@@ -135,15 +135,19 @@
 (define (tt:client-connect-to-server ttdat dbfname run-id testsuite)
   (assert (tt:valid-run-id run-id dbfname) "FATAL: invalid run-id "run-id)
   (debug:print-info 2 *default-log-port* "tt:client-connect-to-server " dbfname " " run-id)
   (let* ((conn (hash-table-ref/default (tt-conns ttdat) dbfname #f))
 	 (server-start-proc (lambda ()
+			      (print "dbfname: "dbfname)
+			      (assert (equal? dbfname "main.db") ;; only main.db is started here
+				      "FATAL: called server-start-proc for db other than main.db")
 			      (tt:server-process-run
 			       (tt-areapath ttdat)
 			       testsuite ;; (dbfile:testsuite-name)
 			       (common:find-local-megatest)
-			       run-id))))
+			       run-id))
+			    ))
     (if conn
 	(begin 
           (debug:print-info 2 *default-log-port* "already connected to a server")
            conn) ;; we are already connected to the server
 	(let* ((sdat (tt:get-current-server-info ttdat dbfname)))
@@ -716,10 +720,15 @@
 ;; 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))))
+    
+    ;; filter the files here by looking in processes table (if we are not main.db)
+    ;; and or look at the time stamp on the servinfo file, a running server will
+    ;; touch the file every minute (again, this will only apply for main.db)
+    
     sfiles))
 
 ;; 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 
@@ -730,12 +739,13 @@
         (dbprep-found 0)
 	(bad-dat      (list #f #f #f #f #f #f logf)))
      (let ((fdat     (handle-exceptions
 			 exn
 		       (begin
-			 ;; WARNING: this is potentially dangerous to blanket ignore the errors
-			 (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "Unable to get server info from "logf", exn="(condition->list exn))
+			 ;; BUG, TODO: add err checking, for now blanket ignore the errors?
+			 (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "Unable to get server info from "logf
+					   ", exn="(condition->list exn))
 			 '()) ;; no idea what went wrong, call it a bad server, return empty list
 		       (with-input-from-file logf read-lines))))
        (if (null? fdat) ;; bad data, return bad-dat
 	   bad-dat
 	   (let loop ((inl  (car fdat))
@@ -773,22 +783,26 @@
   (assert testsuite "FATAL: tt:server-process-run called without testsuite defined.")
   (assert mtexe     "FATAL: tt:server-process-run called without mtexe defined.")
   ;; mtest -server - -m testsuite:ext-tests -db 6.db
   (let* ((dbfname  (dbmod:run-id->dbfname run-id))
 	 (load     (get-normalized-cpu-load))
-	 (trying   (length (tt:find-server areapath dbfname)))
+	 (srvrs    (tt:find-server areapath dbfname))
+	 (trying   (length srvrs))
 	 (nrun     (number-of-processes-running (conc "mtest.*server.*"testsuite".*"dbfname))))
     (cond
      ((> load 2.0)
-      (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "Normalized load "load" on " (get-host-name) " is over the limit of 2.0. Not starting a server.")
-      (thread-sleep! 1))
+      (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "Normalized load "load" on " (get-host-name) " is over the limit of 2.0. Not starting a server. Please reduce the load on "(get-host-name)" by killing some processes")
+      (thread-sleep! 1)
+      #f)
      ((> nrun 100)
       (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* nrun" servers running on " (get-host-name) ", not starting another.")
-      (thread-sleep! 1))
-     ((> trying 4)
+      (thread-sleep! 1)
+      #f)
+     ((> trying 2)
       (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* trying" servers registered in .servinfo dir. not starting another.")
-      (thread-sleep! 1))
+      (thread-sleep! 1)
+      #f)
      (else
       (if (not (file-exists? (conc areapath"/logs")))
 	      (create-directory (conc areapath"/logs") #t))
 	  (let* ((logfile   (conc areapath "/logs/server-"dbfname"-"(current-process-id)".log")) ;; -" curr-pid "-" target-host ".log"))
 		 (cmdln     (conc
@@ -811,11 +825,11 @@
 	    ;; (system (conc "cd "areapath" ; nbfake " cmdln))
 	    ;; (unsetenv "NBFAKE_QUIET")
 	    ;; (unsetenv "NBFAKE_LOG")
 	    
 	    ;;(pop-directory)
-	    )))))
+	    #t)))))
 
 ;;======================================================================
 ;; tcp connection stuff
 ;;======================================================================