Index: api.scm
==================================================================
--- api.scm
+++ api.scm
@@ -15,10 +15,30 @@
 
 ;; These are called by the server on recipt of /api calls
 
 (define (api:execute-requests dbstruct cmd params)
   (case (string->symbol cmd)
+    ;; SERVERS
+    ((start-server)                (apply server:kind-run params))
+    ;; ((kill-server)
+    ;;  (db:sync-tables (db:tbls *inmemdb*) *inmemdb* *db*)  ;; (db:sync-to *inmemdb* *db*)
+    ;;  (let ((hostname (car  *runremote*))
+    ;;        (port     (cadr *runremote*))
+    ;;        (pid      (if (null? params) #f (car params)))
+    ;;        (th1      (make-thread (lambda ()(thread-sleep! 3)(debug:print 0 "Server exiting!")(exit 0)) "Server exit thread")))
+    ;;    (debug:print 0 "WARNING: Server on " hostname ":" port " going down by user request!")
+    ;;    (debug:print-info 1 "current pid=" (current-process-id))
+    ;;    (open-run-close tasks:server-deregister tasks:open-db 
+    ;;     	       hostname
+    ;;     	       port: port)
+    ;;    (set! *server-run* #f)
+    ;;    (thread-sleep! 3)
+    ;;    (if pid 
+    ;;        (process-signal pid signal/kill)
+    ;;        (thread-start! th1))
+    ;;    '(#t "exit process started")))
+
     ;; KEYS
     ((get-key-val-pairs)            (apply db:get-key-val-pairs dbstruct params))
     ((get-keys)                     (db:get-keys dbstruct))
 
     ;; TESTS
@@ -74,27 +94,10 @@
 					  (realparams (cddr params)))
 				      (db:with-db dbstruct run-id #t ;; these are all for modifying the db
 						  (lambda (db)
 						    (db:general-call db stmtname realparams)))))
     ((sync-inmem->db)               (db:sync-touched dbstruct run-id force-sync: #t))
-    ;; ((kill-server)
-    ;;  (db:sync-tables (db:tbls *inmemdb*) *inmemdb* *db*)  ;; (db:sync-to *inmemdb* *db*)
-    ;;  (let ((hostname (car  *runremote*))
-    ;;        (port     (cadr *runremote*))
-    ;;        (pid      (if (null? params) #f (car params)))
-    ;;        (th1      (make-thread (lambda ()(thread-sleep! 3)(debug:print 0 "Server exiting!")(exit 0)) "Server exit thread")))
-    ;;    (debug:print 0 "WARNING: Server on " hostname ":" port " going down by user request!")
-    ;;    (debug:print-info 1 "current pid=" (current-process-id))
-    ;;    (open-run-close tasks:server-deregister tasks:open-db 
-    ;;     	       hostname
-    ;;     	       port: port)
-    ;;    (set! *server-run* #f)
-    ;;    (thread-sleep! 3)
-    ;;    (if pid 
-    ;;        (process-signal pid signal/kill)
-    ;;        (thread-start! th1))
-    ;;    '(#t "exit process started")))
     ((sdb-qry)                      (apply sdb:qry params))
 
     ;; TESTMETA
     ((testmeta-get-record)       (apply db:testmeta-get-record dbstruct params))
     ((testmeta-add-record)       (apply db:testmeta-add-record dbstruct params))

Index: client.scm
==================================================================
--- client.scm
+++ client.scm
@@ -104,14 +104,19 @@
 			      (client:setup run-id remaining-tries: 10)) ;; (- remaining-tries 1)))
 			    (begin
 			      (thread-sleep! 5)
 			      (client:setup run-id remaining-tries: (- remaining-tries 1))))))
 		  (begin    ;; no server registered
-		    (thread-sleep! 2)
-		    (server:try-running run-id)
-		    (thread-sleep! 10) ;; give server a little time to start up
-		    (client:setup run-id remaining-tries: (- remaining-tries 1)))))))))
+		    (thread-sleep! 2) 
+		    (if (< (open-run-close tasks:num-in-available-state tasks:open-db run-id) 2)
+			(begin
+			  (server:try-running run-id)
+			  (thread-sleep! 10) ;; give server a little time to start up
+			  (client:setup run-id remaining-tries: (- remaining-tries 1)))
+			(begin
+			  (thread-sleep! 10)
+			  (client:setup run-id remaining-tries: remainint-tries))))))))))
 
 ;; keep this as a function to ease future 
 (define (client:start run-id server-info)
   (http-transport:client-connect run-id 
 				 (tasks:hostinfo-get-interface server-info)

Index: common.scm
==================================================================
--- common.scm
+++ common.scm
@@ -67,10 +67,11 @@
 (define *default-numtries*  10)
 (define *server-run*        #t)
 (define *db-write-access*   #t)
 (define *inmemdb*           #f)
 (define *run-id*            #f)
+(define *server-kind-run*   (make-hash-table))
 
 (define *target*            (make-hash-table)) ;; cache the target here; target is keyval1/keyval2/.../keyvalN
 (define *keys*              (make-hash-table)) ;; cache the keys here
 (define *keyvals*           (make-hash-table))
 (define *toptest-paths*     (make-hash-table)) ;; cache toptest path settings here

Index: http-transport.scm
==================================================================
--- http-transport.scm
+++ http-transport.scm
@@ -144,11 +144,13 @@
 	   (thread-sleep! 0.1)
 
 	   ;; get_next_port goes here
 
 	   (http-transport:try-start-server ipaddrstr (+ portnum 1) server-id))
-	 (print "ERROR: Tried and tried but could not start the server")))
+	 (begin
+	   (open-run-close tasks:server-delete tasks:open-db 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))
    (open-run-close tasks:server-set-interface-port 
 		   tasks:open-db 
 		   server-id 

Index: rmt.scm
==================================================================
--- rmt.scm
+++ rmt.scm
@@ -83,10 +83,20 @@
 ;;======================================================================
 ;;
 ;; A C T U A L   A P I   C A L L S  
 ;;
 ;;======================================================================
+
+;;======================================================================
+;;  S E R V E R
+;;======================================================================
+
+(define (rmt:kill-server run-id)
+  (rmt:send-receive 'kill-server run-id (list run-id)))
+
+(define (rmt:start-server run-id)
+  (rmt:send-receive 'start-server 0 (list run-id)))
 
 ;;======================================================================
 ;;  M I S C
 ;;======================================================================
 
@@ -96,13 +106,10 @@
 ;; This login does no retries under the hood - it acts a bit like a ping.
 ;;
 (define (rmt:login-no-auto-client-setup connection-info run-id)
   (rmt:send-receive-no-auto-client-setup connection-info 'login run-id (list *toppath* megatest-version run-id *my-client-signature*)))
   
-(define (rmt:kill-server run-id)
-  (rmt:send-receive 'kill-server run-id (list run-id)))
-
 ;; hand off a call to one of the db:queries statements
 ;; added run-id to make looking up the correct db possible 
 ;;
 (define (rmt:general-call stmtname run-id . params)
   (rmt:send-receive 'general-call run-id (append (list stmtname run-id) params)))

Index: server.scm
==================================================================
--- server.scm
+++ server.scm
@@ -46,48 +46,19 @@
 ;; all routes though here end in exit ...
 ;;
 ;; start_server
 ;;
 (define (server:launch run-id)
-  ;; (if (server:check-if-running run-id)
-  ;; a server is already running
-  ;; (exit)
   (http-transport:launch run-id))
 
-;; (define (server:launch-no-exit run-id)
-;;   (if (server:check-if-running run-id)
-;;       #t ;; if running
-;;       (http-transport:launch run-id)))
-
 ;;======================================================================
 ;; Q U E U E   M A N A G E M E N T
 ;;======================================================================
 
 ;; We don't want to flush the queue if it was just flushed
 (define *server:last-write-flush* (current-milliseconds))
 
-;; Flush the queue every third of a second. Can we assume that setup-for-run 
-;; has already been done?
-;; (define (server:write-queue-handler)
-;;   (if (setup-for-run)
-;;       (let ((db (open-db)))
-;; 	(let loop ()
-;; 	  (let ((last-write-flush-time #f))
-;; 	    (mutex-lock! *incoming-mutex*)
-;; 	    (set! last-write-flush-time *server:last-write-flush*)
-;; 	    (mutex-unlock! *incoming-mutex*)
-;; 	    (if (> (- (current-milliseconds) last-write-flush-time) 10)
-;; 		(begin
-;; 		  (mutex-lock! *db:process-queue-mutex*)
-;; 		  (db:process-cached-writes db)
-;; 		  (mutex-unlock! *db:process-queue-mutex*)
-;; 		  (thread-sleep! 0.005))))
-;; 	  (loop)))
-;;       (begin
-;; 	(debug:print 0 "ERROR: failed to setup for Megatest in server:write-queue-handler")
-;; 	(exit 1))))
-    
 ;;======================================================================
 ;; S E R V E R   U T I L I T I E S 
 ;;======================================================================
 
 ;; Generate a unique signature for this server
@@ -103,20 +74,43 @@
 ;; with spiffy or rpc this simply returns the return data to be returned
 ;; 
 (define (server:reply return-addr query-sig success/fail result)
   (db:obj->string (vector success/fail query-sig result)))
 
-;; > file 2>&1 
-(define (server:try-running run-id)
-  (let* ((rand-name (random 100))
+;; Given a run id start a server process    ### NOTE ### > file 2>&1 
+;; if the run-id is zero and the target-host is set 
+;; try running on that host
+;;
+(define  (server:run run-id)
+  (let* ((target-host (configf:lookup *configdat* "server" "homehost" ))
 	 (cmdln (conc (if (getenv "MT_MEGATEST") (getenv "MT_MEGATEST") "megatest")
-		    ;; " -server - -run-id " run-id " name=" rand-name " > " *toppath* "/db/" run-id "-" rand-name ".log 2>&1 &")))
 		      " -server - -run-id " run-id " >> " *toppath* "/db/" run-id ".log 2>&1 &")))
     (debug:print 0 "INFO: Starting server (" cmdln ") as none running ...")
     (push-directory *toppath*)
-    (system cmdln)
+    (if target-host
+	(begin
+	  (set-environment-variable "TARGETHOST" target-host)
+	  (system (conc "nbfake " cmdln)))
+	(system cmdln))
     (pop-directory)))
+
+;; kind start up of servers, wait 40 seconds before allowing another server for a given
+;; run-id to be launched
+(define (server:kind-run run-id)
+  (let ((last-run-time (hash-table-ref/default *server-kind-run* run-id #f)))
+    (if (or (not last-run-time)
+	    (> (- (current-seconds) last-run-time) 40))
+	(begin
+	  (server:run run-id)
+	  (hash-table-set! *server-kind-run* run-id (current-seconds))))))
+
+;; The generic run a server command. Dispatches the call to server 0 if run-id != 0
+;; 
+(define (server:try-running run-id)
+  (if (eq? run-id 0)
+      (server:run run-id)
+      (rmt:start-server run-id)))
 
 (define (server:check-if-running run-id)
   (let loop ((server (open-run-close tasks:get-server tasks:open-db run-id))
 	     (trycount 0))
     (thread-sleep! 2)