The University of Western Australia – IT Policy Committee

Use of Spare Computer Processing Capacity

Adopted by the IT Policy Committee on 27-Feb-02.

1. Background:

There is growing interest worldwide in a range of compute-intensive research projects that utilise the space processing capacity of network-connected personal computers when they are idle.  The most widely publicized such project is the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI@home).  Some are perhaps rather whimsical, but others are deadly serious projects (eg the recently announced search for a cure for Anthrax and a longer-established search for a cure for Cancer, both undertaken in conjunction with researchers at Oxford University.

In order to participate, a user registers and downloads some software to run on their computer.  When the computer is idle, the computation is performed in the background and results sent to the coordinating site.  As soon as the computer is required for local work, the computation is suspended.  It works rather like (and often includes) a screen saver.

2. Potential Issues:

Issues associated with this form of activity are:

(a)      Use of University computers in possibly frivolous projects;

(b)     Use of University computers in projects for personal gain (eg stock market predictions);

(c)      Other use which might gain adverse publicity for the University;

(d)     The risk of poorly-configured computers being hacked, attacked by viruses, acting as covert agents for hackers, or similar security risks to that computer, the University network, or computers and networks external to the University (as when a Denial of Service attack is launched from that computer);

(e)      The additional network traffic incurred by this activity (but generally not large at all);

(f)       The human resource time consumed in setting up or monitoring this activity (need not be great);

(g)      Where multi-user or sever computers are involved, the distortion to usage statistics that this would produce, potentially reducing the ability to assess when an upgrade may be required;

(h)      It raises the issue of whether we should be encouraging users to turn off their personal computers overnight, to conserve energy, to reduce the chance of damage due to power spikes, and to reduce hacking attempts;

(i)        The value to science if such activity contributes to a breakthrough;

(j)       The beneficial publicity from participating in such “public service” activity;

(k)     Should the University as a whole consciously support one particular project?

3. Policy on Use of Spare Computer Processing Capacity:

The following Policies were adopted by the ITPC on 27-Feb-02:

(i)        No personal computer user may use their University-owned computer in this sort of activity without the express permission of their Head of Department (or equivalent), who should use their discretion in approving use for particular projects.

(ii)      Departmental or equivalent IT staff should ensure that computers used in this way have been configured properly, to ensure security is not compromised.

(iii)     Personal computer users should recognize the significant power consumption involved in leaving computers turned on continuously;  the major consumer of power being the display, this can be reduced substantially if the display is turned off (or turns itself off automatically as a power-saving feature).  However, there will still be some power cost, especially if a roomful of computers is involved.  Users should comply with the University’s PC Power Management Guidelines (see http://www.its.uwa.edu.au/policies/commspolicies/managesuptrain/power).

(iv)    Departmental IT staff (or equivalent) should periodically review activity, to ensure there have been no changes that might compromise security, and that consumption of other resources (eg power, network bandwidth) is not excessive.

4. Example Projects:

(a) SETI: Search for extraterrestrial life by analysing radio “noise” received form deep space:  see http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/

Usage Statistics to 25-Jan-02:

(b) Anthrax Cure:  Analysing molecular structures looking for chemicals that could hold the key to a cure for Anthrax;  see http://www.grid.org/projects/anthrax/

(c) Cancer Cure:  Screens molecules which may interact with proteins that are targets for cancer therapy; see http://www.grid.org/projects/cancer/

(d) Distributed.net:  Testing different types of encryption by trying to decrypt messages;  see http://www.distributed.net/

(e) FightAIDS@Home:  FightAIDS@Home a biomedical distributed computing project;  see http://fightaidsathome.scripps.edu/

(f) Folding@home:  Solving how proteins are manufactured;  see http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/

(g) Genome@home:  Creating new proteins and genes that may lead to new cures for diseases; see http://genomeathome.stanford.edu/

(h) GIMPS:  Trying to find the next largest prime number;  see http://www.mersenne.org/prime.htm

(i) Golem@home:  Testing new robot designs by creating computer-generated robots that evolve;  see http://demo.cs.brandeis.edu/golem/download.htmlad.html

5. Typical Media Statements:

From Edupage, January 18, 2002

CRIMINAL CHARGES SETTLED IN DISTRIBUTED-COMPUTING CASE

David McOwen, a former systems administrator at DeKalb Technical College in Georgia, faces a $2,100 fine and 12 months probation for linking a number of the college's computers to Distributed.net in order to break a code using idle computing cycles. McOwen had originally faced criminal charges, because the state had determined that McOwen had used up hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of the college's computing time since installing the software in 1999. The criminal charges came as a nasty surprise to a lot of participants in distributed-computing initiatives, who are also often members of college or university computing departments. McOwen's advocates, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the agreement reached between McOwen and state prosecutors was a lot better than if McOwen had been convicted in a criminal trial. Such a conviction could have landed the former systems administrator in jail for several years, on top of hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution and fines.

(Newsbytes, 17 January 2002)

From Edupage, January 23, 2002

RESEARCHERS RECRUIT PC USERS FOR ANTHRAX PROJECT

The Anthrax Research Project has launched a distributed computing project to try to develop a cure for anthrax, using computer-aided molecular analyses. Individuals can download a screen saver program and contribute some of their PC's unused processor cycles to the effort, creating a supercomputer that analyzes billions of molecules, the group said. Members of the group, including Intel, Microsoft, United Devices, the National Foundation for Cancer Research, and Oxford University, promise users that the system is secure and private. The screen saver operates whenever resources are available for computation; results are sent back to a data center run by United Devices.

(Reuters, 22 January 2002)