Using Your NAS to Fight COVID-19

How You and Your NAS Can Help Fight COVID19

Itā€™s certainly no secret that the Coronavirus pandemic has changed everyoneā€™s lives in recent weeks. European countries are effectively closed, and people are more than ever being advised to self-isolate or work from home. It has put a tremendous amount of pressure on everyone to both adapt and survive these changing times. Given the relative unimportance of most of us in comparison to key workers in the NHS and day-to-day supply chain industries, the need to remain at home and/or being mandated to work from home has placed us in an entirely new working environment, giving us an unusual feeling of wanting to help, but not knowing how. But if you are a NAS owner, you can put your 24Ɨ7 server to a much more worthy cause right now in 2020 and allow itā€™s resources to be used (outside of primary usage by you, your family and work of course) to benefit vaccines and cures research into COVID-19. This can be done in a few ways and, although not completely straight forward, do certain open the doors towards helping many of you help the world move through these changing and uncertain times.

How Can I and my NAS Drive Help?

Right now, scientists all over the planet are rushing to find new ways to protect us from a further outbreak of this virus. Using distributed computation, they are modelling various proteins in order to help them better understand how to create effective vaccines. Most of this research comes down to simulating the movement of the proteins, atoms and moving parts of this virus. They can take a static look at the virus in static slides but need the ability to emulate itā€™s development, predict itā€™s direction (which needs to be simulated in millions of variations) and then create countermeasures on a medical level (Therapeutics) for development and production. This is where you come in. There are two large projects which allow people to run client programs on their own machines which share the computational workload of running complex tasks. Rather than having a single supercomputer crunching the numbers, tasks can be batched up and run simultaneously on thousandsā€”or even millionsā€”of machines at once. The great thing is we can install these clients on our home servers! And thatā€™s what weā€™re asking you to do.

These projects are calledĀ Folding@homeĀ andĀ BOINC, and are freely available for you to download and run on your own home computers, phones and laptops, but we are focusing on NAS right now, as, despite a NAS drive being on for 24hours a day, you are probably only using it for a fraction of that time ā€“ so why not allow these cell-level simulations utilize your unused hardware between your sporadic access? If you can spare the idle CPU on your NAS/PC/server, please consider running these clients to help speed up the process of finding an effective vaccine for COVID-19. Below I have included directions and links for their respective websites and these can either be installed and deployed as Docker/Container images on Synology, QNAP, Asustor or TerraMaster NAS drives, or if you want to use an easier method (as containers, though more efficient, are pretty complex) you can create a VM and then deploy each solution provides with its own installer as you would any Windows/Android/Linux application with its own GUI (graphical User Interface). Container Applciations can be installed using Docker on a Synology NAS, Container Station on QNAP NAS or Container Center on an Asustor NAS.

What is BOINC and How Do I Install it?

By creating a shared infrastructure for computational tasks, BOINC allows multiple kinds of projects to utilise distributed computing. BOINC lets you help cutting-edge science research using your computer (Windows, Mac, Linux) or Android device. BOINC downloads scientific computing jobs to your computer and runs them invisibly in the background. Itā€™s easy and safe. About 30 science projects use BOINC; examples include Einstein@Home,Ā IBM World Community Grid, andĀ SETI@home. These projects investigate diseases, study global warming, discover pulsars, and do many other types of scientific research. As this is a multi-project solution, to specifically target the research of COVID-19, add theĀ Rosetta@homeĀ project to your BOINC installation.

Installing

https://hub.docker.com/r/linuxserver/boinc


boinc:
  image: linuxserver/boinc
  container_name: boinc
  environment:
    - PUID=1000
    - PGID=1000
    - TZ=Europe/London
    - GUAC_USER=boinc # Optional
    - GUAC_PASS=<MD5SUM_OF_YOUR_PASSWORD> # Optional
  volumes:
    - /path/to/data:/config
  ports:
    - 8080:8080
  devices:
    - /dev/dri:/dev/dri #optional
  restart: unless-stopped

In order to receive computational tasks, you will need to sign up to the Rosetta project. This way your progress can be tracked by its systems. You can also view the progress of your tasks on the Rosetta website as well as your BOINC client. Once you have added the project, it will gather any updates and any tasks it needs to run. I would also highly recommend switching to the advanced view to better see the current task status:Ā ViewĀ ->Ā Advanced View....

You can also set up any computing preferences so that BOINC does not overuse or block your CPU when you need it for other tasks. These values can be as high or low as you wishā€”anything is better than nothing!

What is Folding@home and How Do I Install it?

A similar solution to BOINC, operated by Stanford University. Folding@home (FAH or F@h) is a distributed computing project for simulating protein dynamics, including the process of protein folding and the movements of proteins implicated in a variety of diseases. It brings together citizen scientists who volunteer to run simulations of protein dynamics on their personal computers. Insights from this data are helping scientists to better understand biology and providing new opportunities for developing therapeutics. Unlike BOINC, which allows you to add a multitude of projects, Folding@home has a singular purpose with a few different sub-types. In the case of COVID-19, the ā€œAnyā€ type prioritises this.

Installing

https://hub.docker.com/r/linuxserver/foldingathome


foldingathome:
  image: linuxserver/foldingathome
  container_name: foldingathome
  environment:
    - PUID=1000
    - PGID=1000
    - TZ=Europe/London
  volumes:
    - /path/to/data:/config
  ports:
    - 7396:7396
    - 36330:36330 #optional
  restart: unless-stopped

You can access the web UI atĀ http://<server_ip>:7396 (try accessing it via an InPrivate/Incognito window if youā€™re having issues with your browser cache). The built-in web server provides a very basic control to get you up and running (i.e. GPUs are only active when set toĀ Medium or higher). For more fine-grained control of individual devices, you can use theĀ FAHControlĀ app on a different device and connect remotely via port 36330. Bear in mind this is an unauthenticated connection.

If you wish to utilise your Nvidia GPU, you will need to install theĀ container runtime provided by NvidiaĀ on the host machine running theĀ F@hĀ container. OnceĀ nvidia-dockerĀ is installed on your host you will need to recreate theĀ F@hĀ container using the Nvidia container runtime instead (--runtime=nvidia) also adding an extra environment variable to enable the relevant devices for passthrough:Ā -e NVIDIA_VISIBLE_DEVICES=all. This can also be set to a specific GPUā€™s UUID, which can be discovered by running:

nvidia-smi --query-gpu=gpu_name,gpu_uuid --format=csv

Nvidia automatically mounts the GPU and drivers from your host into theĀ Folding@home docker container. Our container has an environment variable set which ensures you are getting full use out of your GPU. Donā€™t forget to enter your user details into the web UI. When everything is set up and the work is downloaded from the servers, you should see the ongoing processes and the credits earned.

Now more than ever this is a time for everyone to come together to help prevent this kind of thing from happening again. It may seem innocuous now but doing something as simple as lending your CPU time for these projectsĀ does help. Below are some video guides you may find useful to install BOINC and/or Folding@Home on a Ubuntu VM or Virtual Machine, so you can deploy using the .EXE installer:

šŸ“§ SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER šŸ””


    šŸ”’ Join Inner Circle

    Get an alert every time something gets added to this specific article!


    Want to follow specific category? šŸ“§ Subscribe

    This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's content. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Visit the NASCompares Deal Finder to find the best place to buy this device in your region, based on Service, Support and Reputation - Just Search for your NAS Drive in the Box Below

    Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

    Finally,Ā for free advice about your setup, just leave a message in the comments below here at NASCompares.com and we will get back to you. Need Help? Where possible (and where appropriate) please provide as much information about your requirements, as then I can arrange the best answer and solution to your needs. Do not worry about your e-mail address being required, it will NOT be used in a mailing list and will NOT be used in any way other than to respond to your enquiry.

      By clicking SEND you accept this Privacy Policy
      Question will be added on Q&A forum. You will receive an email from us when someone replies to it.
      šŸ”’Private Fast Track Message (1-24Hours)

      TRY CHAT Terms and Conditions
      If you like this service, please consider supporting us. We use affiliate links on the blog allowing NAScompares information and advice service to be free of charge to you.Anything you purchase on the day you click on our links will generate a small commission which isused to run the website. Here is a link for Amazon and B&H.You can also get me a ā˜• Ko-fi or old school Paypal. Thanks!To find out more about how to support this advice service check HEREIf you need to fix or configure a NAS, check Fiver Have you thought about helping others with your knowledge? Find Instructions Here  
       
      Or support us by using our affiliate links on Amazon UK and Amazon US
      Ā Ā Ā Ā 
       
      Alternatively, why not ask me on the ASK NASCompares forum, by clicking the button below. This is a community hub that serves as a place that I can answer your question, chew the fat, share new release information and even get corrections posted. I will always get around to answering ALL queries, but as a one-man operation, I cannot promise speed! So by sharing your query in the ASK NASCompares section below, you can get a better range of solutions and suggestions, alongside my own.

      ā˜• WE LOVE COFFEE ā˜•

        This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in todayā€™s video. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases

       

      locked content ko-fi subscribe

      DISCUSS with others your opinion about this subject.
      ASK questions to NAS community
      SHARE more details what you have found on this subject
      CONTRIBUTE with your own article or review. Click HERE
      IMPROVE this niche ecosystem, let us know what to change/fix on this site
      EARN KO-FI Share your knowledge with others and get paid for it! Click HERE

      Leave a Reply to Craig HawkeCancel reply

      18 thoughts on “Using Your NAS to Fight COVID-19

      1. Hello thanks for this video great work. I am not sure if you can help. I installed a VM and everything is working using VIRTIO drivers. I have a TS-h973-AX and I am using the 10Gbe port. My virtual switch it also using that adapter but the VM network performance is limited to only 1Gbps for some reason. I can get proper speed when directly connecting to the NAS but when I go through a virtual machine is it only 1Gbps. Inside the VM it actually says my link is 100Gbps but it is really limited to 1Gbps. Thank you for any insight on this.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      2. Your title is wrong. Lol
        Just ran across this video wanting to install Ubuntu on a Synology NAS. I had already set up the VM but hadn’t installed Ubuntu yet. Get near the end just to make sure I don’t toast any NAS drives during the partition creation stage and you try instead of installing.
        Other than that good video as usual.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      3. Thanks for the video but on thing I thyink you should have included is that if instyalling full version, you get an option message “Erase disk and installUbuntu”, what do we do then? I looked it up elsewhere but would be good to have at the end of a good video such as this
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      4. Thanks for this. I’ve been watching your channel on/off for the past few years. I have a TS-412 & more recently the TS453-BT3 with a TR-004 RAID array.
        Your videos area always SO clear & honest. I’ve only watched the QNAP ones, but they always seem very unbiased (IMO) in your review style…
        I need a Virtual Windows machine to install software for the Lotharek HxC floppy emulator hardware, for some vintage music equipment – and I run OSX at my place.
        I figure using the Windows Virtual Machine on my NAS should be good enough to run the software, to create the configuration files and/or disc images for the HxC emulator!
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      5. I’ve having problems accessing a VM running Ubuntu (desktop) via SSH. Is this not possible? I read that Synology was restricting some access features only to administrator due to file permissions.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      6. I managed to get my Qnap TVS-1282 QTS 4.4.2 to do folding at home with an Nvidia GTX 970 using the following command `GPU=nvidia0 gpu-docker run -d –name foldingathome –hostname foldingathome –restart unless-stopped –network qnet-dhcp-eth0-6d6da6 -p7396:7396 johnktims/folding-at-home:latest –user= –team= –power=full`. I hope this helps someone out.

      7. Great article!

        Although, after the last tax cut for billionaires, where is the place where I can also give up my kidneys for them? The heck, maybe liver as well? Really, let’s make the US Gini coefficient go to 1, let’s join two other banana republics.

        I do love your articles, but maybe it is time to look at the baker’s dozen origin, and reflect on that.