Working with MetaTester

In order to share the calculation powers of your computer with a client terminal over a local network or Internet, remote agents should be installed. The special utility MetaTester is intended for installing and managing agents. It is included into the standard package of the client terminal. To start the utility, start file "metatester.exe" located in the terminal installation directory.

The window of the "MetaTester" application consists of several tabs:

• Overview
• Services
• MQL5 Cloud Network
• Scheduler

Overview

This tab displays helpful information about using the agents. It also displays the statistics on the number of tests performed using the agents and the time spend on them. The statistics is calculated for two mode of working of agents:

• Local statistics
  In the local mode, the agents are used as services installed at a computer; to connect to them a specified address and password are used.
• MQL5 Cloud Network statistics
  In this mode, the agents work within the special MQL5 Cloud Network.

If a user is not connected to the MQL5 Cloud Network, the option "Join MQL5 Cloud Network" is shown on this tab, which allows using your agents in this network. It is similar to the option "Allow public use of agents" on the appropriate tab.

Services

This tab is intended for managing the agents on the computer. To install the testing agents, you should specify:

• Agents — the number of agents to be installed. It is recommended to install as many agents as there are logical processor cores.
• Password — in this field you should specify a password that will be used for connecting to the agents. This password must be specified when adding the agents in the strategy tester.
• TCP Ports — here you should select a port range (or one port, in case you install one agent), at which the agents will work. The port number must also be specified when connecting to agents from the strategy tester.

To install the agents, press the "Add" button. The agents are installed on the IP address indicated in the upper part of the tab. This address must also be used when connect to them.

The list of installed agents is displayed in the bottom part of the window:

• Service — name of the service, under which the agent has been started in the operating system. This name is assigned automatically;
• Port — number of the port the agent is running on;
• Passes — number of passes of testing performed by the agent;
• Traffic In/Out — amount of incoming and outgoing traffic of the agent;
• State — the current state of the agent: running or stopped.

Context Menu

Installed agents can be managed using the commands of the context menu:

• Start — start a selected agent;
• Stop — stop the process of a selected agent. The service will be stopped in the system, and connecting to the agent will be impossible;
• Restart — stop and then restart a selected agent;
• Refresh — refresh the list of installed agents;
• Export — export agent settings to a *.mt5 file. These settings can be imported to the client terminal to connect to the installed agents.
• Uninstall — uninstall a selected agent.

MQL5 Cloud Network

MQL5 Cloud Network is a special system designed to join remote agents into a single cloud network. Its key advantages are:

• The possibility to provide your own agents and use third-party computing power for free or on a commercial basis.
• There is no need of a complicated network access setup for agents — MetaTester and MQL5 Cloud Network automatically organize access and distribute incoming tasks among agents.
• Convenient management of agents from a user's profile on MQL5.community.

The tab contains the following options for managing participation in the distributed computing network MQL5 Cloud Network:

Allow public use of agents

By enabling this option, a user consents to allow use of his remote agents via the MQL5 Cloud Network. Each agent service will be available in the network in accordance with a preset schedule.

When connecting to the MQL5 Cloud Network, an agent is still available for normal connections using IP address and password.

Sell computing resources through a MQL5.community account

If this option is enabled, a user's remote agents will be bound to an account at MQL5.community, which allows offering providing their computing power as a paid service. Money paid for the use of the agent by other users are transferred to the specified account via the internal MQL5.community payment system.

After enabling this option, specify your login at MQL5.community in the "Account" field. If you do not have an account, you may create one by clicking "Register a new MQL5.community account...".

Scheduler

Using this tab, you may set a schedule for managing the availability of your remote agents in the MQL5 Cloud Network.

The hours when the agents are available are colored blue, the unavailable hours are light-colored. To switch between working and non-working hours, left click on the appropriate square. To mark all hours of a certain day, click on the asterisk at the end of a row.