aliriddle

Q: this file server will not allow any additional users to log on

Hi,

 

I have a Mac mini, running Mountain lion, which acts as a central hub to my multiple approx 5 others macs at home.

 

It has been used as a central data store and time machine backup point.

 

With external drives shared over the network via this hub, the other Macs can access and back up using time machine. This has been working pefectly for a while, however in the last month, possibly since I upgraded to Mountain lion, the remote computers (the ones that are backingf up to the mac mini), have all begun to display the following error message:

 

"this file server will not allow any additional users to log on:

 

Restarting the Mac Mini sometimes helps, and backups resume, byt eventually the same error messages appear and backups cease to contine.

 

Im hoping for some help.

 

many Thanks

 

Alastair

Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Aug 21, 2012 6:47 AM

Close

Q: this file server will not allow any additional users to log on

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

first Previous Page 3 of 4 last Next
  • by Gary Lodwig,

    Gary Lodwig Gary Lodwig Dec 17, 2012 6:22 PM in response to sesweitzer
    Level 1 (65 points)
    Dec 17, 2012 6:22 PM in response to sesweitzer

    I tried this tip and verified it was set properly. But I still have the same issue, even after restarting. I even bought a new Macbook Pro and started with a clean copy of Mountain Lion with a new user account!

     

    This computer acts as a file server for Time Machine backups and runs iTunes continously for the Apple TVs in the house. I also have AirVideo Server running on it. I still get Time Machine errors on my other computers as soon as 1 day after resetting the file sharing, and they are unable to connect (The file server will not allow any more connections).


    How do you check to see how many connections are being made?


    I will have to see if disabling AirVideo Server helps, but the wife will be upset

  • by suter,

    suter suter Dec 17, 2012 6:40 PM in response to Gary Lodwig
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 17, 2012 6:40 PM in response to Gary Lodwig

    Hmm...

     

    You can check the number of connected users under System Preferences / Sharing / File Sharing / Options, but I have a sneaking suspicion that that number is wildly inaccurate. It will often report 1 or 2 connected users, but complain of "too many users".

     

    This issue is only related to AFP (file sharing), so you should have no problem sharing iTunes, AirVideo, etc. as they use different protocols. Time Machine, however, does use AFP, so it makes sense that it is complaining.

     

    You may want to try turning off file sharing / turning it on after you changed the plist file.

     

    Good news is you can safely leave AirVideo on... so at least your wife won't be upset.

  • by Gary Lodwig,

    Gary Lodwig Gary Lodwig Dec 17, 2012 6:43 PM in response to suter
    Level 1 (65 points)
    Dec 17, 2012 6:43 PM in response to suter

    When Time Machine complains, I pull the Server up on Screen Sharing and turn file sharing off then back on, and all is well again for awhile. You are right - it usually says there are only 2 connected users. The change to the plist made no difference. I never had this problem back in the Leopard days. Right now I am making sure the server keeps a static IP address internally in case that is causing the issue.

  • by TheDude,

    TheDude TheDude Dec 17, 2012 7:02 PM in response to Gary Lodwig
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 17, 2012 7:02 PM in response to Gary Lodwig

    I'm still having issues as well… In fact, It took multiple reboots just to get the machines to reconnect yesterday. I'm going to switch everything back to the stock code, and then start watching error logs for something else to try.... Again.

    C'mon apple! The Mini is a sweet media machine!

  • by TheDude,

    TheDude TheDude Dec 17, 2012 10:35 PM in response to TheDude
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 17, 2012 10:35 PM in response to TheDude

    returned it to "NO"

    shut off sharing and deleted the plist file again.

    in Sharing/Options, Added SMB sharing (already had AFP) and ticked each user (adding passwords).

     

    crossing fingers...

  • by christopher217,

    christopher217 christopher217 Jan 31, 2013 8:55 AM in response to cjcj
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 31, 2013 8:55 AM in response to cjcj

    Thanks trinityavatar. This worked for me.

  • by robertvanz,

    robertvanz robertvanz Feb 13, 2013 2:19 AM in response to aliriddle
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 13, 2013 2:19 AM in response to aliriddle

    So I read the forum and tried the idledisconnectonoff setting but after a couple of days i would get the same error again. I read that

     

    netstat - n | grep '.584'

     

    would show connections and indeed there were 8 or 9 connections already that do not show in system preferences/sharing. It turned out the connections were from my apple tv. I switched it on/off but connections remained. I then realised that my mac mini was sharing my Itunes library. When I switched library sharing off, all connections were dropped. Re-sharing the library and play some music did not create new connections.

     

    I don't know what is going on here, but i'm going to keep an eye on this. The things is,  it kept the connections active so changing idledisconnectonoff did not have any effect.

     

    Hope this helps

  • by wesel,

    wesel wesel Mar 14, 2013 4:21 AM in response to robertvanz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 14, 2013 4:21 AM in response to robertvanz

    Like you, setting idleDisconnectOnOff to true did not prove to be a permanent fix. I also share my iTunes library via homesharing. I'll investigate to see if this is the root of my problem.

  • by sesweitzer,

    sesweitzer sesweitzer Mar 14, 2013 6:26 AM in response to wesel
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Apple Music
    Mar 14, 2013 6:26 AM in response to wesel

    I continue to have this problem every couple weeks and this is the fix for me:

     

     

    sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.AppleFileServer maxConnections 10

     

     

    Enter your password when asked and go to System Prefs and stop and start Appleshare  in the Sharing System Preferences pane.

     

    No files to delete and no restart necessary.

  • by robotspacer,

    robotspacer robotspacer Mar 14, 2013 11:41 AM in response to sesweitzer
    Level 1 (55 points)
    Mar 14, 2013 11:41 AM in response to sesweitzer

    maxConnections is already set to 10 for me. I believe that's the default.

     

     

    For what it's worth I continue to not have problems since I tried the idleDisconnectOnOff "fix". It's also worth noting that there may be multiple causes for this error.

  • by robertvanz,

    robertvanz robertvanz Mar 14, 2013 1:10 PM in response to wesel
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 14, 2013 1:10 PM in response to wesel

    Stop iTunes sharing didn't solve the problem. Only thing i can think of is that it may have started when i connected a usb disk to my mac mini. The mac mini backs up to it and so does my macbook. So when this error occurs i can't back up from the macbook. Now there's only one user connected, I don't understand anymore.

  • by wesel,

    wesel wesel Mar 14, 2013 6:46 PM in response to robertvanz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 14, 2013 6:46 PM in response to robertvanz

    I have the same problem. Mac mini with external drive attached for Time Machine that also serves iTunes content stored on a different external drive. The Mac mini backups work just fine because it's local. My MacBook & MacBook Pro backups work for about a day before the afp connections fail. Turning File Sharing off and on in System Preferences on the mini fixes it for another day...

     

    The permanent fix out there seems to be installing OS X Server. The server does not have the 10 max connection limit, so the issue might actually still be present but the symptoms don't show because of this.

     

    Anyway, I just updated to 10.8.3, so lets hope it resolves the issue. I'll post back. If it doesn't work I'll try to work out some sort of automated script to restart File Sharing periodically.

  • by wesel,

    wesel wesel Mar 19, 2013 4:35 AM in response to wesel
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 19, 2013 4:35 AM in response to wesel

    10.8.3 appears to have fixed the issue. It's been 5 days and time machine hasn't failed yet.

  • by Anthony Curcione,

    Anthony Curcione Anthony Curcione May 9, 2013 2:25 PM in response to aliriddle
    Level 3 (610 points)
    May 9, 2013 2:25 PM in response to aliriddle

    Sure wish I knew about this problem before I upgraded my Mini to ML a few weeks ago.  It was quite happy on Lion, acting as a file, media, and backup server.  Now my MBA keeps having this issue when it's trying to backup.  Not every time, but soon enough it acts up.

     

    I'm going to try the fix suggested, but it looks like this really doesn't fix the issue long term.  Beginning to think about going back to Lion, but wanted to get all my machines on the same OS!

  • by Anthony Curcione,

    Anthony Curcione Anthony Curcione May 16, 2013 3:46 PM in response to aliriddle
    Level 3 (610 points)
    May 16, 2013 3:46 PM in response to aliriddle

    I tried the fix as suggested on the first page, but it didn't help.  I found elsewhere the same command except it used "true" instead of "yes".  I did this a few days ago and so far I've had no trouble with my MBA connecting to my mini to backup.  So this is what I ended up with:

     

    sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.AppleFileServer idleDisconnectOnOff true

first Previous Page 3 of 4 last Next