@@ -113,11 +113,11 @@
 							   " -daemonize "
 							   "")
 		      ;; " -log " logfile
 		      " -m testsuite:" testsuite)) ;; (conc " >> " logfile " 2>&1 &")))))
 	 (log-rotate  (make-thread common:rotate-logs  "server run, rotate logs thread"))
-         (load-limit  (configf:lookup-number *configdat* "server" "load-limit" default: 0.9)))
+         (load-limit  (configf:lookup-number *configdat* "jobtools" "maxhomehostload" default: 3.0)))
     ;; we want the remote server to start in *toppath* so push there
     (push-directory areapath)
     (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "INFO: Trying to start server (" cmdln ") ...")
     (thread-start! log-rotate)
     
@@ -509,47 +509,49 @@
 	      ;; (if recently-synced (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "Skipping sync due to recently-synced flag=" recently-synced))
 	      ;; (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "need-sync: " need-sync " sync-in-progress: " sync-in-progress " should-sync: " should-sync " will-sync: " will-sync)
 	      (if will-sync (set! *db-sync-in-progress* #t))
 	      (mutex-unlock! *db-multi-sync-mutex*)
 	      (if will-sync
-                  (let ((sync-start (current-milliseconds)))
+                  (let (;; (max-sync-duration  (configf:lookup-number *configdat* "server" "max-sync-duration")) ;; KEEPING THIS AVAILABLE BUT SHOULD NOT USE, I'M PRETTY SURE IT DOES NOT WORK!
+                        (sync-start         (current-milliseconds)))
 		    (with-output-to-file start-file (lambda ()(print (current-process-id))))
 		    
 		    ;; put lock here
 		    
-                    (if (< sync-duration 3000) ;; NOTE: db:sync-to-megatest.db keeps track of time of last sync and syncs incrementally
+                    ;; (if (or (not max-sync-duration)
+                    ;;        (< sync-duration max-sync-duration)) ;; NOTE: db:sync-to-megatest.db keeps track of time of last sync and syncs incrementally
                         (let ((res        (db:sync-to-megatest.db dbstruct no-sync-db: no-sync-db))) ;; did we sync any data? If so need to set the db touched flag to keep the server alive
                           (set! sync-duration (- (current-milliseconds) sync-start))
                           (if (> res 0) ;; some records were transferred, keep the db alive
                               (begin
                                 (mutex-lock! *heartbeat-mutex*)
                                 (set! *db-last-access* (current-seconds))
                                 (mutex-unlock! *heartbeat-mutex*)
                                 (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "sync called, " res " records transferred."))
-                              (debug:print-info 2 *default-log-port* "sync called but zero records transferred")))
-                        ;; TODO: factor this next routine out into a function
-                        (with-input-from-pipe ;; this should not block other threads but need to verify this
-                         (conc "megatest -sync-to-megatest.db -m testsuite:" (common:get-area-name) ":" *toppath*)
-                         (lambda ()
-                           (let loop ((inl (read-line))
-                                      (res #f))
-                             (if (eof-object? inl)
-                                 (begin
-                                   (set! sync-duration (- (current-milliseconds) sync-start))
-                                   (cond
-                                    ((not res)
-                                     (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "ERROR: sync from /tmp db to megatest.db appears to have failed. Recommended that you stop your runs and run \"megatest -cleanup-db\""))
-                                    ((> res 0)
-                                     (mutex-lock! *heartbeat-mutex*)
-                                     (set! *db-last-access* (current-seconds))
-                                     (mutex-unlock! *heartbeat-mutex*))))
-                                 (let ((num-synced (let ((matches (string-match "^Synced (\\d+).*$" inl)))
-                                                     (if matches
-                                                         (string->number (cadr matches))
-                                                         #f))))
-                                   (loop (read-line)
-                                         (or num-synced res))))))))))
+                              (debug:print-info 2 *default-log-port* "sync called but zero records transferred")))))
+;;                         ;; TODO: factor this next routine out into a function
+;;                         (with-input-from-pipe ;; this should not block other threads but need to verify this
+;;                          (conc "megatest -sync-to-megatest.db -m testsuite:" (common:get-area-name) ":" *toppath*)
+;;                          (lambda ()
+;;                            (let loop ((inl (read-line))
+;;                                       (res #f))
+;;                              (if (eof-object? inl)
+;;                                  (begin
+;;                                    (set! sync-duration (- (current-milliseconds) sync-start))
+;;                                    (cond
+;;                                     ((not res)
+;;                                      (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "ERROR: sync from /tmp db to megatest.db appears to have failed. Recommended that you stop your runs and run \"megatest -cleanup-db\""))
+;;                                     ((> res 0)
+;;                                      (mutex-lock! *heartbeat-mutex*)
+;;                                      (set! *db-last-access* (current-seconds))
+;;                                      (mutex-unlock! *heartbeat-mutex*))))
+;;                                  (let ((num-synced (let ((matches (string-match "^Synced (\\d+).*$" inl)))
+;;                                                      (if matches
+;;                                                          (string->number (cadr matches))
+;;                                                          #f))))
+;;                                    (loop (read-line)
+;;                                          (or num-synced res))))))))))
 	      (if will-sync
 		  (begin
 		    (mutex-lock! *db-multi-sync-mutex*)
 		    (set! *db-sync-in-progress* #f)
 		    (set! *db-last-sync* start-time)