Ninja 7 : XP-64 bit vs Vista 64 bit

[commodity_trader]

Hi Support,

Will Ninja 7 support Windows XP 64 bit? Between, XP 64 bit and Vista 64 bit, which OS would Ninja recommend for the upcoming ninja 7?

Would the preferred OS be XP 64 bit, as it has a small OS footprint and is stable OS,when compared to Vista 64 bit.

Also when is the anticipated Ninja 7 beta release, can it be expected by Dec end or Jan end ?

Thanks
Commodity_trader

PS: I haven't yet tried either of the 64 bit OS's.

[ctrlbrk]

Based on previous posts from NT, NT 7 will:

a) Run on 64-bit platforms
b) Beta will be released Q1 2009
c) Support multiple cores

No details have been released about specific memory limits (main advantage of 64-bit), however a generic statement has been said multiple times -- which is that NT 7 will have improved memory management.

I am running on Vista x64 today and I can tell you there is zero advantage to doing so with a single instance of NT. However, if you run NT in multiple virtual machines (as I do), then you need x64 so you've got enough RAM to support that.

Patience!

[heech]

I am running on Vista x64 today and I can tell you there is zero advantage to doing so with a single instance of NT. However, if you run NT in multiple virtual machines (as I do), then you need x64 so you've got enough RAM to support that.

Patience!

Just curious, what's the advantage of running multiple instances of NT? What's motivated you into doing so? I'm still new to the platform, and am trying to better think about real-world deployment implications of using NT. Would love to hear from other "power" users.

One thought I had... partly because I'm running a multi-day/week strategy... Although NT has been pretty stable with me so far, there are reports of it crashing occasionally (and it'd would unfair to expect otherwise). So, one solution for example, is to launch "backup" instances of NT; whenever a strategy running in a primary instance becomes unresponsive, a strategy running in a secondary NT could take over and start executing positions. I assume I'd need multiple NT licenses to do this, but seems like it would work.

Thoughts?

[NinjaTrader_Dierk]

Guys, to make sure we are on the same page: Running multiple concurrent NT instances against the same DB (or the same <my documents>/NinjaTrader6.5 directory) is not supported and could yield unexpected results.

[commodity_trader]

Ctrlbrk, thanks for the information. Glad to know you able to run multiple NT instances. Can you elaborate on your setup. You using like hardware visualization to achieve this? Also what hardware you running and what visualization software you using?

Dierk/Support,
Can you please tell me the preferred 64 bit OS for NT 7,would it be XP 64 bit or Vista 64 bit? Also when is the anticipated NT 7 beta release,would it be in Jan-09 ?


Thanks
Commodity_trader

[heech]

Guys, to make sure we are on the same page: Running multiple concurrent NT instances against the same DB (or the same <my documents>/NinjaTrader6.5 directory) is not supported and could yield unexpected results.

Dierk,

Good input.

If the goal is reliability, I wouldn't run multiple instances truly side/side anyways. Either go a virtualization approach (which doesn't help against hardware failure)... or I was actually considering running two entirely separate machines.

The "primary" and "redundant" strategies can open up a TCP port to talk back and forth, track status... The redundant strategy would follow along on all trades... *except* it won't actually place orders unless the primary stops responding.

[heech]

By the way, my experience on my Xeon Windows Server 2003 machine is:

- 20 charts (same strategy), 3 timeframe each (5/10/30 min), no problems.
- 1 chart (same strategy), 20 symbols, 3 timeframe each + OnMarketUpdate(), no problems... (so, 60 total Add calls) CPU load doesn't even go above 5%, and memory needs are also trivial.

[ctrlbrk]

Just curious, what's the advantage of running multiple instances of NT? What's motivated you into doing so? I'm still new to the platform, and am trying to better think about real-world deployment implications of using NT. Would love to hear from other "power" users.

Ctrlbrk, thanks for the information. Glad to know you able to run multiple NT instances. Can you elaborate on your setup. You using like hardware visualization to achieve this? Also what hardware you running and what visualization software you using?

heech / commodity trader, I am using Vista x64 with a E6850 and 8GB of RAM. I use VMware Workstation 6.5 and run my 'main' (trading) instance of NT in Vista natively, and run backtesting and such under the VM instance.

The VM's of NT run a bare bones XP install and 1.5GB of RAM each.

Once day I use the NT built-in backup function to make sure the VM instance has all the latest everything... strategies, data, etc.

The main motiviation was time. With NT currently not supporting multi-core I was wasting 50% of my resources and there was plenty of backtesting that needed done

[ctrlbrk]

Guys, to make sure we are on the same page: Running multiple concurrent NT instances against the same DB (or the same <my documents>/NinjaTrader6.5 directory) is not supported and could yield unexpected results.

Good point. My setup does not share the DB at all like this. I make a backup copy and then move that to my virtual machine running XP about once a day.

[ctrlbrk]

By the way, my experience on my Xeon Windows Server 2003 machine is:

- 20 charts (same strategy), 3 timeframe each (5/10/30 min), no problems.
- 1 chart (same strategy), 20 symbols, 3 timeframe each + OnMarketUpdate(), no problems... (so, 60 total Add calls) CPU load doesn't even go above 5%, and memory needs are also trivial.

Hmm very interesting. I won't go into detail here because last time I did my post was deleted, but I have had issues with just a handful of symbols and 4 strategies. Primarily if you let it run for say 12 hours unattended I am nearly out of memory (NT's 1.4GB cap).

[heech]

Hmm very interesting. I won't go into detail here because last time I did my post was deleted, but I have had issues with just a handful of symbols and 4 strategies. Primarily if you let it run for say 12 hours unattended I am nearly out of memory (NT's 1.4GB cap).

ctrlbrk,

My market's only open for 8 hours, so it'll never run for 12. I've definitely run 20 symbols/3 timeframes for a full market day without any problem. I have *not* had more than a few minutes of OnMarketData execution, so don't know how that will look after running for many hours...

But yes, I'm worried about the same kind of scenario. FWIW, I've been finding a good macros solution... and think I might have found one.

http://www.download.com/Workspace-Macro-Pro-Automation-Edition/3000-2084_4-10307040.html

You can "record" a series of keys/mouse clicks. So, I'm going to set my system up to automatically setup the strategy 30 minutes before open, close/repair DB/backup 30 minutes after the close. Hell, maybe every hour, on the hour.

[ctrlbrk]

heech,

Thanks for the macro app, I have been looking for something like that, I will check it out!

I mainly trade ES and NQ. I set it up before I go to bed and sometimes do not check it again until about 12-16 hours later. I am also capturing Market Replay data on about 15 symbols. I make sure I have no charts open, no DOM, etc, but still it's been an issue.

Good hunting!

[heech]

heech,

Thanks for the macro app, I have been looking for something like that, I will check it out!

I mainly trade ES and NQ. I set it up before I go to bed and sometimes do not check it again until about 12-16 hours later. I am also capturing Market Replay data on about 15 symbols. I make sure I have no charts open, no DOM, etc, but still it's been an issue.

Good hunting!

I haven't played with Market Replay data at all... so perhaps that's the difference on performance. I'm only working at minute scales, so my sense is I'm okay with just using HLOC.

On the macros application... to my great chagrin, the "scheduled" macros didn't launch this morning. No idea why, haven't had a chance to look into it yet. I'm pretty sure it was an operator error.

[kronie]

pm me please

how do you run multiple vm's?
how do you run multiple instances of NT?

Based on previous posts from NT, NT 7 will:

a) Run on 64-bit platforms
b) Beta will be released Q1 2009
c) Support multiple cores

No details have been released about specific memory limits (main advantage of 64-bit), however a generic statement has been said multiple times -- which is that NT 7 will have improved memory management.

I am running on Vista x64 today and I can tell you there is zero advantage to doing so with a single instance of NT. However, if you run NT in multiple virtual machines (as I do), then you need x64 so you've got enough RAM to support that.

Patience!

[ctrlbrk]

VMware Workstation 6.5.