ServerCommunicationError exceptions

[MODERATOR NOTE]: moved from the Alexa forum to a more appropriate forum since the issue is not specific to Alexa but rather indicates some kind of plugin to server communication error.

Is anyone else seeing these errors in the log? They happen frequently for me -- 100 times over the last week, but only sporadically before that. I'm not sure if the problem is in the plugin or in my network setup.

Code: Select all

2024-02-23 17:20:54.414   Alexa Error   Error in plugin execution runConcurrentThread:

  File "plugin.py", line 138, in runConcurrentThread
  File "plugin.py", line 166, in _update_reflector_and_utd_status
type: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response

2024-02-23 17:20:54.414   Alexa Error   plugin runConcurrentThread function returned or failed (will attempt again in 10 seconds)


[jay (support)]

Those errors indicate that the plugin is having difficulties talking to the server. This often means that you have another plugin which is behaving badly and is dominating the connection to the server, so the server doesn't get a chance to reply before the timeout period. Look for other errors and/or excessive log information in the event log that happen around the same time that might help narrow down where to look. You can also disable any 3rd party plugins to see if you can figure it out that way - I'd start with any doing network communication.

I suppose it's also possible that the Indigo Server is having issues keeping your reflector connected, since the error is occurring when the plugin is trying to get the reflector status (an active reflector is required to use Alexa). Look for other reflector-related errors in the Event Log to see if it is having difficulties maintaining the connection. This could happen if there are some network configuration issues on your local network including router misconfiguration.

Thanks Jay. More investigation needed. On the hunt now.....

I'm also seeing this since upgrading to 2023.2. Taking Jay's advice, I do see other plugins having issues at the same time:

The below indicates that. Hue, RFXCOM, Rachio, Alexa, and Sonos plugins fails all around the same time. All have been updated to their latest versions in the plugin store.

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Feb 28, 2024 at 6:46:02 AM
   Rachio Sprinklers Error         Unknown error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "plugin.py", line 353, in _update_from_rachio
    dev.replacePluginPropsOnServer(props)
RuntimeError: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response

   Alexa Error                     Error in plugin execution runConcurrentThread:

  File "plugin.py", line 138, in runConcurrentThread
  File "plugin.py", line 166, in _update_reflector_and_utd_status
type: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response

   Alexa Error                     plugin runConcurrentThread function returned or failed (will attempt again in 10 seconds)
   Hue Lights Error               
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "plugin.py", line 6627, in parseAllHueLightsData
    device = indigo.devices[deviceId]
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^
RuntimeError: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response
   RFXCOM Error                    Error in plugin execution runConcurrentThread:

  File "plugin.py", line 326, in runConcurrentThread
  File "/Library/Application Support/Perceptive Automation/Indigo 2023.2/Plugins/RFXCOM.indigoPlugin/Contents/Server Plugin/RFXTRX.py", line 2407, in startComm
  File "/Library/Application Support/Perceptive Automation/Indigo 2023.2/Plugins/RFXCOM.indigoPlugin/Contents/Server Plugin/RFXTRX.py", line 871, in processPacket
  File "/Library/Application Support/Perceptive Automation/Indigo 2023.2/Plugins/RFXCOM.indigoPlugin/Contents/Server Plugin/RFXTRX.py", line 47, in _finalizeStatesChanges
type: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response

   RFXCOM Error                    plugin runConcurrentThread function returned or failed (will attempt again in 10 seconds)
   Sonos Error                     'ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response' in module 'Sonos.py', method 'SSDPProcess [2024.0.4]'
   Failing statement [line 276]: 'dev = indigo.devices[int(deviceId)]'
   Sonos Error                     'ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response' in module 'Sonos.py', method 'checkEvents [2024.0.4]'
   Failing statement [line 549]: 'dev = indigo.devices[item]'

  File "plugin.py", line 107, in runConcurrentThread
type: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response

   Hue Lights Error               
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "plugin.py", line 7224, in parseAllHueGroupsData
    device = indigo.devices[deviceId]
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^
RuntimeError: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response
   RFXCOM Error                    Error in plugin execution runConcurrentThread:

  File "plugin.py", line 326, in runConcurrentThread
  File "/Library/Application Support/Perceptive Automation/Indigo 2023.2/Plugins/RFXCOM.indigoPlugin/Contents/Server Plugin/RFXTRX.py", line 2407, in startComm
  File "/Library/Application Support/Perceptive Automation/Indigo 2023.2/Plugins/RFXCOM.indigoPlugin/Contents/Server Plugin/RFXTRX.py", line 871, in processPacket
  File "/Library/Application Support/Perceptive Automation/Indigo 2023.2/Plugins/RFXCOM.indigoPlugin/Contents/Server Plugin/RFXTRX.py", line 47, in _finalizeStatesChanges
type: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response

   RFXCOM Error                    plugin runConcurrentThread function returned or failed (will attempt again in 10 seconds)
   Hue Lights Error               
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "plugin.py", line 6627, in parseAllHueLightsData
    device = indigo.devices[deviceId]
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^
RuntimeError: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response
   Sonos Error                     'ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response' in module 'Sonos.py', method 'socoSubTest [2024.0.4]'
   Failing statement [line 661]: 'dev = indigo.devices[item]'
   Indigo Cocoa client disconnected (173.79.120.204)



[jay (support)]

Something is definitely tying the server up. I'd recommend disabling 3rd party plugins to see if one of them is having some kind of problem. Then you can re-enable them one at a time or in groups to see if you can identify the one causing the issue.

I've narrowed this down to either:

1) The Rachio plugin
2) The Fantastic Weather Plugin

- or -

3) A number of plugins running concurrently regardless of the plugin

Troubleshooting this is hard because the errors only happen twice a day or so when they happen

I may have narrowed it down to Rachio and Alexa

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Mar 7, 2024 at 3:17:10 PM
   Rachio Sprinklers Error         Unknown error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "plugin.py", line 353, in _update_from_rachio
    dev.replacePluginPropsOnServer(props)
RuntimeError: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response

   Alexa Error                     Error in plugin execution runConcurrentThread:

  File "plugin.py", line 138, in runConcurrentThread
  File "plugin.py", line 166, in _update_reflector_and_utd_status
type: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response

   Alexa Error                     plugin runConcurrentThread function returned or failed (will attempt again in 10 seconds)




Well, that Rachio error is just saying that it's trying to send a device update to the server, which is timing out. So probably not a Rachio error. SOMETHING is causing the server to not respond, but I don't think it's that plugin.

I disabled Rachio so we'll see if it's still happening

Still happening, it's not Rachio

[jay (support)]

Disable all 3rd party plugins.

I turned off all 3rd Party plugins and no error. So I started trying them 1 by 1.

The only plugin that is active when the errors occur consistently are Alexa and Fantastic Weather. When I turn off Fantastic Weather the errors do not occur. It's been 5 days now.

I'm going to turn it back on to see if it can be reproduced

3 hours after turning on Fantastic Weather the errors started again. No errors in 4 days

Code: Select all

Mar 27, 2024 at 4:28:20 PM
   Rachio Sprinklers Error         Unknown error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "plugin.py", line 353, in _update_from_rachio
    dev.replacePluginPropsOnServer(props)
RuntimeError: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response

   Sonos Error                     'ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response' in module 'Sonos.py', method 'updateRelTime [2024.0.4]'
   Failing statement [line 859]: 'dev = indigo.devices[item]'
   Hue Lights Error               
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "plugin.py", line 7224, in parseAllHueGroupsData
    device = indigo.devices[deviceId]
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^
RuntimeError: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response
   SamsungTV Error                 Error in plugin execution runConcurrentThread:

  File "plugin.py", line 107, in runConcurrentThread
type: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response

   SamsungTV Error                 plugin runConcurrentThread function returned or failed (will attempt again in 10 seconds)
   RFXCOM Error                    Error in plugin execution runConcurrentThread:

  File "plugin.py", line 326, in runConcurrentThread
  File "/Library/Application Support/Perceptive Automation/Indigo 2023.2/Plugins/RFXCOM.indigoPlugin/Contents/Server Plugin/RFXTRX.py", line 2407, in startComm
  File "/Library/Application Support/Perceptive Automation/Indigo 2023.2/Plugins/RFXCOM.indigoPlugin/Contents/Server Plugin/RFXTRX.py", line 871, in processPacket
  File "/Library/Application Support/Perceptive Automation/Indigo 2023.2/Plugins/RFXCOM.indigoPlugin/Contents/Server Plugin/RFXTRX.py", line 47, in _finalizeStatesChanges
type: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response

   RFXCOM Error                    plugin runConcurrentThread function returned or failed (will attempt again in 10 seconds)
   Alexa Error                     Error in plugin execution runConcurrentThread:

  File "plugin.py", line 138, in runConcurrentThread
  File "plugin.py", line 166, in _update_reflector_and_utd_status
type: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response

   Alexa Error                     plugin runConcurrentThread function returned or failed (will attempt again in 10 seconds)
   Sonos Error                     'ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response' in module 'Sonos.py', method 'checkEvents [2024.0.4]'
   Failing statement [line 549]: 'dev = indigo.devices[item]'
   Hue Lights Error               
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "plugin.py", line 6627, in parseAllHueLightsData
    device = indigo.devices[deviceId]
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^
RuntimeError: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response
   SamsungTV Error                 Error in plugin execution runConcurrentThread:

  File "plugin.py", line 107, in runConcurrentThread
type: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response

   SamsungTV Error                 plugin runConcurrentThread function returned or failed (will attempt again in 10 seconds)
   RFXCOM Error                    Error in plugin execution runConcurrentThread:

  File "plugin.py", line 326, in runConcurrentThread
  File "/Library/Application Support/Perceptive Automation/Indigo 2023.2/Plugins/RFXCOM.indigoPlugin/Contents/Server Plugin/RFXTRX.py", line 2407, in startComm
  File "/Library/Application Support/Perceptive Automation/Indigo 2023.2/Plugins/RFXCOM.indigoPlugin/Contents/Server Plugin/RFXTRX.py", line 871, in processPacket
  File "/Library/Application Support/Perceptive Automation/Indigo 2023.2/Plugins/RFXCOM.indigoPlugin/Contents/Server Plugin/RFXTRX.py", line 47, in _finalizeStatesChanges
type: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response

   RFXCOM Error                    plugin runConcurrentThread function returned or failed (will attempt again in 10 seconds)
   Sonos Error                     'ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response' in module 'Sonos.py', method 'socoSubTest [2024.0.4]'
   Failing statement [line 661]: 'dev = indigo.devices[item]'
   Hue Lights Error               
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "plugin.py", line 7224, in parseAllHueGroupsData
    device = indigo.devices[deviceId]
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^^^^^^^^^^
RuntimeError: ServerCommunicationError -- timeout waiting for response
   Indigo Cocoa client disconnected (173.79.120.204)



Hmmm. I'm not sure how the Fantastic Weather plugin could be the cause of what you're seeing--under the hood, the plugin is pretty straightforward. I'm not saying it's not possible, I'm just not sure what would cause it to tie up the entire Indigo server. I've not seen any similar reports and I think there's still a fair number of people who still use this plugin.

yeah, it's confusing. Since that error I have turned off the Fantastic Weather Plugin and I haven't seen that error again.