Whenever I pass on the word about BOINC to others, I of course tell them they can either 1) create their own BS/BAM! account to track their own stats or 2) use mine. However, since most of these "recruits" are physically nowhere near me, I'd like to be able to give them a username/password combo (needed to attach to BAM) that isn't the same as my username/password. Basically, for obvious reasons (even though it's a pretty unlikely scenario), I'd rather not give people the login info for my BS/BAM account, but still want recruits to be able to attach to my account (assuming that's what they decide to do).

Hopefully this thread is in the right category - sorry if not. Is this do-able?

Isn't this the sort of situation teams are for?

The newer server versions allow attaching with a weak authenticator. The ones with the proper revision of the server show the weak authenticator on your account page in the form userID_authenticator. This is partially what you are looking for. I know Willy is looking to use this when BAM! attaches projects.

I would also like to see a similar functionality in BAM!. I have also had occasion to want a secure way to attach computers.

I just looked through my data files, there does not seem to be anything usable to modify BAM! settings. So if you can attach the hosts yourself the security issue is reduced.

I updated the BAM! code, it now fetches the weak_auth from the projects (if present).

Now all I have to do is add weak_auth to BAM! itself.

Well, I'm all ready for it.

BUT..... the projects are not. There is exactly one project where the weak_auth can be fetched by BAM! and that's SETI.

Probably all other projects need to update the server code first so it may take a while. The alternative is that you (the user) enter the weak_auth of the projects by your self in BAM!.

That would not help much. There are only about 3 or 4 projects that have a server version that can use the weak_auth but not send it. So it doesn't seem like it would be worth the effort to set up BAM! for manual entry.

The projects need to update to a version later than 2/2/8, changeset 14661, for all of it to work.

Most project need to update....period.

You may want to double check this. I just attached the new orbit@home via BAM! and my account file has the normal authenticator. They are using a server version that should be recent enough to send the weak one though, changset 14832.

So, that's perfectly ok then,. BAM! will always use the normal authenticator except when a host is attached to BAM! with the weak authenticator.

Follow-up question on this one. So if I want a friend to attach a computer to my BAM account but not send them my regular password, is there actually a way to do that? I'm talking about having them attach to BAM, so I can manage their resources remotely without them having to attach manually to each individual project. If I send them instructions to download/install BAM, my username and my BAM weak authenticator (shown on the BOINCstats main account page), will that allow them to connect to my BAM account?

Oh, and will that allow me to then attach them to any project via BAM, regardless of whether or not a project supports weak_auth?

Thanks in advance.

Yes, give him your BAM! weak authenticator.



Actually, he has to enter the weak auth on both the username and password.



No, it only works for projects where the weak authenticator works. If insecure hosts attached with the weak authenticator would be attached to projects with your normal credentials, those credentials can then simply be taken from the files in the BOINC directory. If you don't have a problem with that, just give him your BAM! password.

Let me make sure I understand what you're saying. That host, connected to BAM with the BAM weak auth, would be able to connect to projects that support weak_auth. But that host won't be able to run other projects that don't support weak_auth unless I give my friend my regular BAM password? Sorry if I'm misunderstanding.

If that is in fact the case, is there a list anywhere of projects that currently support weak_auth? The only reason I'm asking is some people I might potentially give this info to might be more like acquaintances than close friends.

Thanks again.

I checked the server status pages for the projects I run, and according to server software version #, these 4 (of the 15 I run) support weak_auth:
* Cosmology
* LHC
* Orbit
* POEM

Any idea where I can find what version other projects are running, if not listed on the server status pages?

BOINC Alpha Test
Climate Prediction
Cosmology@Home
Docking@Home
Einstein@Home
Genetic Life
Hydrogen@Home
LHC@Home
Malaria Control
MilkyWay@home
MindModeling@Home
Orbit@Home
Proteins@home
QMC@Home
SETI@Home
SETI@Home Beta
SIMAP
TSP
UCT Malaria
uFluids

This is the list from one of my host pages. Once you attach a host the host list for that host will show the ones that work with the weak authenticator. It only shows the ones you have accounts on though, I don't do POEM so it doesn't show on my lists.

Awesome - many thanks.

Wow... I was actually going to post a feature request for a feature like this... And I see it's already possible! What a cool feature! Thanks a lot!

Can someone update this list like Augustine does for 64-bit projects?

I see GPUGRID also uses weak_auth. However, it's not really usefull for use with unexperienced users I think