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BOINC Hosting
BOINC on AvaHost is the volunteer-computing client that attaches to public science projects and runs their tasks on the VPS.
- One click deploy
- 15 GB Disk Space Needed
- 1 GB RAM Memory needed
- From 2 € Price
No setup fees
Official links
BOINC’s official links and original website
- Go to Repository
BOINC GitHub
- More
BOINC Website
What you get
on AvaHost
One-click deployment, a custom domain, free HTTPS, automatic application updates, and scheduled backups come with every Cloud App. You can run multiple apps on one server, and terminal access is included.
This template does not include a database container.
Tech
- Docker image
- boinc/client:latest
- Default port
- 0
How BOINC works
This package is the BOINC client, image boinc/client, from the BOINC/boinc-client-docker repository. The client attaches to science projects, downloads their applications and work units, runs them, and uploads results. It is not the BOINC project server that laboratories use to create those work units. A project server is a different, heavier system and is not what this catalog entry installs.
The upstream Docker example uses host networking, a data volume at /var/lib/boinc, a GUI RPC password, and a command flag that allows a remote manager to connect. You then use BOINC Manager, or another manager that speaks that RPC, to attach projects and set how much CPU and disk the client may use. There is no polished public website. There is no database container. Alpine-tagged images exist and the README warns that some projects reject them because of musl, so the usual tag to expect is the glibc-based default.
Key BOINC features
You choose the projects. The client does not pick a cause for you. GPU-specific tags exist upstream for machines with NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel graphics. A normal AvaHost VPS does not include those GPUs, so this baseline is the CPU client. Science apps inside the work units can ask for more memory than the idle client. If a project wants more than the plan has, that task will fail or swap heavily. Set the client's memory cap with that in mind.
AvaHost updates the client image automatically and backs up the data directory on a schedule, which holds attachments and cached work. Results already uploaded live at the project. A dedicated public IP is not required for BOINC. Application mail is not included with BOINC. You are paying for the VPS and then donating its CPU. That trade is only rational if the donation is what you wanted.
BOINC vs Folding@home
BOINC
BOINC is a client that can attach to many projects. Folding@home is a different volunteer-computing system with its own client and its own protein-folding work. Choose Folding@home when that project is the one you want to support. Choose this package when you want the BOINC client and a project from the BOINC ecosystem.
Folding@home
Neither one hosts a website for your customers. Both consume CPU you could have sold to an application.
Who uses BOINC
Researchers' supporters and homelabbers who want to donate cycles use the BOINC client. It is the wrong package if you came to publish an app, a website, or your own work-unit factory. It is also the wrong package if the VPS must stay responsive for a latency-sensitive service, because the client is built to use the CPU you allow it.
Self-hosting BOINC: requirements and cost
The baseline is 1024 MB of RAM and 1 CPU core for the client process, image boinc/client, no database. Individual science tasks may need more RAM than that floor. On AvaHost the recommended minimum for the BOINC client is Plan 1 at €2. The package includes one-click deployment, automatic updates, and scheduled backups of the client directory. There is no public site, no dedicated IP, and no project server. Attach only projects whose terms you accept.
F.A.Q
The BOINC client starts at €2 on Plan 1. You pay for the VPS capacity the client occupies. The science projects do not bill AvaHost, and AvaHost does not pay you for the cycles. Tasks from some projects need more than 1 GB. Raise the plan if the work you attach is larger than this floor. GPU images are not part of this CPU baseline.
No. This package does not publish a public site. You control the client with BOINC Manager through the GUI RPC password, from a machine you allow. A hostname is optional and is not how volunteers would browse a project. If you wanted a project website, you wanted the BOINC server software, which is a different system.
AvaHost updates the client automatically and backs up /var/lib/boinc on a schedule, including project attachments. Work already reported to a project lives on that project’s servers. After an update, open the manager and confirm the client is still attached and fetching tasks. Keep the RPC password, because a manager cannot connect without it.
No. This is the volunteer client that joins existing projects. The project server, which creates work units and serves a project site, is out of scope for this app. Order this package only to donate CPU. Read each project’s rules before you attach, and cap CPU so the VPS can still apply its own updates.