Jerome Del Ray

Q: Your internet on life support?  Blame Photos app.

Unbelievable.

 

This morning my internet slowed down to a crawl.  Noticed that iMac, iPhone, and iPad all crawling.  So I turned on my iPhone hotspot and waited it out.  (That works sometimes.)  It didn't this time.  Reset modem, airport, and such three times.  Broadband would come, then go.

 

Then I had a theory.  Maybe it was the iMac bringing the network down, since other devices were not really being used.  Turned off iMac.  Broadband explodes to 50 Megabit and stays steady.  Turned iMac back down, internet is crawling on it's knees.

 

So I open up Activity Monitor.  Under the network tab, something called 'nsurlsessiond' is sending packets everywhere.  I Google this process and learn it's buddies with iCloud. 

 

Then it hits me.  That weird 'pause for a day' button in Photos preferences.  I mean why not STOP AND START?  I'm like, "Did this thing turn on by itself?"  Opened up preferences, and yup -- Photos is trying to sneak upload what is still THOUSANDS of photos.

 

The problem here is that this isn't in the spirit of 'doing something in the background'.  Because it decimates what a user is doing in foreground.  This would be like if 'repair disk permissions' happened in the background... with no warning... for hours on end.

 

Again, unbelievable.  Hope this helps someone.

Posted on Apr 13, 2015 3:16 PM

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Q: Your internet on life support?  Blame Photos app.

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  • by Drew Reece,

    Drew Reece Drew Reece Apr 14, 2015 8:10 AM in response to Jerome Del Ray
    Level 5 (7,798 points)
    Notebooks
    Apr 14, 2015 8:10 AM in response to Jerome Del Ray

    Others are seeing the issue too…

    10.10.3 Nuking My Network

    The media have noted it…

    http://sixcolors.com/post/2015/04/photos-for-macs-unrestrained-icloud-uploads/

     

    Eventually Apple will address it I expect, in the meantime disable iCloud uploads for the Photos app or go along to the Apple store & use their bandwidth.

     

    Good luck & don't feed the trolls

  • by Colin.Harrison,

    Colin.Harrison Colin.Harrison Apr 14, 2015 8:19 AM in response to Jerome Del Ray
    Level 2 (255 points)
    Apr 14, 2015 8:19 AM in response to Jerome Del Ray

    Likewise!  I have about 5000 photos and after fours days of running the thing, mostly overnight, to allow any web use I have managed to get 148 photos up to the cloud!  In the meanwhile all photos from my iPad were removed and it now only has the said 148.

     

    Spoke to apple man who said delays could be due to everyone trying to upload at once and maybe in a few weeks things could be better!

    I now have to turn uploads off simply to use the web/mail.

     

    Instructions make it clear that photos will automatically re start after 24 hours  so I try to make that while I am in bed BUT that is prime time USA!!!!

     

    We do need help from Apple on this.

  • by micromagic,

    micromagic micromagic Apr 14, 2015 8:24 AM in response to Csound1
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Apr 14, 2015 8:24 AM in response to Csound1

    Csound1 wrote:

     

    micromagic wrote:

     

    I might be stating the obvious, but with an ADSL connection, when a substantial upload occurs (with no throttling), it kills the download speed. This is not anything to do with Apple but just a characteristic of the connection.

     

    What I think Jerome is saying in part, which I agree, is that there is simple not enough communication of what the heck is going on with the upload process. All you get is the 'uploading xxxxx items'. There is no progress bar, nothing to tell you if it has encountered a problem or is stuck in some kind of queuing system.

     

    Mine has been stuck at over 18000 items uploading for days. It sometimes seems to connect and upload a chunk but it seems to me that there could be some kind of queuing system employed by Apple to make sure all the millions people uploading are serviced in some manner. I'm only guessing. When uploading to photos to Google plus in the past, it does kill downloads speed but at least the process is quite speedy and you can see what is going on.

    There is an upload progress indicator, why do you say there is not?

    Where is the progress indicator, have I missed it? All I can see is 'uploading xxxxx items'. Most of the time that number stays the same.

  • by SC::UK,

    SC::UK SC::UK Apr 14, 2015 8:32 AM in response to micromagic
    Level 1 (67 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 14, 2015 8:32 AM in response to micromagic

    There is an upload progress indicator, why do you say there is not?

    Where is the progress indicator, have I missed it? All I can see is 'uploading xxxxx items'. Most of the time that number stays the same.

    That is the progress indicator.  My one does not show a progress bar, only a count.  You can also see that from the Preferences by looking at the iCloud tab.  What you (and others) may be looking for is a "Time remaining" progress indication, and that is not there.  Unlike iPhoto, iMove or Aperture, you also can't click on the progress indicator to see more detail.   All part of the dumbed down experience I'm afraid.

  • by Alley_Cat,

    Alley_Cat Alley_Cat Apr 14, 2015 8:37 AM in response to Jerome Del Ray
    Level 6 (19,593 points)
    Apr 14, 2015 8:37 AM in response to Jerome Del Ray

    I would not be surprised at all, especially if your upload speed is much slower than download speed (you mention 50 Mbps).

     

    I noticed a few months ago that my internet was intermittently slowing to a crawl - I later realised this coincided with docking my iPhone 6 in the speaker dock with wi-fi enabled - iCloud backup of the iPhone was enabled and that was choking general access due to it hogging my limited upload bandwidth of 1 Mbps.

     

    Thinking back, iTunes Match used to drive me round the bend when it was attempting to Match my large library of CDs ripped to iTunes.

  • by Winston Churchill,

    Winston Churchill Winston Churchill Apr 14, 2015 8:47 AM in response to SC::UK
    Level 10 (104,453 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 14, 2015 8:47 AM in response to SC::UK
    All part of the dumbed down experience I'm afraid.

    Put it how you want, but any attempt to indicate how long might be left would be so unreliable it wouldn't worth it. I can't help but think that anyone that doesn't understand that uploading 2,000 items uses the internet and will finish when 2,000 items have been uploaded really wouldn't benefit from additional hand-holding.

  • by Colin.Harrison,

    Colin.Harrison Colin.Harrison Apr 14, 2015 9:08 AM in response to Winston Churchill
    Level 2 (255 points)
    Apr 14, 2015 9:08 AM in response to Winston Churchill

    But knowing about these things apple just might have built in a package system that allow background working .

    after we all have large collections with large file sizes .  Their testing must have discovered this?

  • by SC::UK,

    SC::UK SC::UK Apr 14, 2015 9:14 AM in response to Winston Churchill
    Level 1 (67 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 14, 2015 9:14 AM in response to Winston Churchill
    Put it how you want, but any attempt to indicate how long might be left would be so unreliable it wouldn't worth it. I can't help but think that anyone that doesn't understand that uploading 2,000 items uses the internet and will finish when 2,000 items have been uploaded really wouldn't benefit from additional hand-holding.


    Well, yes that's true - specially given the performance being seen by many at the moment on the iCloud infra.  It can also be argued that this "go live" is a one off operation, that would not generally be repeated across the client base.  However, users like feedback, even if it's not that accurate.


    I think most people understand that things need to be uploaded.  However, I have found that the Photos to iCloud sync is not reliable and the lack of feedback does not help.  The status of "Updating..." for five days, does not really tell me what it's up to.  Is it synching, looking at changes in iCloud, looking at changes locally?  Either way, Apple could have anticipated all of this and provided some user feedback through the UI to provide more re-assurance.

  • by Winston Churchill,

    Winston Churchill Winston Churchill Apr 14, 2015 9:17 AM in response to Colin.Harrison
    Level 10 (104,453 points)
    Apple TV
    Apr 14, 2015 9:17 AM in response to Colin.Harrison

    I guess what I'm saying is there is no background processes as such, if it says it's uploading, downloading or updating at the bottom of the screen it's using the internet if it doesn't it isn't, it really is that simple.

     

    When it is uploading, downloading or updating people will experience different speeds, this relates to their individual set up, Photos doesn't cause everyones network to come to a standstill. However the OP here clearly thinks it does, they say so in the title of the thread.

  • by SC::UK,

    SC::UK SC::UK Apr 14, 2015 9:22 AM in response to Colin.Harrison
    Level 1 (67 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 14, 2015 9:22 AM in response to Colin.Harrison

    The problem is that they are using existing iCloud processes/components/infra to shift massively larger chunks of data around.  Up until now it's been some Pages or Numbers docs, and some calendars and contacts.  Now cloudd and other processes are running flat out trying to push 100s of GB of photos and video onto their federated cloud platform.  Basically, it's struggling to scale during a one-off data migration involving terabytes and terabytes or data.

     

    As an aside, I've had services like CrashPlan push over 5TB of data over my internet connection over a couple of weeks, with little of no perceived impact on performance.  I use DropBox with a 1TB store.  Both of those appear to deal with bandwidth saturation issues a lot better.

     

    Coming back to the issue that the original poster had, it could be that the technology that his ISP uses, and his routers/switches, Wifi, etc., that could be having a bearing on what he is seeing.  As micromagic has already pointed out, a heavy upload on ADSL could potentially cause downloads to be impacted, and I've also seen this on some DOCSIS implementations.  So could a saturated Wifi channel, but that would also slow down the Photos upload.  But then, how would he know as the UI feedback does not provide transfer rates, etc. (unlike services like DropBox).

  • by profrex,

    profrex profrex Apr 14, 2015 10:26 AM in response to Jerome Del Ray
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 14, 2015 10:26 AM in response to Jerome Del Ray

    The problem of the iPhoto/Photo conversion choking bandwidth didn't have to be a problem. All the Apple community needed was at least a warning, better yet some suggestions for mitigation, or (in true Apple style) a built-in function which would advise new users of what would happen and some choices, like starting now so they could see it works and only doing the heavy lifting off-peak or when the network was otherwise slow. Instead there's widespread disappointment and confusion.

      It took me a couple days to realize this wasn't another ISP fail, my default fault.

      It did sell a new Time Capsule. I was going to wait and ask Santa, but I'm not half done converting and all out of patience.

  • by Jerome Del Ray,

    Jerome Del Ray Jerome Del Ray Apr 14, 2015 10:37 AM in response to Winston Churchill
    Level 1 (73 points)
    iPhone
    Apr 14, 2015 10:37 AM in response to Winston Churchill

    Winston Churchill wrote:

     

    Jerome Del Ray wrote:

     

    Well I have 5 Megabit and it does the same thing.

     

    Of course it's supposed to upload.   A message or a spinning icon in the menu bar (like Time Machine) would help indicate what's what.

    You mean like this.

    messa.jpg

    Where is THAT indication?  What window?

     

    And please note:  I said there was no DIALOG BOX.  In big caps like that so even snarky people could see it.  A dialog box is a message that POPS up.  An ALERT. 

     

    In the preferences of Photos, there is an indication of uploading progress.  But you have to open that window and look.  The point here is that when auto uploading RESUMES, no DIALOG BOX alerts the user uploading has resumed.  Nor is there is a Time Machine menu bar like icon spinning -- indicating upload in progress.

     

    From the looks of that image, it doesn't appear to be an alert or dialog box.  Again:  where is that exactly?

  • by Jerome Del Ray,

    Jerome Del Ray Jerome Del Ray Apr 14, 2015 10:42 AM in response to Janet5678
    Level 1 (73 points)
    iPhone
    Apr 14, 2015 10:42 AM in response to Janet5678

    Janet5678 wrote:

     

    Thank you, Jerome!! I barely understand half of this thread, but since doing the Update that included Photos, my Internet has been so very, very slow. I was about to phone my ISP and you saved me that particular agony. Shut off iCloud everywhere I could think of and internet is back to speed. Did not manually turn on anything, in fact, I turned iCloud off because I have no intention of ever storing my photos there.  Also had to uncheck Cloud use for Safari bookmarks to get the internet back.

    You're welcome.

     

    I'm not sure you have to turn iCloud off everywhere.  Simply open Photos preferences and click the PAUSE FOR A DAY message.Screen Shot 2015-04-14 at 10.40.48 AM.png

    Of course you then have to remember that Photos will resume uploading the next day.  I say you have to remember because it doesn't alert you that it has resumed.  Which is to point. 

  • by Jerome Del Ray,

    Jerome Del Ray Jerome Del Ray Apr 14, 2015 10:59 AM in response to SC::UK
    Level 1 (73 points)
    iPhone
    Apr 14, 2015 10:59 AM in response to SC::UK

    SC::UK wrote:

     

    I'm sorry, but how is this helping the OP in any way at all?  He is seeing an issue (irrelevant to him whether he is the only one or whether 1000s of people have reported this here).  What I suspect he is hoping for is that others who are seeing this find his post and join in, hopefully with some solutions.

     

    Most people who post on here will have looked for generally known issues using a search engine, or search on this forum before posting.   Therefore it is not unlikely that their issues will be rare and specific to them.


    What goes on at this board is what goes on at all boards, SC::UK.  There's a sad psychology behind it.

     

    Basically there are regulars who post at boards like this.  They think their 85,395 points earns them respect.  So much respect that they become possessive of the board they inhabit.  It's their 'house'.  Since it is their house they perceive seldom posters (like me) as a guest.  And so if a guest walks into 'their' house complaining or frustrated -- as I did -- they take offense.   How DARE I **** and moan and be such a rude guest, they cluck amongst each other.

     

    Part of this behavior is understandable.  On tech boards and tech blog comments there are people known as trolls.  Trolls sometimes simply want attention.  Other times they are actually spinning conversation against the entity the board represents.  In this case, Apple.  Meaning:  you might be a Chrome person who doesn't even own a Mac or Photos... and you might raise a fuss over this issue to simply make Apple look bad.  This isn't paranoia.  Samsung actually hired these type of trolls to trash Apple EVERYWHERE on the net.

     

    And so the result is that board regulars see my frustration and can't tell if I'm legit or a troll.  Since either way I'm making a fuss 'in their house', its more fun for them to treat people like me as a troll and get all snarky and condescending.

     

    Here's the fun thing.  Have not noticed they haven't admitted this issue exists yet?  Despite a member posting that this thread already exists on the boards and that a web page has covered it too?  Dead silence.  No apology, either.

     

    I used to be on these boards a lot but gave up because of tools who are supposed to be 'helping'.

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Apr 14, 2015 11:01 AM in response to micromagic
    Level 9 (51,382 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 14, 2015 11:01 AM in response to micromagic

    Screenshots of it have been posted more than once in this thread, please start at the beginning until you find it.

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