Phoenix - Efficient, fast, modular miner

[RobertRibbeck]

Sure would be nice if jedi95
would address these current problems
his last post was 2 months ago

[jamesg]

Sure would be nice if jedi95
would address these current problems
his last post was 2 months ago

Are these the open issues over at github.com or are there other outstanding issue not yet posted?

EDIT:

The reason I am interested is that El over at btcguild.com has implemented QoS into his pool server and it doesn't play nice with phoenix. Here is the  conversation:

[16:37] <gigavps> @Eleuthria still getting miner idle warnings, since you suggested it was somehow on my end i reset all network equipment
[16:37] <gigavps> [05/10/2011 20:34:26] Phoenix v1.6.2 starting... [05/10/2011 20:34:26] Setting auto kill signal for 180 seconds. [05/10/2011 20:34:26] Connected to server [05/10/2011 20:34:26] Currently on block: 148211 [05/10/2011 20:34:30] Result: 050dafcb accepted [05/10/2011 20:34:33] Result: c74016fc accepted [05/10/2011 20:34:34] Result: 099d91dd accepted [05/10/2011 20:34:45] Result: 6c6bc416 accepted [05/10/2011 20:34:46] Result: 2e039bbe accepted [05/10/2011 20:34:50] Result: 0a9de4ce accepted [05/10/2011 20:35:08
[16:37] <gigavps> [05/10/2011 20:35:51] Warning: work queue empty, miner is idle
[16:41] <@Eleuthria> I'd suggest a better miner if you're running that fast on a single client
[16:41] <gigavps> all gpus are 310-317 Mh/s
[16:42] <gigavps> i'm using phoenix
[16:42] <gigavps> are you suggesting that phoenix is not a good miner?
[16:42] <@Eleuthria> Yes.
[16:42] <@Eleuthria> Phoenix is terrible and inefficient, it tosses out a getwork after finding a single share instead of exhausting the space
[16:44] <@Eleuthria> cgminer is better in every way
[16:44] <gigavps> i am all for learning and improving, but why do i not have these problems on other pools like arsbitcoin.com, yourbtc.net, mainframe.nl?
[16:44] <@Eleuthria> But if you insist on using phoenix, add -q 2 or -q 3
[16:45] <@Eleuthria> Because we put you in the back of the line after just feeding you work.
[16:45] <@Eleuthria> So you acn't just spam us with getwork requests.
[16:45] <@Eleuthria> Which is whats happening in your log
[16:45] <@Eleuthria> You finished 3 shares in under 3 seconds
[16:45] <Dyaheon> you're the guy with the 20GH/s operation?
[16:46] <@Eleuthria> On phoenix, that means you're issuing a new getwork multiple times per second
[16:46] <@Eleuthria> Even though a single getwork can contain multiple shares
[16:46] <@Eleuthria> poclbm fixed that, cgminer never had that problem, and my understanding is diablo never had that issue either.

Is there someone watching this thread that can fix this issue?

I would be willing to offer a bounty to have phoenix patched and a new release of the miner created.

[RobertRibbeck]

Sure would be nice if jedi95
would address these current problems
his last post was 2 months ago

Are these the open issues over at github.com or are there other outstanding issue not yet posted?

No I was referring to the problems posted by slush

[jamesg]

No I was referring to the problems posted by slush

Well i'm sure there are a lot of people using Phoenix to mine, is there anyone who can fork the project and create a new release fixing these issues if Jedi95 is not around? Again, I am willing to pay to see the phoenix miner properly cleaned up with the necessary changes made. Maybe we should all start a bounty? Maybe that would get development on the project going again.

[slush]

Well i'm sure there are a lot of people using Phoenix to mine, is there anyone who can fork the project and create a new release fixing these issues if Jedi95 is not around? Again, I am willing to pay to see the phoenix miner properly cleaned up with the necessary changes made. Maybe we should all start a bounty? Maybe that would get development on the project going again.

I tried to understand phoenix's sources and fix those issues, but it's asynchronous mess inside. Async programming is good for everything else than for understanding and debugging .

Btw I tested phoenix r111 on my problematic miner and it works like a charm overnight. I have 0.1% stale on 12000 shares so far. It's not so effective as poclbm (as it does not implement roll ntime extension correctly), but at least have lower stale rate for me.

[slush]

Phoenix is the most used miner on my pool (together with poclbm). So I'll pay something for fixing those bugs addressed by me above + adding correct X-Roll-NTime support. I don't have an idea how much work is that for somebody who already knows phoenix internals, but 20 BTC may be interesting?

[jamesg]

Phoenix is the most used miner on my pool (together with poclbm). So I'll pay something for fixing those bugs addressed by me above + adding correct X-Roll-NTime support. I don't have an idea how much work is that for somebody who already knows phoenix internals, but 20 BTC may be interesting?

I'll add another 10 BTC to the bounty to see these issues fixed.

[jamesg]

On github ( https://github.com/jedi95/Phoenix-Miner/network ), it looks like aldiyen has added rollNTime support to his git repo.

[slush]

Looks interesting. I'm now testing Aldiyen's fork, he fixed also some network errors. Maybe it will solve my issues as well...

[jamesg]

Looks interesting. I'm now testing Aldiyen's fork, he fixed also some network errors. Maybe it will solve my issues as well...

Any luck slush?

[slush]

yes, Aldiyen's fork works for me now. Worse part is that _now_ works also stock phoenix (latest version). I didn't changed anything, maybe connection is slightly better or something, but now I have 0.2% stale with both versions. Previously it was almost 30% stale.

But Aldiyen's fork have ntime rolling, which is very nice feature for strong rigs. I didn't watched it carefully, but my feeling is that it performs less getworks than stock phoenix. So I can recommend it so far.

[jedi95]

[16:42] <@Eleuthria> Phoenix is terrible and inefficient, it tosses out a getwork after finding a single share instead of exhausting the space.

I don't know where he got that idea. The only time Phoenix ever tosses a getwork is when the queue is purged on block change. (since these getworks will only produce stale work anyway) Otherwise it works through the entire 2^32 nonce space.

To anyone who is still using SVN: we are no longer using it for development. All the latest code is on GitHub. The latest SVN revision is significantly out of date now.

As for the issues user have been reporting, we are in the process of fixing several RPC bugs. It turns out that the RPC code for persistent connections completely ignores the 2 connection limit. This can result in many extra connections being created under high load. (along with some other odd behavior)

Rolltime functionality is currently planned, but it won't be in the next version. For right now the RPC problems take priority.

[slush]

jedi95: Thanks for the response. I found that I was still using SVN repository (unfortunately other pool users are using it too), which may explain my problems. Can you please write it in big bold letters somewhere (top post in this thread) that they should migrate to actual repository?

I understand that X-Roll-NTime has lower priority for you. However can you add at least simple timeout on job validity? Ideally 60-120 seconds. There are many reasons why miners should not use older jobs; some slow miners are using one job for 5 minutes or even more! And one request per minute or two cannot be considered as 'ineffectivity' or 'network overhead'. Thanks a lot!

[jamesg]

[16:42] <@Eleuthria> Phoenix is terrible and inefficient, it tosses out a getwork after finding a single share instead of exhausting the space.

I don't know where he got that idea. The only time Phoenix ever tosses a getwork is when the queue is purged on block change. (since these getworks will only produce stale work anyway) Otherwise it works through the entire 2^32 nonce space.

To anyone who is still using SVN: we are no longer using it for development. All the latest code is on GitHub. The latest SVN revision is significantly out of date now.

As for the issues user have been reporting, we are in the process of fixing several RPC bugs. It turns out that the RPC code for persistent connections completely ignores the 2 connection limit. This can result in many extra connections being created under high load. (along with some other odd behavior)

Rolltime functionality is currently planned, but it won't be in the next version. For right now the RPC problems take priority.

Thanks for the reply and I am glad to hear development continues. I will point El to your reply later today. Thanks again. When a new release is published, I will be more than happy to pay my part of the bounty.

[MiningBuddy]

I'm not sure what's going on with the new 1.6.3 version but I've just upgraded and as soon as you start mining it throws out this, never to reconnect, making it unusable

Code:

[07/10/2011 17:39:39] Phoenix v1.6.3 starting...
[07/10/2011 17:39:40] Connected to server
[07/10/2011 17:39:40] Currently on block: 148444
[07/10/2011 17:39:40] Disconnected from server
[07/10/2011 17:39:45] Result: 4d183fe6 accepted
[07/10/2011 17:39:51] Result: 5c8a01ea accepted
[07/10/2011 17:39:52] Warning: work queue empty, miner is idle
[07/10/2011 17:39:53] Connected to server
[07/10/2011 17:39:53] Disconnected from server
[07/10/2011 17:40:05] Warning: work queue empty, miner is idle

[jamesg]

I'm not sure what's going on with the new 1.6.3 version but I've just upgraded and as soon as you start mining it throws out this, never to reconnect, making it unusable

Code:

[07/10/2011 17:39:39] Phoenix v1.6.3 starting...
[07/10/2011 17:39:40] Connected to server
[07/10/2011 17:39:40] Currently on block: 148444
[07/10/2011 17:39:40] Disconnected from server
[07/10/2011 17:39:45] Result: 4d183fe6 accepted
[07/10/2011 17:39:51] Result: 5c8a01ea accepted
[07/10/2011 17:39:52] Warning: work queue empty, miner is idle
[07/10/2011 17:39:53] Connected to server
[07/10/2011 17:39:53] Disconnected from server
[07/10/2011 17:40:05] Warning: work queue empty, miner is idle

That doesn't sound good. Has anyone else tested this version out yet?

[jamesg]

I'm not sure what's going on with the new 1.6.3 version but I've just upgraded and as soon as you start mining it throws out this, never to reconnect, making it unusable

Code:

[07/10/2011 17:39:39] Phoenix v1.6.3 starting...
[07/10/2011 17:39:40] Connected to server
[07/10/2011 17:39:40] Currently on block: 148444
[07/10/2011 17:39:40] Disconnected from server
[07/10/2011 17:39:45] Result: 4d183fe6 accepted
[07/10/2011 17:39:51] Result: 5c8a01ea accepted
[07/10/2011 17:39:52] Warning: work queue empty, miner is idle
[07/10/2011 17:39:53] Connected to server
[07/10/2011 17:39:53] Disconnected from server
[07/10/2011 17:40:05] Warning: work queue empty, miner is idle

I have download the 1.6.3 build and run it on windows 7 and have encountered the same error...   

[RobertRibbeck]

I'm not sure what's going on with the new 1.6.3 version but I've just upgraded and as soon as you start mining it throws out this, never to reconnect, making it unusable

Code:

[07/10/2011 17:39:39] Phoenix v1.6.3 starting...
[07/10/2011 17:39:40] Connected to server
[07/10/2011 17:39:40] Currently on block: 148444
[07/10/2011 17:39:40] Disconnected from server
[07/10/2011 17:39:45] Result: 4d183fe6 accepted
[07/10/2011 17:39:51] Result: 5c8a01ea accepted
[07/10/2011 17:39:52] Warning: work queue empty, miner is idle
[07/10/2011 17:39:53] Connected to server
[07/10/2011 17:39:53] Disconnected from server
[07/10/2011 17:40:05] Warning: work queue empty, miner is idle

That doesn't sound good. Has anyone else tested this version out yet?

1.6.3 is working for me
Not much better   still way to many rejects esp within seconds of an update

[Lord F(r)og]

Donations
1PHoenix9j9J3M6v3VQYWeXrHPPjf7y3rU

Thanks for providing us with your miner for free. donated!

[loglow]

I'm not sure what's going on with the new 1.6.3 version but I've just upgraded and as soon as you start mining it throws out this, never to reconnect, making it unusable

Code:

[07/10/2011 17:39:39] Phoenix v1.6.3 starting...
[07/10/2011 17:39:40] Connected to server
[07/10/2011 17:39:40] Currently on block: 148444
[07/10/2011 17:39:40] Disconnected from server
[07/10/2011 17:39:45] Result: 4d183fe6 accepted
[07/10/2011 17:39:51] Result: 5c8a01ea accepted
[07/10/2011 17:39:52] Warning: work queue empty, miner is idle
[07/10/2011 17:39:53] Connected to server
[07/10/2011 17:39:53] Disconnected from server
[07/10/2011 17:40:05] Warning: work queue empty, miner is idle

I have download the 1.6.3 build and run it on windows 7 and have encountered the same error...   

I'm having the exact same problem with 1.6.3 on Linux/Debian/Wheezy; it works for a brief time, but then idles forever. I also get the strange disconnect messages immediately following connect messages.

Phoenix 1.6.2 is, and has been, working perfectly for a while.