@@ -155,14 +155,16 @@
 	     (http-transport:try-start-server run-id
 					      ipaddrstr
 					      (portlogger:open-run-close portlogger:find-port)
 					      server-id))
 	   (begin
+	     (tasks:wait-on-busy-monitor.db)
 	     (tasks:server-force-clean-run-record (tasks:get-db) run-id ipaddrstr portnum " http-transport:try-start-server")
 	     (print "ERROR: Tried and tried but could not start the server"))))
      ;; any error in following steps will result in a retry
      (set! *server-info* (list ipaddrstr portnum))
+     (tasks:wait-on-busy-monitor.db)
      (tasks:server-set-interface-port 
 		     (tasks:get-db)
 		     server-id 
 		     ipaddrstr portnum)
      (debug:print 0 "INFO: Trying to start server on " ipaddrstr ":" portnum)
@@ -173,10 +175,11 @@
 	 (start-server port: portnum bind-address: (if (equal? config-hostname "-")
 						       ipaddrstr
 						       config-hostname))
 	 (start-server port: portnum))
      ;;  (portlogger:open-run-close portlogger:set-port portnum "released")
+     (tasks:wait-on-busy-monitor.db)
      (tasks:server-force-clean-run-record (tasks:get-db) run-id ipaddrstr portnum " http-transport:try-start-server")
      (debug:print 1 "INFO: server has been stopped"))))
 
 ;;======================================================================
 ;; S E R V E R   U T I L I T I E S 
@@ -256,10 +259,11 @@
 	    (close-all-connections!))
 	   (debug:print 0 "WARNING: Failed to communicate with server, trying again, numretries left: " numretries)
 	   (http-transport:client-api-send-receive run-id serverdat cmd params numretries: (- numretries 1)))
 	 (begin
 	   (mutex-unlock! *http-mutex*)
+	   (tasks:wait-on-busy-monitor.db)
 	   (tasks:kill-server-run-id run-id)
 	   #f))
      (begin
        (debug:print-info 11 "fullurl=" fullurl ", cmd=" cmd ", params=" params ", run-id=" run-id "\n")
        ;; set up the http-client here
@@ -369,10 +373,11 @@
 				(debug:print-info 0 "Still waiting, last-sdat=" last-sdat)
                                 (sleep 4)
 				(if (> (- (current-seconds) start-time) 120) ;; been waiting for two minutes
 				    (let ((tdb  (tasks:open-db)))
 				      (debug:print 0 "ERROR: transport appears to have died, exiting server " server-id " for run " run-id)
+				      (tasks:wait-on-busy-monitor.db)
 				      (tasks:server-delete-record tdb server-id "failed to start, never received server alive signature")
 				      (sqlite3:finalize! tdb)
 				      (exit))
 				    (loop start-time
 					  (equal? sdat last-sdat)
@@ -404,10 +409,11 @@
       ;;
       ;; set_running after our first pass through and start the db
       ;;
       (if (eq? server-state 'available)
 	  (begin
+	    (tasks:wait-on-busy-monitor.db)
 	    (tasks:server-set-state! tdb server-id "dbprep")
 	    (thread-sleep! 5) ;; give some margin for queries to complete before switching from file based access to server based access
 	    (set! *inmemdb*  (db:setup run-id))
 	    (tasks:server-set-state! tdb server-id "running")))
 
@@ -463,10 +469,11 @@
 	    (loop 0 server-state))
 	  (begin
 	    (debug:print-info 0 "Starting to shutdown the server.")
 	    ;; need to delete only *my* server entry (future use)
 	    (set! *time-to-exit* #t)
+	    (tasks:wait-on-busy-monitor.db) ;; wait here in addition to just before the shutting-down
 	    (if *inmemdb* (db:sync-touched *inmemdb* *run-id* force-sync: #t))
 	    ;;
 	    ;; start_shutdown
 	    ;;
 	    (tasks:server-set-state! tdb server-id "shutting-down")
@@ -486,10 +493,11 @@
 				  "n/a (no queries)"
 				  (/ *total-non-write-delay* 
 				     *number-non-write-queries*))
 			      " ms")
 	    (debug:print-info 0 "Server shutdown complete. Exiting")
+	    (tasks:wait-on-busy-monitor.db)
 	    (tasks:server-delete-record tdb server-id " http-transport:keep-running")
 	    (exit))))))
 
 ;; all routes though here end in exit ...
 ;;
@@ -506,21 +514,24 @@
 	      (current-output-port *alt-log-file*)))))
   (if (server:check-if-running run-id)
       (begin
 	(debug:print 0 "INFO: Server for run-id " run-id " already running")
 	(exit 0)))
+  (tasks:wait-on-busy-monitor.db)
   (let loop ((server-id (tasks:server-lock-slot (tasks:get-db) run-id))
 	     (remtries  4))
     (if (not server-id)
 	(if (> remtries 0)
 	    (begin
 	      (thread-sleep! 2)
+	      (tasks:wait-on-busy-monitor.db)
 	      (loop (tasks:server-lock-slot (tasks:get-db) run-id)
 		    (- remtries 1)))
 	    (begin
 	      ;; since we didn't get the server lock we are going to clean up and bail out
 	      (debug:print-info 2 "INFO: server pid=" (current-process-id) ", hostname=" (get-host-name) " not starting due to other candidates ahead in start queue")
+	      (tasks:wait-on-busy-monitor.db)
 	      (tasks:server-delete-records-for-this-pid (tasks:get-db) " http-transport:launch")
 	      ))
 	(let* ((th2 (make-thread (lambda ()
 				   (debug:print-info 0 "Server run thread started")
 				   (http-transport:run