Index: runs.scm
==================================================================
--- runs.scm
+++ runs.scm
@@ -946,12 +946,27 @@
       ;; we are going to reset all the counters for test retries by setting a new hash table
       ;; this means they will increment only when nothing can be run
       (set! *max-tries-hash* (make-hash-table))
       ;; well, first lets see if cpu load throttling is enabled. If so wait around until the
       ;; average cpu load is under the threshold before continuing
-      (if (configf:lookup *configdat* "jobtools" "maxload") ;; only gate if maxload is specified
-	  (common:wait-for-cpuload maxload numcpus waitdelay))
+      (let ((hh       (common:get-homehost))
+            (maxload  (configf:lookup *configdat* "jobtools" "maxload")))
+        (if maxload ;; only gate if maxload is specified
+            (let loadloop ((load-dat #f))
+              (common:wait-for-cpuload maxload numcpus waitdelay) ;; first wait for local load to decrease if it happens to be high
+              (if (and hh
+                       (not (common:on-homehost?)))
+                  (let* ((hh-load-dat (common:get-normalized-cpu-load hh))
+                         (hh-load     (if hh-load-dat
+                                          (alist-ref 'adj-cpu-load hh-load-dat)
+                                          #f)))
+                    (cond
+                     ((not hh-load)(debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "Could not determine load on homehost. Proceeding as if load is fine ..."))
+                     ((> hh-load maxload)
+                      (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port "Load too high on homehost, delaying before launching tests.")
+                     
+
       (run:test run-id run-info keyvals runname test-record flags #f test-registry all-tests-registry)
       (runs:incremental-print-results run-id)
       (hash-table-set! test-registry (db:test-make-full-name test-name item-path) 'running)
       (runs:shrink-can-run-more-tests-count runsdat)  ;; DELAY TWEAKER (still needed?)
       ;; (thread-sleep! *global-delta*)

Index: server.scm
==================================================================
--- server.scm
+++ server.scm
@@ -457,10 +457,11 @@
   (thread-sleep! 0.05) ;; delay for startup
   (let ((legacy-sync  (common:run-sync?))
 	(debug-mode   (debug:debug-mode 1))
 	(last-time    (current-seconds))
 	(no-sync-db   (db:open-no-sync-db))
+        (sync-delay   (string->number (or (configf:get *configdat* "server" "sync-delay") "5")))
         (this-wd-num  (begin (mutex-lock! *wdnum*mutex) (let ((x *wdnum*)) (set! *wdnum* (add1 *wdnum*)) (mutex-unlock! *wdnum*mutex) x))))
     (set! *no-sync-db* no-sync-db) ;; make the no sync db available to api calls
     (debug:print-info 2 *default-log-port* "Periodic sync thread started.")
     (debug:print-info 3 *default-log-port* "watchdog starting. legacy-sync is " legacy-sync" pid="(current-process-id)" this-wd-num="this-wd-num)
     (if (and legacy-sync (not *time-to-exit*))
@@ -470,18 +471,25 @@
 	  (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "Server running, periodic sync started.")
 	  (let loop ()
 	    ;; sync for filesystem local db writes
 	    ;;
 	    (mutex-lock! *db-multi-sync-mutex*)
-	    (let* ((need-sync        (>= *db-last-access* *db-last-sync*)) ;; no sync since last write
+	    (let* ((load-too-high    (> (common:get-normalized-cpu-load #f) 1))
+                   (need-sync        (>= *db-last-access* *db-last-sync*)) ;; no sync since last write
 		   (sync-in-progress *db-sync-in-progress*)
 		   (should-sync      (and (not *time-to-exit*)
-                                          (> (- (current-seconds) *db-last-sync*) 5))) ;; sync every five seconds minimum
+                                          (> (- (current-seconds) *db-last-sync*)
+                                             (or (if load-too-high ;; if load is high increase delay to bigger of sync-delay or 15 sec
+                                                     (max sync-delay 15)
+                                                     #f)
+                                                 sync-delay)))) ;; sync every five seconds minimum
 		   (start-time       (current-seconds))
 		   (mt-mod-time      (file-modification-time mtpath))
 		   (recently-synced  (< (- start-time mt-mod-time) 4))
-		   (will-sync        (and (or need-sync should-sync)
+		   (will-sync        (and (if load-too-high
+                                              should-sync
+                                              (or need-sync should-sync))
 					  (not sync-in-progress)
 					  (not recently-synced))))
               (debug:print-info 13 *default-log-port* "WD writable-watchdog top of loop.  need-sync="need-sync" sync-in-progress="sync-in-progress" should-sync="should-sync" start-time="start-time" mt-mod-time="mt-mod-time" recently-synced="recently-synced" will-sync="will-sync)
 	      ;; (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)