CloudKit sync "CKErrorDomain 15"

People are running into CloudKit problems all the time. 500 is “server error”, so something on Apple’s side. Again.

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I have the same problem at last two weeks,and it isnot stop until now!

What did Apple say when you (hopefully) asked them? :wink:

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I don’t ask them :grinning:

I constantly get the message "Request failed with http
CKErrorDomain 15 status code 500»

and no synchronisation.

What can be done about it? Wait until Apple has solved its problem? Or switch to Dropbox as soon as possible?

An http 500 error is a server error, not a DEVONthink or a sync issue. It is typically temporary.

That being said, I would ask if you ​need ​to use a remote sync option like CloudKit. There is a forum post discussing the options and considerations of the available sync methods.: Sync Types Explained​
If you do need a remote option, CloudKit has not been very reliable for many people ​(including developers) ​for several months.​ You may want to consider an alternative.

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I wouldn’t hold my breath

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Thanks, Jim, I’ve already got one foot on the diving board towards Dropbox.

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Thanks for posting an honest observation and helping us determine the best way to handle this issue. I’ve been experiencing the request failed status code 500 off an on for the last few days, but wanted to know what was the root cause.

I’ve got a few other options I can leverage for sync but nothing as easy as iCloud to my iPad or iPhone clients… annoying for sure but glad it’s not DT’s fault.

Cheers!

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Dropbox pretty easy and just works. Bonjour for use in local network is very fast and reliable. And there is ability to use WebDav on a third party service or host your own on a NAS.

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Welcome @JasonTh and thanks for the patient words.

And as @rmschne mentioned, we are big advocates of a Bonjour sync on your local network. :slight_smile:

I’ve just started getting this error today. Persists after quit and reloading DT. I guess I’ll see if it persists. If yes, I suppose I will go back to Dropbox.

David

has the passage of 14 months resulted in any change to the currency of these responses?

  1. I get the CK Error Domain 15 consistently; and
  2. I’m always nervous that I won’t have synched content when I need it badly.

The error is generated by Apple’s cloud kit. So they should be asked if they are going to fix it.
You could use another sync method, if you don’t want to wait for Apple to get their product in shape. There are Bonjour, Dropbox, webDAV as alternatives.

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I also encounter this error, sometimes frequently, recently rarely.

Anyway, the error doesn’t cause any harm, a few seconds later, the sync works without me even noticing the error nor the correct sync. I only see it later when I check the logs.

Could we opt out and have this message not shown any more?

Isn’t the best solution, since you don’t notice the message, to just not look for it in the logs either. It’s and Apple message anyway.

I think it is appropriate to ask for log messages that tell substantial errors or successes only in order not having to search for the important ones among a bunch of unimportant messages. This was done with error messages related to Japanese emails during archiving as well, it helped immensely.

I do not know why you add the information about cloud kit, everybody knows that, it just has no impact on the sanity of the synchs. They work flawlessly.

And finally, I wish myquestion to be heard.

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I think that this a perfectly reasonable request. In fact, I’ve wanted to make open a support ticket myself about this very issue. I think I’ll do it now. (If you want to join me, you can send requests either via email or DEVONtechnologies’ online ticket system.)

Sure, but the software printing the message to the DEVONthink log is DEVONthink. It has the ability to filter the messages it shows. There are many ways in which the user experience around these errors could be improved. Random examples just off the top of my head:

  • In the log window, each log message/line could have a button (perhaps made visible only if you hover over the log message) offering the user the option of muting those messages for a time; a pop-up could let the user select the curation (e.g., mute for 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, forever, etc.).

  • Alternatively, in the log window, next to the “show log automatically” checkbox in the bottom left, there could be a second checkbox for “Exclude CloudKit sync errors” – in other words, make it so cloudkit messages are still logged as usual, but DEVONthink won’t pop up the log window every time the error repeats. (Currently, if you use cloudkit, you are forced to turn off “show log automatically” because it leads to too many alerts about the “CKErrorDomain 15” – which in turn means that you may miss more important problems unless you remember to look in the log often.)

  • In the DEVONthink sync preferences panel, there could be a checkbox for something along the lines of “Don’t log transient CloudKit sync errors”.

  • There could be a hidden preference (set via the command line defaults write ... method) for muting certain classes of CloudKit errors.

Yes, the root cause of the problem is Apple’s framework and software. Yes, Apple should fix it. But DEVONthink’s behavior in response to these errors is under the control of DEVONthink. Call me presumptuous if you like, but I’m certain that the behavior could be improved. I realize it means more work for the DEVONthink developers, and I know it’s an unfair burden to have to work around a problem that is not of their making (though I would bet that it’s not the first time) – I don’t mean to dismiss these considerations.

Every time a user posts about CKErrorDomain errors in these forums, they get impatient responses basically blaming Apple for the problem and blaming the user for choosing to use CloudKit. This is not helpful. I cringe when I think how many of them – and others simply reading the exchanges – go away never wanting to ask another question here again.

When users ask questions looking for solutions to problems they’re experiencing, it’s good sign: it means they want to keep using DEVONthink. They haven’t give up, and they don’t want to give up. And they’re helping identify pain points!

We have a lot of smart people here. We can do better.

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Thanks for your opinion and ideas. Regarding my problems because of language encodings, I had a helpful exchange with Christian that resulted in filtering certain log messages – beside others. It seems to me that strictly filtering is not too much work.

Your ideas about improving the log are great, I have some additions and would like to cooperate after Christmas and New Year. For the time being: export and regex…

Have nice holidays everybody!

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This deserves several upvotes, I really really appreciate this.

Sure, I also was at the blink of leaving the forum forever, but first wrote privately to the developers which helped a lot, but not perfectly, as we see now. Still, yes, we all could do better. And I wonder where the women are – except for Steffi from Steffi’s Cloud who has some really knowledgable posts.

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