Client keeps going into endless spin

I run two versions of Indigo at each of my two homes. I spend very little time at my second home since coronavirus especially, but still rely on the system to water my yard and turn on/off outside lights. I monitor it remotely. The remote system runs on a client-server architecture. The client is an iMac 2011 while the server is a 2011 Mac Mini Server running 10.13.6. The client also runs on the server itself.

My issue is that after some period of time, observed as short as 24 hours of running, the client interface goes into a perpetual spin and cannot be used without a force quit and then client software restart. The server runs fine in the background and I see no evidence of a problem or shutdown in the logs. The client interface is simply unusable without quitting and restarting it.

This has actually gone on for 6-12 months now and preceded 7.4 of Indigo (which I currently use). Upgrading made no difference. I use the client so infrequently that this does not bother me. But it is irritating enough I would like to resolve.

I'd be happy to provide logs, but I don't see anything in there to indicate why there should be an issue. The client shutdown does not even show up on the log except for two entries client cocoa disconnected and client cocoa connected - from the shutdown and restart. There is no indication in the log that the client hung.

One other note - in order to do a force quit, I must make a different application (or the finder) the active screen to access the force quit memo. Indigo is then listed as "not responding" so the need to quit/restart is obvious.

Any ideas or steps to diagnose?

[matt (support)]

Can you give me a ballpark for the complexity of the setup? About how many Devices do you have, and do you have a lot of plugins running (especially that might be updating devices frequently)?

Unfortunately, connected clients try to update UI for all of the devices/variables/etc. that are broadcast from the Indigo Server. Depending on the complexity and speed of the Mac (and it being a remote client is adding some additional stress), the client UI updates at the macOS (Cocoa) level start to get behind and then it just runs off into the weeds. If this is the problem then you might try (besides decreasing how often devices are updates, if that is possible) not leaving the Main Window open showing all Devices. That is, if you select a folder and just show a subset of Devices. It might then keep up with the Indigo Server updates.

About 60 devices,.

Using plugins iTunes, Elk M1G Control, NuVo Grand Concerto, Squeezebox Plugin

That is it

iMac 27 inch mis 2011 (old machine)

Actually the server is running on a Mac mini server mid 2011.

[matt (support)]

Did you try my suggestions above?

you might try (besides decreasing how often devices are updates, if that is possible) not leaving the Main Window open showing all Devices. That is, if you select a folder and just show a subset of Devices. It might then keep up with the Indigo Server updates.

I have tried turning off my squeezebox and grand concerto plugins to see if that helps.

Two other observations as I pay more attention to the problem.

The indigo server runs on the 2011 mac mini. It never has any issues. The client running on this same machine seems to crash the most frequently. I look in activity monitor and Indigo is listed as not responding and using 100% of CPU.

The 2011 iMac that runs an external client to this server also seems to get stuck, but I noticed twice that while it was non-responsive, I was able to run console to look for something suspicious, and while I was looking, the Indigo client suddenly started responding again. I am pretty sure I did nothing other than making indigo not the active window to get it going again. Happened twice now on the iMac, but I cannot reproduce on the Mac Mini.

Not sure either of those factoids are helpful

Matt:

I tried your suggestion of not leaving the main window open with devices - tried it on control events and schedules. It did not help. And I have my plugins off except ELK (the burglar alarm).

The things unique to this set-up versus my other homes set-up are: (1) machine running client and server are older 2011 macs; (2) ELK plugin use

Looking at the activity log (its limited because no one home): Lots of humidity change events, some temperature change events, sprinklers turned on once/day, lights turned on/off by schedule, email confirm sent once/day. Trigger events generally relate to temperature and humidity changes - so lots of polling for those. Nothing else of note on this machine.

Another observation is that when the machine is not used for a short period, it will be spinning when I first remote into it (through screen sharing), but it recovers on its own from the spinning. Like it has fallen behind as you suggest but can catch up. Over longer periods (24-48 hours of non-use), the spinning becomes non-recoverable and I must force quit the client app to use it again. Activity monitor shows the client as non-responsive.

[matt (support)]

Since you are remoting in via screen sharing and the actual Indigo client is running on the same Mini as the server, I'd suggest not running the client until you need it. There is a lot of CPU overhead in all the UI updating and if it isn't needed (because you aren't actively using the client) then I'd suggest launching it on an as-needed basis.

There isn't anything in the Event Log about Indigo receiving sleep events/notifications is there?

No, no sleep. I really am without a clue as to when this started. It worked great for many years. Over a decade I think (including old machine)