OSX Server Sleeps While ATV With XBMC In Use
#1
Edit: I found a Wiki that describes this problem and it's a result of OSX ignoring NFS as a network sharing protocol to avoid putting the computer to sleep. Unfortunately, the "fortunate workarounds" are not "fortunate" AT ALL. It suggests either don't let the computer sleep (DUH! ) which defeats the energy saving point of it all (e.g. I saved about $12 a month just going from a PowerMac AV server to a newer Mac Mini model that uses a lot less power in regular operation when it's on 24/7). The other "solution" is to use caffeine to not let it sleep while you're using the remote XBMC program. There's one TINY little problem with that and that is that I have to run around the house turning caffeine on/off every time I want to use an AppleTV somewhere else in the house. It's already so much hassle, I might as well just use the preference setting while I'm running around the house. It defeats the convenience factor quite a bit which is the whole point of XBMC + server in the first place (i.e. instead of having to go dig up a DVD or Blu-Ray, I just sit down and click on what I want to watch while I get the urge to watch something sitting on the couch. No, I have to run upstairs on the other end of the house and tell the Mac to not go to sleep and run back downstairs and when I'm done, run back upstairs to turn it back to sleep ready so I don't waste the power. Yeah...not going to happen. Add multiple rooms with XBMC and multiple people it's pretty obvious the system becomes unworkable very quickly. I mean is there seriously no simple way to address this? A 3rd party monitoring program or something?

The SAD thing is I used to use SMB which would keep the computer from sleeping, but Eden doesn't support SMB2 and has some issues even with SMBUp (discussed elsewhere) so I thought NFS was a dream come true in that it caused no issues what-so-ever and was reliable as the sun coming up...until now that I see OSX ignores its use for going to sleep defeating the entire point of having a sleep option. Surely there must be some way to get OSX to recognize other types of network usage?

The truly ODD thing is that if the server is already asleep, using XBMC to access a picture or video from it will wake it up. BUT if the server falls asleep while watching videos, it won't wake up again from that unit or at least that is how it appears here so far. OSX has a setting "Wake on Network Access" and to me that should mean ANY type of network access (downloading, etc) and if that's going on, it shouldn't go to sleep. Massive CPU use should prevent it from sleep also, IMO (i.e. using Handbrake). I should not have to click on Caffeine any time I'm rendering or whatever. OSX should be smart enough to see the computer needs to keep running to do whatever it is it's doing.


Original Post Below:

Unlike the usual sleep threads on here where OSX was going to sleep or not going to sleep with XBMC running on the same computer, I have a different problem. My server Mac is going to sleep while AppleTV units with XBMC on them are accessing it (not an issue with Apple's own interface as it uses iTunes and iTunes in use prevents the computer from sleeping). But XBMC on another unit (ATV) is just accessing the media drive with NFS and apparently the computer doesn't consider flat network use (at least over NFS) to be something to prevent sleep for and so after the sleep timer is up on the Mac, it goes to sleep and the AppleTV running XBMC just freezes.

I had just straightened out sleep here (or so I thought). I could never use it before because my Microsoft Intellimouse would usually freeze when the computer wakes from sleep and having to unplug and replug the mouse every time the computer wakes from sleep was a nightmare so I just didn't use sleep. I finally found out it was that specific mouse that was the problem. I had two other identical models on other computers (one mac and one windows) and simply swapping this mouse for the one on the Windows machine solved the problem (same model, same driver). I thought it was strange that the same model mouse on my Macbook Pro never had issues and it was that specific mouse itself somehow (worked fine otherwise and never had issues on boots). Anyway, since Mavericks apparently has a working "Wake on Network" function now that didn't seem to work right for me with Mountain Lion (using XMBC while it's asleep wakes it right up now in testing except in this situation, it seems), I figured I was golden to save a few bucks on electricity each month. But I set the timer to 2 hours for sleep and sure enough after 2 hours it went to sleep alright...while watching a TV Show on the AppleTV in the living room getting the show off the server that just snoozed. This froze the AppleTV completely, but I thought it was XBMC crashing or something. I rebooted the AppleTV and tried to play the file and nothing happened. So apparently it couldn't wake it from sleep in that situation. I don't know if there's a difference between the Energy Saver settings putting the machine to sleep and me simply selecting the SLEEP option from the Apple Menu or what, but it wouldn't wake up until I went into the den and touched the keyboard when it awoke just fine. So it seems as long as I put the machine to sleep and then use XBMC it will awaken it (for the time limit set to sleep at least), but if the server falls asleep while it's in use, it can't wake it back up.

The bottom line is that I apparently can't use sleep on the Mac once again because it ignores network access as a reason to not sleep. I don't know if there's a solution for this somehow or not. Any ideas?
THEATER: Epson 3100 3D Projector, DaLite 92" screen, 11.1.6 (Marantz SR7012 + Yamaha HTR-5960 + Onkyo ESPro) - Mixed Dialog Lift  - PSB T45/B15/S50/X1T/CS500 Speakers & Def Tech PF-1500 15" sub ; Sources: PS4, LG UP875 UHD, Nvidia Shield (KODI), ATV4K, Zidoo X9S (ZDMC), LD, GameCube
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#2
Thanks for the entertaining post, you have a way with words.

I have set up a poor man NAS with OS-X mavericks (a mac mini OS-X 10.9.2 without the server app and a few USB drives). It took me a while to set up the nfs and finally its working. I am wondering, whether restarting the xbmc on atv2 will wake up the mac-mini. Will try and report it back.

PS: I am real newbie.
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#3
OS X El Capitan is now out and the sleep token issue for NFS still hasn't been addressed by Apple. I honestly think feedback goes straight into a bit-bucket there. They have no interest in fixing the problem. I just have to tell my Mac server to never sleep and only turn off the display and hard drives. I don't know how much more power it uses in that state than true sleep, but it's irritating Apple can't take 10 minutes to add a sleep token for NFS like they have for AFP and SMB.
THEATER: Epson 3100 3D Projector, DaLite 92" screen, 11.1.6 (Marantz SR7012 + Yamaha HTR-5960 + Onkyo ESPro) - Mixed Dialog Lift  - PSB T45/B15/S50/X1T/CS500 Speakers & Def Tech PF-1500 15" sub ; Sources: PS4, LG UP875 UHD, Nvidia Shield (KODI), ATV4K, Zidoo X9S (ZDMC), LD, GameCube
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#4
Suggest you Schedule, Wake up and Sleep times in OSX System Prefs > Energy Saver

At least that will save a wee bit of power.

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#5
(2015-10-08, 13:04)wrxtasy Wrote: Suggest you Schedule, Wake up and Sleep times in OSX System Prefs > Energy Saver

At least that will save a wee bit of power.

That would assume I follow some kind of consistent schedule in regards to my (or others in the household) use of XBMC. And if I have to go to the den to turn on Caffeine or whatever to override the schedule, it kind of defeats the entire point of the setup in the first place (i.e. to not have to go dig up a DVD/BD somewhere in the house to watch it on the TV in a given room. Here I'd have to go to the den first before I could watch the AppleTV).
THEATER: Epson 3100 3D Projector, DaLite 92" screen, 11.1.6 (Marantz SR7012 + Yamaha HTR-5960 + Onkyo ESPro) - Mixed Dialog Lift  - PSB T45/B15/S50/X1T/CS500 Speakers & Def Tech PF-1500 15" sub ; Sources: PS4, LG UP875 UHD, Nvidia Shield (KODI), ATV4K, Zidoo X9S (ZDMC), LD, GameCube
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