2 sessions in the first place, so i think we can be sure it is reading it.

but, it's ignoring the cgminer: 1 for some reason.  does gpumon work?  it reads bamt.conf too, and if it sees the 1 then it would try to get data from cgminer, so should not work.  if it does work and grabs the data from phoenix, it is also not seeing your 1s.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Yes I ran fixer with and installed every patch without error.

well.. that is weird.  if it wasn't reading bamt.conf, it wouldn't know to start the 2 sessions in the first place, so i think we can be sure it is reading it.

but, it's ignoring the cgminer: 1 for some reason.  does gpumon work?  it reads bamt.conf too, and if it sees the 1 then it would try to get data from cgminer, so should not work.  if it does work and grabs the data from phoenix, it is also not seeing your 1s.

I feel foolish.

I shouldn't try new things at 3AM.  It was just a typo

I copied the example bamt.conf from /opt/bamt/examples to opt/bamt instead of etc/bamt

It is working fine now.  I am excited to get this cloned and on my 5 other rigs.   NEW TOYS!!!  but first I need to sleep before I do something else foolish.

[bulanula]

Can you use the Win32DiskImager.exe tool to re-image a fully patched. .04b before customizing the config files? I'm just trying to save time with having to make 10+ USB keys for all the rigs. Maybe you have a .05 image coming out soon?

Thank you.

Yes you can and should..  I highly recommend to update and then read the image back, then use that for making keys.  Save even more time by preconfiguring as much as you can on your master image (bamt.conf and pools file, etc).  If your rigs use mostly the same hardware, you can make an image that is practically ready to go.

And yes there is a new image coming "soon".  Not sure how soon.

Yeah a new image would be very nice indeed but if we can use the fixer and just read the image off the USB with dd like we put it there in the first place to make another fixed image then it is not that bad. I really like the fact that this is a hybrid image which gives us a lot of options ( no need to be messing with Unnetbootin or any other such tools just use dd ) !

Thank you for the updates and great work !

[ovidiusoft]

Yeah a new image would be very nice indeed but if we can use the fixer and just read the image off the USB with dd like we put it there in the first place to make another fixed image then it is not that bad.

A faster way would be to use VirtualBox. Change the image extension to .hdd and you can boot BAMT as a harddisk. Apply any changes you need, then write it to a USB stick. It's also useful so you have an up-to-date backup in case your USB stick decides to commit suicide.

[max in montreal]

whats dd?