OS X Server slow to start Server Preferences?

[Serif]

I'm new to OS X Server having just got a Mac Mini Server to play with as a toy for home. Things have gone pretty smoothly after one false start that involved me doing a clean reinstall of the system.

One niggle I have is that when I try to start up Server Preferences or Workgroup Manager there is a long delay with the application screen grayed out before it becomes responsive and works. This delay can be about a minute but after that it works fine. Interestingly, Server Admin does not have this problem.

This sounds very much like misconfigured DNS, but DNS seems to be working fine with forward and reverse DNS for the primary zone, and external resolution working with no problems, Also the 'changeip -checkhostname' command gives it a clean bill of health.

One other symptom that may be relevant is that initial access to the User and Group information held in Open Directory takes a while to happen, but then switching from user account to user account works as I'd expect.

Any ideas on what could be causing this and how to put it right?

 

[alphaod]

How long is the delay? It takes about 5 seconds for my preferences to come up.

 

[MacToddB]

I'm experiencing this kind of delay, too.

I'm using the preinstalled O.S., though I did manage to RAID 1 mirror it, by cloning to an external drive, making the internal disks a mirrored pair, then cloning back to the RAID. I'm paranoid that my internal mirror is causing bus issues. Would love to know if there's a solution to this slowness.

 

[Serif]

How long is the delay? It takes about 5 seconds for my preferences to come up.

The Server Preferences window comes up within a couple of seconds but remains grayed out with the beachball spinning for about a minute. By grayed out I mean I can see the detail of the window but it looks as if you're looking at it through frosted glass and nothing is selectable.

I don't think setting RAID up would cause this as I'm seeing it on a system that is running as two separate disks as shipped.

 

[MacToddB]

The Server Preferences window comes up within a couple of seconds but remains grayed out with the beachball spinning for about a minute. By grayed out I mean I can see the detail of the window but it looks as if you're looking at it through frosted glass and nothing is selectable.

I don't think setting RAID up would cause this as I'm seeing it on a system that is running as two separate disks as shipped.

Thanks. Yep, same symptom here (although I don't see the beachball at all... just the grayed out interface for over a minute). I guess I'm glad it's not the RAID doing it, but at the same time, I'd like to figure out why there's the delay, and if anything else is being slowed down. I have a client/server iPhone app coming out any day and I need it to be as fast as it can be.

 

[calderone]

Have you checked the logs?

 

[MacToddB]

Have you checked the logs?

Just did... thanks!

Every ten seconds I'm getting something like this. Jabber is the iChat software, right? I have no need for it. Seems likely that this is slowing things down, or at least filling up my logfiles. Any help? Thanks!

(BTW, found a similar post on Apple's forums http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10504940 )

Nov 2 10:14:52 www org.jabber.proxy65[84784]: import sha
Nov 2 10:14:52 www org.jabber.proxy65[84784]: Can't check status of PID 59 from pidfile /private/var/jabberd/proxy65.pid: Operation not permitted
Nov 2 10:14:52 www com.apple.launchd[1] (org.jabber.proxy65[84784]): Exited with exit code: 1
Nov 2 10:14:52 www com.apple.launchd[1] (org.jabber.proxy65): Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds
Nov 2 10:15:02 www org.jabber.proxy65[84785]: /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/Extras/lib/python/twisted/persisted/sob.py:12: DeprecationWarning: the md5 module is deprecated; use hashlib instead
Nov 2 10:15:02 www org.jabber.proxy65[84785]: import os, md5, sys
Nov 2 10:15:02 www org.jabber.proxy65[84785]: /System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.6/Extras/lib/python/twisted/python/filepath.py:12: DeprecationWarning: the sha module is deprecated; use the hashlib module instead
Nov 2 10:15:02 www org.jabber.proxy65[84785]: import sha
Nov 2 10:15:02 www org.jabber.proxy65[84785]: Can't check status of PID 59 from pidfile /private/var/jabberd/proxy65.pid: Operation not permitted
Nov 2 10:15:02 www com.apple.launchd[1] (org.jabber.proxy65[84785]): Exited with exit code: 1

 

[Serif]

Nothing particularly exciting in the logs. I started Server Preferences twice after a reboot of the system with the same behavior; it takes 70 seconds to become responsive. The logs are different for the two starts with the first two lines corresponding to the first time I started it and the rest appeared the second time.

02/11/2009 15:28:26 Server Preferences[6109] -beginGrouping and -endGrouping are still no-ops
02/11/2009 15:28:27 Server Preferences[6109] Dropping response from coalesced action: Reading group services
02/11/2009 15:30:28 Server Preferences[6179] -beginGrouping and -endGrouping are still no-ops
02/11/2009 15:30:29 Server Preferences[6179] Dropping response from coalesced action: Reading group services
02/11/2009 15:30:30 Server Preferences[6179] XSActionManager: Removing queued action (Reading permissions) due to coalescing (readSettings_path_/Volumes/Macintosh HD2/Shared Items/Backups)
02/11/2009 15:30:30 Server Preferences[6179] XSActionManager: Removing queued action (Reading permissions) due to coalescing (readSettings_path_/Groups)
02/11/2009 15:30:30 Server Preferences[6179] XSActionManager: Removing queued action (Reading permissions) due to coalescing (readSettings_path_/Shared Items/Public)
02/11/2009 15:30:30 Server Preferences[6179] XSActionManager: Removing queued action (Reading permissions) due to coalescing (readSettings_path_/Users)
02/11/2009 15:30:30 Server Preferences[6179] The shared folder 'Groups' has custom file system ACLs which cannot be displayed. Editing the permissions may replace any custom ACLs.
02/11/2009 15:30:30 Server Preferences[6179] The shared folder 'Public' has custom file system ACLs which cannot be displayed. Editing the permissions may replace any custom ACLs.
02/11/2009 15:30:30 Server Preferences[6179] The shared folder 'Users' has custom file system ACLs which cannot be displayed. Editing the permissions may replace any custom ACLs.

On a home system like this, this is not a big problem but I can imagine it being a bit embarrassing if you were demonstrating it to a paying customer.

 

[calderone]

It is pretty clear your problem is here, it is taking 2 minutes to read group services:

02/11/2009 15:28:27	Server Preferences[6109]	Dropping response from coalesced action: Reading group services

What services do you have enabled? I would start disabling services (the ones actually in server prefs at least) to find out where the problem is.

EDIT: Actually, during the second run did it open any faster? Regardless, I would disable your services one by one, in between testing Server Preferences, then re-enabling the previously disabled service and disabling the next.

 

[Serif]

Sorry for the confusion but that 2 minutes delay you see in the logs is the time between two successive starts of Server Preferences. The first 2 log lines correspond to the first start (which took 70 seconds to become responsive), the remaining lines are from the second attempt at starting Server Preferences after I had quit it. I was just trying to show that the second run threw up a whole lot more log lines.

The services I have enabled are:

Address Book
AFP
DNS
iCal
Open Directory

 

[mkortmann]

Hi,

The same problem here. Are there any new suggestions?

Martin

 

[johnj01201]

Hi, I'm new to the Mac, and have the same EXACT error log. The one thing I have learned from other MAC IT people is that 10.5 and 10.6 REALLY need the permissions repaired. I just checked my permissions after enabling some items in Server Preferences and then I had these log entries:
Dec 15 20:23:37 enat Server Preferences[3504]: -beginGrouping and -endGrouping are still no-ops
Dec 15 20:23:38 enat servermgrd[77]: servermgr_filebrowser:Error:servermgr_filebrowser: Error getting quotas for volume /Volumes/BOOTCAMP of type ntfs
Dec 15 20:23:38 enat Server Preferences[3504]: XSActionManager: Removing queued action (Reading permissions) due to coalescing (readSettings_path_/Shared Items/Backups)
Dec 15 20:23:38 enat Server Preferences[3504]: XSActionManager: Removing queued action (Reading permissions) due to coalescing (readSettings_path_/Groups)
Dec 15 20:23:38 enat Server Preferences[3504]: XSActionManager: Removing queued action (Reading permissions) due to coalescing (readSettings_path_/Shared Items/Public)
Dec 15 20:23:38 enat Server Preferences[3504]: XSActionManager: Removing queued action (Reading permissions) due to coalescing (readSettings_path_/Users)
Dec 15 20:23:39 enat Server Preferences[3504]: The shared folder 'Groups' has custom file system ACLs which cannot be displayed. Editing the permissions may replace any custom ACLs.
Dec 15 20:23:39 enat Server Preferences[3504]: The shared folder 'Public' has custom file system ACLs which cannot be displayed. Editing the permissions may replace any custom ACLs.
Dec 15 20:23:39 enat Server Preferences[3504]: The shared folder 'Users' has custom file system ACLs which cannot be displayed. Editing the permissions may replace any custom ACLs.

I then checked the file permissions and there were a quad-zillion problems.
The Disk Utility is located in the Utilities menu. You select the drive and then can verify or repair Disk Permissions.

The top Mac IT person in the county tells people to repair permissions whenever they have a problem, before any software updates (allows updates to install with less problems), and after all software updates (to fix install problems).

It can take a LONG time to run, but you can still do other things while it is running. Took 26 minutes on my mac-mini OSX Server 10.6 and after a clean install and update to 10.6.2 it only takes about 2-3 minutes.

Also, in case it helps. I have 10.6.2, X Code and everything that can be installed. I also installed 10.6.2 client on the 2nd Hard Drive and copied BootCamp to the server OS to use it on the server hard drive. I also downloaded and installed the 10.6.2 OSX Server (COMBO) update because it told me I should, even though I had every update.

*It only takes about 30 seconds to load Server Preferences now, but iCal and VPN do not have green lights. I do not recall if they did before or not. I have not setup anything with iCal or VPN yet, so they might have been off before too.

Hope this helps
John

 

[johnj01201]

OH, just found that the 10.6.2 combo update is suppose to fix the log file ACL problems. I double checked and I did not download this for the OSX Server, only the client OS. I'm downloading it now. Will post back if it fixed the ACL messages.

 

[dannau]

Soo slow, more than 1´40" in my case. Will keep in touch with this forum in case someone comes up with a solution. Will post on Apple discussions too if there is no thread already.

 

[aicul]

I have the same issue, just hangs and slows comes to life.

 

[andyphillips27]

Same issue, can't find much to answer the problem

Hi guys,

Same problem here, I setup my mac mini server over the weekend. When it was first installed the server preferences page would open rapidly like all other windows, I had enabled all the services and then when I went back into the server preferences today I noticed the speed issue, the delay on loading the page is sooooo slow, as others have said, all icons stay frosted in grey for around a minute before allowing change of services.

I have since stopped all services and rebooted server, no change, so slow to open up pane. Is there any one out there that knows how to fix this? I don't want to reinstall OS X server, what are the options. I've tried the disk verify / repair and permissions check / repair on drives, no help in speed.

Hoping one of you smarties figures this out, would seriously appreciate the advice, we need your help

Andrew

 

[andyphillips27]

Boom!

I think I have found the problem, on my server I've tracked the error back to a dam Keychain, found a few threads online where others had the same issue. The key chain in question, well go to your Keychain in Applications / Utilities.

Then in the sub tabs click login (top left) and find the line(s) "Mac OS X Server: servername.local"

This was the one that gave me the problem, as soon as I deleted it. Reloaded System preferences and then re-added user / pass and only a few seconds delay now.