Installation and Licensing Guide: Troubleshooting Licensing

Licenses Requiring a License Server

This section suggests possible courses of action if you encounter problems with a license that requires a license server. Solutions described here apply if you have one of the following license types:

If you have a different type of license, see Flexible Single-User and Windows Node-Locked Licenses.

If you see errors from the license manager itself, see Starting the License Manager.

All Platforms

The following suggestions apply to problems with license-server licenses on any platform. Platform-specific solutions and commands are indicated where appropriate.

Verifying the License Manager Is Running

(Windows) - Open the LMTools utility:

Click Perform Status Enquiry under the Server Status tab. If you receive a message that the license manager cannot connect to the license server, see Verifying You Have Correctly Copied Your License File.

(Unix or Macintosh) - The lmstat license manager utility provides information on the status of the license manager. Enter the following at the command line:

ITT_DIR/idlxx/bin/lmstat  

If you receive the following message:

Error getting status: Cannot connect to license server   

the server is not running correctly.

Verifying the License Manager is Available from Your Machine

If IDL or ENVI displays the following error message at startup:

LICENSE MANAGER: cannot connect to license server.  

make sure that you can either:

If you can reach the server machine, ensure that the license manager is running on that machine.

Stopping and Restarting the License Manager

(Windows) - Exit IDL or ENVI. Stop and then restart the license manager using LMTools.

(UNIX or Macintosh) - Exit IDL or ENVI. Stop the license manager, then restart it, directing the output of the license manager to a file. Enter:

ITT_DIR/idlxx/bin/lmdown  

Check to make sure that all the license manager processes have shut down with a command like:

ps -ef | grep lm  

Or,

ps -aux | grep lm  

If there are any license manager processes still running, use the kill command to stop them (do not use the -9 option for kill). Restart the license manager with the following command:

ITT_DIR/idlxx/bin/lmgrd > logfile  

Examine the resulting file logfile for error messages and refer to Starting the License Manager.

Correctly Setting the LM_LICENSE_FILE Environment

(Windows) - See Saving the License File in an Alternative Location to check the setting of the LM_LICENSE_FILE environment variable. If LM_LICENSE_FILE points to a license file other than the ITT Visual Information Solutions product's license file, stored in the ITT_DIR\License directory, you will need to correct this prior to starting IDL or ENVI.

If LM_LICENSE_FILE has already been defined for another software product, the definition of this license file can be appended using a semi-colon (;) as the delimiter. For example: C:\Program Files\ITT\License\mylicense.dat;1700@hal

(UNIX or Macintosh) - Enter the command:

echo $LM_LICENSE_FILE  

to see the current definition of the environment variable. If this environment variable points to some other license file, you will need to unset it prior to starting IDL by entering:

unsetenv LM_LICENSE_FILE  

For Korn or Bash shell:

unset LM_LICENSE_FILE  

If you have used a different path than the default location, make sure that LM_LICENSE_FILE points to that location. IDL might use a license source different from LM_LICENSE_FILE if IDL_LMGRD_LICENSE_FILE is defined in a .flexlmrc file or as an environment variable. For more information, see License Sources.

Verifying You Have Correctly Copied Your License File

If IDL or ENVI displays any of the following error messages at startup:

% LICENSE MANAGER: encryption code in license file is 
inconsistent.  

Or,

% LICENSE MANAGER: Invalid (inconsistent) license key
The license-key and data for the feature do not match.
This usually happens when a license file has been altered  

Or,

Incorrect FEATURESET line in license file  

some of the encrypted information in the license file is not correct. This problem can involve the server host ID, the daemon name, and any character on the FEATURE lines.

Examine your license file and correct the INCREMENT or FEATURE line so that it exactly matches the one sent to you by ITT Visual Information Solutions. Check for proper capitalization and spacing. Shut down the license manager service, make any necessary corrections, and restart the service with the corrected license file. For an example of a correctly formatted floating license key, see Floating License.

(UNIX and Macintosh) - Shut down the license manager by entering:

ITT_DIR/idlxx/bin/lmdown   

and restart it by entering:

ITT_DIR/idlxx/bin/lmgrd   

LICENSE MANAGER: no such feature exists.  
LICENSE MANAGER: license file does not support this feature.  

setenv LM_LICENSE_FILE ITT_DIR/license/license.dat  

% LICENSE MANAGER: cannot find SERVER hostname in network 
database.  

which idl  

tells you if the executable file is in your command search path and where it is. You can verify that the search path is the problem by executing IDL or ENVI directly. If the command:

ITT_DIR/idlxx/bin/idl  

Or,

runs the software, you know to check the search path.

Verifying the File Permissions are Correct

If you receive the error message "Permission denied" when you try to run IDL or ENVI, check the permissions set on all the executables. Each should have execute permission set for all categories. Set execute permissions by entering:

chmod ugo+x ITT_DIR/idlxx/bin*/*   

echo $IDL_DIR  

% LICENSE MANAGER: invalid host.