@@ -715,12 +715,31 @@
 ;; if more than one, wait one second and look again
 ;; future: ping oldest, if alive remove other :<dbfname> files
 ;;
 (define (tt:find-server areapath dbfname)
   (let* ((servdir  (tt:get-servinfo-dir areapath))
-	 (sfiles   (glob (conc servdir"/*:"dbfname))))
-    sfiles))
+	 (sfiles   (glob (conc servdir"/*:"dbfname)))
+         (good-files '()))
+         (for-each 
+           (lambda (sfile)
+             (let* ((sinfo (tt:server-get-info sfile))
+                 (host (list-ref sinfo 0))
+                 (port (list-ref sinfo 1))
+                 (server-id (list-ref sinfo 3))
+                 (pid (list-ref sinfo 4))
+                 (status (system (conc "ssh " host " ps " pid " > /dev/null")))
+                 )
+                (if (= status 0)
+                  (set! good-files (cons sfile good-files))
+                  (delete-file* sfile)
+                )
+             )
+           )
+           sfiles
+         )
+    (debug:print-info 2 *default-log-port* "tt:find-server: good-files: " good-files " sfiles: " sfiles)
+    good-files))
 
 ;; given a path to a server info file return: host port startseconds server-id pid dbfname logf
 ;; example of what it's looking for in the log file:
 ;;     SERVER STARTED: 10.38.175.67:50216 AT 1616502350.0 server-id: 4907e90fc55c7a09694e3f658c639cf4 
 ;;