Folding flooding local network

[arogge]

I've noticed that Folding blocks network connections whenever it tries to connect to submit work units. The problem has been bad lately because the work unit server is almost always down when the client needs to connect. This can last for more than 30 minutes, and almost all other connections are blocked during that outage. Any connections that are available are very slow, like being on a 2400 bps modem. The Mac isn't the problem because this also happens on another system running Linux.
I looked at the netstat information and this is what appears to be the problem:

Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Foreign Address (state)
tcp4 0 33580 vspx85.stanford..8080 ESTABLISHED
tcp4 0 33304 vspx85.stanford..8080 ESTABLISHED
tcp4 0 23168 vsp50.stanford.e.8080 FIN_WAIT_1


The Folding console looks like this:

Connecting to http://171.67.89.152:8080/
- Couldn't send HTTP request to server
+ Could not connect to Work Server (results)
(171.67.89.152:8080)
- Error: Could not transmit unit. Keeping unit in queue.

When those Folding connections finally go through or the Folding client is shut down, the network behaves normally again.

 

[MrMacMan]

There is no reason folding should be bogging your connection down that heavily.

Really, its trying to get a connection to the overwhelmed servers...


It shouldn't kill the connection however.

 

[arogge]

Really, its trying to get a connection to the overwhelmed servers...
It shouldn't kill the connection however.

But it does, and it's getting worse because Folding can take more than 30 minutes to connect. The iChat and Mail applications claim that I have no network connection when Folding is waiting to connect, and other Internet applications are similarly affected with timeout errors.

 

[Dreadnought]

Hmmm, don't have that problem, but it is probably because I have a router between my two Macs (both folding 24/7) and my cable connection. What kind of connection do you have arogge? Cable or just a telephone modem?

 

[bousozoku]

When I was experiencing the server problem, I stopped folding for a few hours. Then, I tried again and continued to look after it until the WU was uploaded.

 

[arogge]

Hmmm, don't have that problem, but it is probably because I have a router between my two Macs (both folding 24/7) and my cable connection. What kind of connection do you have arogge? Cable or just a telephone modem?

I use a telephone modem, but that doesn't indicate the lack of a local network.

 

[Dreadnought]

It is transferring a couple of mb's, which isn't going to fast through a telephone line. Also it has to check the data coming in, this takes a lot of time. So I think it probably needs all the bandwidth your modem can offer.

 

[arogge]

It is transferring a couple of mb's, which isn't going to fast through a telephone line. Also it has to check the data coming in, this takes a lot of time. So I think it probably needs all the bandwidth your modem can offer.

No, that's not the problem. It takes less than a minute for the completed work unit data to be sent, when the Folding server is working. The problem is that the Folding client isn't sending the data for the completed work units because the server isn't responding, and it locks out the Internet connection until the server responds. The client will often download a new work unit without sending the completed one, but it keeps trying to connect to the bad server.

 

[Rower_CPU]

I'd suggest doing a search and posting here:
http://forum.folding-community.org/

If they don't know what's happening, no-one will.