Hyper-V problems and minimum requirements for MQL5 Strategy Tester Agents!

[Fernando Carreiro]

I am experimenting with installing “MQL5 Strategy Tester Agents” on various PC’s (3 physical and 2 virtual). On 4 of them, I was able to successfully install, activate and associate to my MQL5 Community account for selling!

But on one of them, a very minimal VPS sporting only 1 CPU (single threaded), the process did not go as planned. Although the installation was successful, and a Tester Agent thread is created (see pic), it does not allow me to associated it with my account or to set it for selling (see other pic).

I am assuming that this has to do with available resources and minimum requirements of the Agent, but can’t seem to find any “message” or “log” that confirms this, nor can I find online any references to minimum requirements.

Does anyone know this information or provide links to FAQs or other sources about this issue?

PS! Yes, I have read the following links:

• https://cloud.mql5.com/en
• https://cloud.mql5.com/en/download
• https://cloud.mql5.com/en/faq
  
• https://cloud.mql5.com/en/faq/settings

EDIT: See also the Hyper-V problem from post #2 onward.

[Fernando Carreiro]

One more update. I also noticed now that one of the physical PCs does not show up in Profile under the available Agents.

And yes, I did double check that it does have the correct username!

It so happens to be one of the more powerful PCs with a Intel i7 (4 Cores, 8 threads), but the only one running Windows 10 (64bit), while the others are all running Windows Server 2008 R2 (64 bit).

[Fernando Carreiro]

In a follow-up, it seems I have discovered a possible bug.

On my Windows 10 Machine (the one not reporting on the Profile Agents page), I have Hyper-V installed, which by default creates the "Hyper-V Virtual Ethernet Adapter" through which all network communications are routed, including the main OS as well.

Well, it seems that the "MQL5 Strategy Tester Agent", however does not respect this and forces a connection with the physical network adapter instead, bypassing the "Virtual Switch" and resulting in it getting bound to a non-existent IP address in the form of "169.254.x.x" (which leads nowhere).

So, for those that are having similar problems with the Agents not appearing on their profile, check if you have Hyper-V installed that could be causing this problem!

EDIT: I have reported this issue to the Service Desk (2017.01.20 00:36, #1653589) and will keep you updated on replies.

[Fernando Carreiro]

Fernando Carreiro: Well, it seems that the "MQL5 Strategy Tester Agent", however does not respect this and forces a connection with the physical network adapter instead, bypassing the "Virtual Switch" and resulting in it getting bound to a non-existent IP address in the form of "169.254.x.x" (which leads nowhere).

Some more testing has revealed, that if I manually alter the Service entry (via RegEdit) to use the IP address 127.0.0.1 instead of 0.0.0.0 (which is the default used by the MQL5 Strategy Tester Agent Manager), it will then properly register itself on the MQL5 Cloud and appear in the Profile.

I have also reported this to the service desk as a possible work-around for the bug!

[Fernando Carreiro]

Further testing on my part has revealed that one can also work around the Hyper-V problem by using the command line interface to Install the Agents instead of the automatic method.

One just needs to uninstall all the automatically generated agent services (via the "MetaTester 5 Agents Manager") and then install them manually one by one (or with a batch file), using "MetaTester64.exe" command line parameters.

Use a port starting with 2000 incrementally in order to be congruent with the original setup and remember to use IP address 127.0.0.1 instead.

MetaTester64.exe /install /address:127.0.0.1:port /password:MetaTester

[Jose Francisco Casado Fernandez]

Hey, Fernando, here you have a summary of restricctions to participate in MQL5 Cloud Network:

Restrictions of Participation on MQL5 Cloud Network

There are several limitations of participation on MQL5 Cloud Network:

• To participate in MQL5 Cloud Network, the number of agents should not exceed the number of logical processor cores.
• Agents can be installed in 64 bit systems only.
• If you access the Internet via a proxy server, specify its settings in the trading platform or in Internet Explorer.
• An agent should have at least 768 MB of available physical memory to perform calculations.
• To connect your agents to the MQL5 Cloud Network, the computer where the agents are installed must have at least 2048MB of RAM.
• The agent's productivity index (PR) should not be less than 50.
• Agents installed in a virtual operating system cannot participate in MQL5 Cloud Network.
• Agents having PR below 100 are not used in genetic optimization in order not to slow down the calculation process. The reason is that the calculation is performed by generations (256 passes). While one generation is not calculated, calculation of the next one cannot start. Even if a single pass out of 256 ones is calculated by a low PR agent, the total calculation speed is reduced.
• An agent will not be able to receive new tasks from the MQL5 Cloud Network if the free disk space on the computer where the agent is installed falls below 500MB.
• Agents do not receive tasks from the cloud network in case the PC they are installed at is powered by a battery (it refers to laptops).

You can read more on this link.

https://www.metatrader5.com/en/terminal/help/algotrading/metatester#cloud_network

I hope it help you. Regards.

[Fernando Carreiro]

Jose Francisco Casado Fernandez: Hey, Fernando, here you have a summary of restrictions to participate in MQL5 Cloud Network:

Restrictions of Participation on MQL5 Cloud Network

There are several limitations of participation on MQL5 Cloud Network: https://www.metatrader5.com/en/terminal/help/algotrading/metatester#cloud_network

Thank you! I should have remembered to have looked at the MetaTrader 5 Help as well.

OK, so these restrictions explain why the small VPS did not allow the "Sell" and "Account" due to RAM restrictions, but there is no mention of anything to explain the Hyper-V problem.

To clarify, by Hyper-V I do not mean a "Virtual Machine" running in Hyper-V, but the primary host OS on an actual physical machine that has Hyper-V installed to allow it to host other client virtual machines.

So far the work-around for the Hyper-V issue has worked and the 8 threads average a PR 140 and have thus far already participated in 146 test passes from the cloud community.

I have not yet received any word from the Service Desk, but its status has been updated from "Unapproved" to "Open".

[Jose Francisco Casado Fernandez]

Fernando Carreiro:

Thank you! I should have remembered to have looked at the MetaTrader 5 Help as well.

OK, so these restrictions explain why the small VPS did not allow the "Sell" and "Account" due to RAM restrictions, but there is no mention of anything to explain the Hyper-V problem.

To clarify, by Hyper-V I do not mean a "Virtual Machine" running in Hyper-V, but the primary host OS on an actual physical machine that has Hyper-V installed to allow it to host other client virtual machines.

So far the work-around for the Hyper-V issue has worked and the 8 threads average a PR 140 and have thus far already participated in 146 test passes from the cloud community.

I have not yet received any word from the Service Desk, but its status has been updated from "Unapproved" to "Open".

I edited my post above to add two additional conditions.

Yes, a small VPS is not valid for this. I even doubt if would be valid a powerful VPS.

As for the second point, I didn't know Hyper-V, and therefore I don't know how it works exactly. Maybe they consider that as a proxy. I don't know.

Regards-

[Fernando Carreiro]

Jose Francisco Casado Fernandez: I edited my post above to add two additional conditions.

Yes, a small VPS is not valid for this. I even doubt if would be valid a powerful VPS.

As for the second point, I didn't know Hyper-V, and therefore I don't know how it works exactly. Maybe they consider that as a proxy. I don't know.

The large VPS does work and did register correctly, but apparently does not participate in the "Cloud" and can only be used privately (as per the restrictions you supplied).

As for the Hyper-V, no it cannot be considered a "proxy", but does set up a virtual network switch. The problem is the fact that the Agent software is not following proper binding priorities and also using the IP address 0.0.0.0, when the correct procedure is to bind to 127.0.0.1 (the local host address) instead.

[Fernando Carreiro]

Just an update - so far there has been no response from the Service Desk and the ticket remains open.

Below is a graph of the earnings so far, but a word of advice - keep your installation up to date, otherwise you will soon notice a decline in activity.

If you use the standard build-in agents of a normal MetaTrader 5 setup, then you will have the LiveUpdate but if you you use a separate installation of the “MQL5 Strategy Tester Agents” (which was my case), then you will have to manually keep it up to date.

Average PR (Performance Ratio) of 142, available 24/7:  Intel Core i7-4790T @ 2.70GHz, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD (Windows 10 Pro 64-bit)

[Mohammed Abdulwadud Soubra]

Fernando!

you have more than a month in this business, all what you have earned is 4.14 USD ???