Topic: Running Mining RIGS on UBUNTU - USB Drive (Read 1127 times)

I would expect they are using a mining-specific Ubuntu variant and booting via PXE with no drive at all - but that's really not a needed option for a small farm.

 Ubuntu is perfectly capable of being installed to a USB key with no need for Windows at all.
 The way I set that up is only ONE option - I created a "base" install on a HD, with a total partition size of small enough to fit on a USB key (don't use GPD/UEFI large drive support, use the old style partitions) - reset FSTAB to use STANDARD partion names instead of that stupid UUID garbage, then used DD to copy the entire drive over (usually "dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=16M conv=notrunc,noerror" for the command line on my machines but the specific drive naming might vary).

 As long as the motherboard puts the GPUs at the same PCI-E addresses, you can also use this to CLONE an existing setup.
 If you use static IP addressing, you will then need to change that address on the "cloned" machine to it's own address.
 It's best to change the hosname and the "worker name" your mining program uses so you can keep track of each machine seprately.

 If you close to a motherboard that does NOT address the GPUs to the same PCI-E addresses as on the original machine, you'll also need to update xorg.conf with the correct PCI-E addresses.
 You may need to modify whatever startup scrypting file you use to set overclock/fanspeed/TDP limit for the right card addressing (if you use all the SAME model card, this can be ignored).

 For a pure mining rig, you PROBABLY can cram all you need onto an 8GB pen drive - but since Claymore at least wants a minimum of 16GB virtual memory (even when you have more RAM in the machine, his software STILL insists on that) best to figure on a 32 GB pen drive and 17GB or so of it allocated to swap space.


 For reference, one of my FOLDING rigs (folding has a good bit higher requirements for CPU and MB support than mining does) was running on a pen drive - booted up a lot slower but the actual PPD once the machine was running was almost identical to another machine I had with the same hardware running on an actual HD.

What OS do most of the big farms use who have like 200+ Rigs.

Thanks.

Thanks

I will also checking SimpleMining OS.

Any other good OS reliable that could be used too..

 It BEEN DONE a few times - most if not all of the "mining specific" LINUX distros are intended to be usable from USB flash drives and are Ubuntu derived, and I have set up a few machines to do the same on my own.

 Linux does NOT have "less hash rate" unless the mining software isn't being developed for both for a specific algo.
 Linux DOES have inferior tools for fan control and overclocking (no Afterburner or even close), but it CAN be done just not as easily.

Saw this for GPU mining OS: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/mining-os-simpleminingnet-manage-your-gpu-farm-the-easy-way-30-days-free-1541084

For DIY, I was able to create a bootable USB flash drive running Ubuntu using Windows 10:
https://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal-usb-installer-easy-as-1-2-3/

I think 8GB flash drive is fine. 2GB is needed for Ubuntu and you can have a 4GB writable space.

I had to change my BIOS so boot order changed.

Once I booted into Ubuntu on the USB flash drive, I was able to use wget to pooler's cpuminer (minerd) from github.

Hope this helps...

There are many prebuilt ubuntu based images here on this forum that you can just image to a USB drive.  They have done all the work for you.  SimpleMinerOS and nvOS are two popular ones... look at the threads here.

16 GB USB Drive is fine ?

How many Rigs have you built? So each has its own USB - Ubuntu running on it ?

No specific way for an USB drive (key or external drive) installation with Ubuntu.
You download the Ubuntu installer and run it.

For example, you can use an Ubuntu CD ISO image and run the installation from an external USB CD drive to install Ubuntu on an other USB drive (key or HDD).

Perfect...
What would i need to install in USB.. is my stepping right as highlighted above.
Please share your steps..
Did you set this way for how many Rigs.. ?

Or should i go with the Network Booting solution.. (i still am confused how to set that up)

Using GPUs miners with Ubuntu installed on USB key is working very well and probably the more cheapest way to GPU mine.
I use this solution since years.
No specific difficulty : in contray of Windows, Ubuntu is made to work on HD/SSD and USB key : no problems.

PXE and iPXE boot.

I see...

What would i need to do that ?

So i can read about it... and do a test trial..

Mining farms don't use any drive but boot the OS over the network.

Hello Friends

I am exploring a way to run my mining Rigs on UBUNTU and using USB Drive

Is such possible?
Some said Linux has less hash rate than Windows? Is it true?

The reason to go with USB is to save huge costs in buying SSDs if you are building huge quantity of RIGs, say 100+

Can you please guide me the best solution, is the following possible

1) I make one USB, install UBUNTU in it, install Graphics Drivers, Install Miners...
2) Than i make a Copy of this Master USB to all other USBs..
3) And than plug the USBs to each of the rigs..
4) And run it..

Is this the way.. or what is the correct solution.

Would appreciate some guidance.

Thank You