Index: commonmod.scm
==================================================================
--- commonmod.scm
+++ commonmod.scm
@@ -177,10 +177,40 @@
 	     (filter (lambda (x)
 		       (not (string-match "^\\s*" x)))
 		     val-list))
 	'())))
 
+(define (get-cpu-load)
+  (let* ((load-info (with-input-from-file "/proc/loadavg" read-lines)))
+    (map string->number (string-split load-info))))
+
+(define *current-host-cores* #f)
+
+(define (get-current-host-cores)
+  (or *current-host-cores*
+      (let ((cpu-info (with-input-from-file "/proc/cpuinfo" read-lines)))
+	(let loop ((lines cpu-info))
+	  (if (null? lines)
+	      1 ;; gotta be at least one!
+	      (let* ((inl (car lines))
+		     (tail (cdr lines))
+		     (parts (string-split inl)))
+		(match parts
+		  (("cpu" "cores" ":" num) (string->number num))
+		  (else (loop tail)))))))))
+
+(define (number-of-processes-running processname)
+  (with-input-from-pipe
+   (conc "ps -def | egrep \""processname"\" |wc -l")
+   (lambda ()
+     (string->number (read-line)))))
+
+;; get the normalized (i.e. load / numcpus) for *this* host
+;;
+(define (get-normalized-cpu-load)
+  (/ (get-cpu-load)(get-current-host-cores)))
+
 ;;======================================================================
 ;; testsuite and area utilites
 ;;======================================================================
 
 (define (get-testsuite-name toppath configdat)

Index: dashboard-context-menu.scm
==================================================================
--- dashboard-context-menu.scm
+++ dashboard-context-menu.scm
@@ -32,10 +32,11 @@
 (use srfi-1 posix regex regex-case srfi-69)
 (use (prefix sqlite3 sqlite3:))
 
 (declare (unit dashboard-context-menu))
 (declare (uses common))
+(declare (uses commonmod))
 (declare (uses db))
 (declare (uses gutils))
 (declare (uses rmt))
 (declare (uses ezsteps))
 ;; (declare (uses sdb))
@@ -43,10 +44,12 @@
 (declare (uses subrun))
 
 (include "common_records.scm")
 (include "db_records.scm")
 (include "run_records.scm")
+
+(import commonmod)
 
 (define (dboard:launch-testpanel run-id test-id)
   (let* ((dboardexe (common:find-local-megatest "dashboard"))
          (cmd (conc dboardexe
                     " -test " run-id "," test-id

Index: dashboard-tests.scm
==================================================================
--- dashboard-tests.scm
+++ dashboard-tests.scm
@@ -31,17 +31,20 @@
 (use srfi-1 posix regex regex-case srfi-69)
 (use (prefix sqlite3 sqlite3:))
 
 (declare (unit dashboard-tests))
 (declare (uses common))
+(declare (uses commonmod))
 (declare (uses db))
 (declare (uses gutils))
 (declare (uses rmt))
 (declare (uses ezsteps))
 ;; (declare (uses sdb))
 ;; (declare (uses filedb))
 (declare (uses subrun))
+
+(import commonmod)
 
 (include "common_records.scm")
 (include "db_records.scm")
 (include "run_records.scm")
 

Index: db.scm
==================================================================
--- db.scm
+++ db.scm
@@ -4755,10 +4755,13 @@
 					(begin
 					  (sqlite3:interrupt! db)
 					  (sqlite3:finalize! db #t)
 					  ;; (vector-set! *task-db* 0 #f)
 					  (set! *task-db* #f)))))
+			      (if (and *no-sync-db*
+				       (sqlite3:database? *no-sync-db*))
+				  (sqlite3:finalize! *no-sync-db* #t))
 			      (if (and (not (args:get-arg "-server"))
 				       *runremote*)
 				  (begin
 				    (debug:print-info 0 *default-log-port* "Closing all client connections...")
 				    (http-transport:close-connections *runremote*)

Index: dbfile.scm
==================================================================
--- dbfile.scm
+++ dbfile.scm
@@ -411,11 +411,13 @@
 				  (sqlite3:execute db "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS no_sync_metadat (var TEXT,val TEXT, CONSTRAINT no_sync_metadat_constraint UNIQUE (var));"))
 				)))
 	       (on-tmp      (equal? (car (string-split dbpath "/")) "tmp"))
 	       (db        (if on-tmp
 			      (dbfile:cautious-open-database dbname init-proc 0 "WAL")
-			      (sqlite3:open-database dbname))))
+			      (dbfile:cautious-open-database dbname init-proc 0 #f)
+			      ;; (sqlite3:open-database dbname)
+			      )))
 	  (if on-tmp	      ;; done in cautious-open-database
 	      (begin
 		(sqlite3:execute db "PRAGMA synchronous = 0;")
 		(sqlite3:set-busy-handler! db (sqlite3:make-busy-timeout 136000))))
 	  (set! *no-sync-db* db)

Index: tcp-transportmod.scm
==================================================================
--- tcp-transportmod.scm
+++ tcp-transportmod.scm
@@ -104,14 +104,20 @@
   )
 
 (define (tt:make-remote areapath)
   (make-tt areapath: areapath))
 
+;; 1 ... or #f
+(define (tt:valid-run-id run-id)
+  (or (number? run-id)
+      (not run-id)))
+
 ;; do all the busy work of finding and setting up conn for
 ;; connecting to a server
 ;; 
 (define (tt:client-connect-to-server ttdat dbfname run-id testsuite)
+  (assert (tt:valid-run-id run-id) "FATAL: invalid run-id "run-id)
   (let* ((conn (hash-table-ref/default (tt-conns ttdat) dbfname #f))
 	 (server-start-proc (lambda ()
 			      (tt:server-process-run
 			       (tt-areapath ttdat)
 			       testsuite ;; (dbfile:testsuite-name)
@@ -529,30 +535,42 @@
 ;;
 (define  (tt:server-process-run areapath testsuite mtexe run-id #!key (profile-mode "")) ;; areapath is *toppath* for a given testsuite area
   (assert areapath  "FATAL: tt:server-process-run called without areapath defined.")
   (assert testsuite "FATAL: tt:server-process-run called without testsuite defined.")
   (assert mtexe     "FATAL: tt:server-process-run called without mtexe defined.")
-  (let* ((logfile   (conc areapath "/logs/server.log")) ;; -" curr-pid "-" target-host ".log"))
-	 (cmdln     (conc
-		     mtexe
-		     " -server - ";; (or target-host "-")
-		     " -m testsuite:" testsuite
-		     ;; " -run-id " (or run-id "main") ;; NO, we do NOT want to have run id as part of this
-		     " -db "  (dbmod:run-id->dbfname run-id)
-		     " " profile-mode
-		     ))) ;; (conc " >> " logfile " 2>&1 &")))))
-    ;; we want the remote server to start in *toppath* so push there
-    ;; (push-directory areapath) ;; use cd in the command line instead
-    (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "INFO: Trying to start server in tcp mode (" cmdln ") at "(common:human-time)"...")
-    ;; (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "INFO: starting server at " (common:human-time))
-    (setenv "NBFAKE_QUIET" "yes") ;; BUG: change to with-environment-variable ...
-    (setenv "NBFAKE_LOG" logfile)
-    (system (conc "cd "areapath" ; nbfake " cmdln))
-    (unsetenv "NBFAKE_QUIET")
-    (unsetenv "NBFAKE_LOG")
-    ;;(pop-directory)
-    ))
+  (let* ((load (get-normalized-cpu-load))
+	 (nrun (number-of-processes-running "mtest.*server")))
+    (cond
+     ((> load 2.0)
+      (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "Normalized load "load" is over the limit of 2.0. Not starting a server.")
+      (thread-sleep! 1))
+     ((> nrun 40)
+      (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* nrun" servers running on this host, not starting another.")
+      (thread-sleep! 1))
+     (else
+      (if (not (file-exists? (conc areapath"/logs")))
+	      (create-directory (conc areapath"/logs") #t))
+	  (let* ((logfile   (conc areapath "/logs/server.log")) ;; -" curr-pid "-" target-host ".log"))
+		 (cmdln     (conc
+			     mtexe
+			     " -server - ";; (or target-host "-")
+			     " -m testsuite:" testsuite
+			     ;; " -run-id " (or run-id "main") ;; NO, we do NOT want to have run id as part of this
+			     " -db "  (dbmod:run-id->dbfname run-id)
+			     " " profile-mode
+			     ))) ;; (conc " >> " logfile " 2>&1 &")))))
+	    ;; we want the remote server to start in *toppath* so push there
+	    ;; (push-directory areapath) ;; use cd in the command line instead
+	    (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "INFO: Trying to start server in tcp mode (" cmdln ") at "(common:human-time)"...")
+	    ;; (debug:print 0 *default-log-port* "INFO: starting server at " (common:human-time))
+	    (setenv "NBFAKE_QUIET" "yes") ;; BUG: change to with-environment-variable ...
+	    (setenv "NBFAKE_LOG" logfile)
+	    (system (conc "cd "areapath" ; nbfake " cmdln))
+	    (unsetenv "NBFAKE_QUIET")
+	    (unsetenv "NBFAKE_LOG")
+	    ;;(pop-directory)
+	    )))))
 
 ;;======================================================================
 ;; tcp connection stuff
 ;;======================================================================