Network licensing support without subscription?

[adrencg]

I recently discontinued my subscription. Now I'm having a major issue getting my network license to allow me to run my xsibatch nodes. Am I screwed or can I get any support from Autodesk to straighten this out? Do I have to pay $800 to make the product work the way its supposed to? The product I've invested thousand of dollars into already....

Of course, there's no info on the AUtodesk site. Any click on help buttons brings you to the subscription center.

I've really just about had it with my licensing issues, whether the server randomly stops in the middle of work, or I can't get my network nodes to get a license. Drives me crazy that I have to deal with this crap.

[xsisupport]

Go to the licensing forum, or try the virtual agent, or look into per-incident support.

If you go to autodesk.com/licensing, the Installation and Licensing link takes you to http://usa.autodesk.com/support/installation/.

[xsisupport]

Now I'm having a major issue getting my network license to allow me to run my xsibatch nodes. Am I screwed ?

No. It's not usually rocket science...but given all the problems you have who knows?

Troubleshooting xsibatch license problems on render nodes

[adrencg]

Actually I watched that video twice last night trying to figure out the problem. I can telnet the correct port(2080 in the license file) -- and I still get a "can't get batch license" error.

When I run the diagnostic, I was getting the error box to pop up, until I fixed some Firewall port issues. Now, the command prompt just says "there is no batch license + no interactive license".

But, a status inquiry from the license server gives me this:

--------
Status
--------
Flexible License Manager status on Wed 9/18/2013 08:01

[Detecting lmgrd processes...]
License server status: 27002@OSCAR
License file(s) on OSCAR: C:\Program Files\Autodesk Network License Manager\SFTIM2014enlicense.lic:

OSCAR: license server UP (MASTER) v11.11

Vendor daemon status (on OSCAR):

adskflex: UP v11.11
Feature usage info:

Users of 78900SFTIMA_F: (Total of 1 license issued; Total of 1 license in use)

"78900SFTIMA_F" v1.000, vendor: adskflex
floating license

mike OSCAR OSCAR (v1.000) (OSCAR/27002 102), start Wed 9/18 1:05

Users of 85705SFTIMASIB_F: (Total of 5 licenses issued; Total of 0 licenses in use)

Users of 79000SFTIMASIB1_F: (Total of 1 license issued; Total of 0 licenses in use)

Users of 79100SFTIMASIB2_F: (Total of 1 license issued; Total of 0 licenses in use)

Users of 79200SFTIMASIB3_F: (Total of 1 license issued; Total of 0 licenses in use)

Users of 79300SFTIMASIB4_F: (Total of 1 license issued; Total of 0 licenses in use)

Users of 79400SFTIMASIB5_F: (Total of 1 license issued; Total of 0 licenses in use)

Users of 85563SFTIMSIB5_2011_0F: (Total of 1 license issued; Total of 0 licenses in use)

Users of 85563SFTIMSIB4_2011_0F: (Total of 1 license issued; Total of 0 licenses in use)

Users of 85563SFTIMSIB3_2011_0F: (Total of 1 license issued; Total of 0 licenses in use)

Users of 85563SFTIMSIB2_2011_0F: (Total of 1 license issued; Total of 0 licenses in use)

Users of 85563SFTIMSIB1_2011_0F: (Total of 1 license issued; Total of 0 licenses in use)

Users of 86090SFTIMSIB_2014_0F: (Total of 5 licenses issued; Total of 0 licenses in use)

Users of 85934SFTIMSIB_2013_0F: (Total of 5 licenses issued; Total of 0 licenses in use)

Users of 85705SFTIMSIB_2012_0F: (Total of 5 licenses issued; Total of 0 licenses in use)

Users of 86102SFTIM_2014_0F: (Total of 1 license issued; Total of 1 license in use)

"86102SFTIM_2014_0F" v1.000, vendor: adskflex
floating license

mike OSCAR OSCAR (v1.0) (OSCAR/27002 202), start Wed 9/18 1:05

Users of 85934SFTIM_2013_0F: (Total of 1 license issued; Total of 0 licenses in use)

Users of 85705SFTIM_2012_0F: (Total of 1 license issued; Total of 0 licenses in use)

Users of 85563SFTIM_2011_0F: (Total of 1 license issued; Total of 0 licenses in use)


I'm seeing my batch licenses are there. Maybe this could have something to with the way everything was set up from the beginning, and that could be why my license server randomly stops sometimes? Should i just nuke everything Softimage -- XSI, the license server -- and start over from scratch? Could it be a permissions problem? Everything worked until I did an OS re-format of the license server. I haven't been using XSi batch lately because I was using Modo for a while -- so it's a recent discovery that I can't get xsibatch going.

How much will Autodesk gouge me for a per incident report?

Can we go back and forth a little before you get too bogged down in my problems again?

[xsisupport]

I don't know the price of per-incident. And now that I think of it, it probably isn't available for Softimage.

On the render node, check your %TEMP%\SoftimageLicense.log

On the license server, check the LMTOOLS debug log, to make sure the render node wasn't denied for some reason.
Most likely the render node never connected, but it's better to confirm.

[adrencg]

Also, what does ipv6 have to do with everything? I remember the last time I went through the same thing on the phone with an Autodesk tech about 2 years ago, we got the batch licensing working when I either turned ipv6 on ... or maybe it was off. For now, it's off on all machines.

By the way, it looks like I have a successful checkout:

1:05:54 (adskflex) OUT: "78900SFTIMA_F" mike@OSCAR

1:05:54 (adskflex) OUT: "86102SFTIM_2014_0F" mike@OSCAR

Stephen, I appreciate any help you can give, until I get in touch with Autodesk. There's probably nobody on the planet who knows more about this than you, so any help you can give first would be better than any I'd ever get from Autodesk.

[xsisupport]

Also, what does ipv6 have to do with everything? I remember the last time I went through the same thing on the phone with an Autodesk tech about 2 years ago, we got the batch licensing working when I either turned ipv6 on ... or maybe it was off. For now, it's off on all machines.

You need the IPv6 version of the Autodesk Network License Manager for IPv6 systems. Otherwise the licensing may or may not work.

[adrencg]

Also, what does ipv6 have to do with everything? I remember the last time I went through the same thing on the phone with an Autodesk tech about 2 years ago, we got the batch licensing working when I either turned ipv6 on ... or maybe it was off. For now, it's off on all machines.

You need the IPv6 version of the Autodesk Network License Manager for IPv6 systems. Otherwise the licensing may or may not work.

I do have that version. It's the one I installed back in May. version 11.11

I just watched that video one more time, and everything checks out the way it should...yet, no batch rendering.

is there something in the license file that could be messing this up? If I wipe everything and re-install the License manager + Softimage, I can get issued a new license without much trouble, right? Would it be worth a shot?

[xsisupport]

is there something in the license file that could be messing this up? If I wipe everything and re-install the License manager + Softimage, I can get issued a new license without much trouble, right? Would it be worth a shot?

I don't think the license file is the problem, and I don't think you should wipe everything and re-install, because that all looks normal to me.

The checkout you showed earlier was for XSI.exe running on Oscar (and that is the license server, right?)

Can you run xsibatch on OSCAR and get a license?

I have a few minutes, pm me.

[adrencg]

I just noticed something that may or may not be the reason I get those "no license" problems.

I had my render farm off for a couple of months, and most of my work was done on my main workstation. During that time, I would get disconnection from the my license server on a regular basis. I'd need to go into LMtools and restart the service.

I just spent the last 2 to 3 weeks with the render farm on. Not one single time did the license server give me any problems. I worried about it during overnight renders, but it never failed me in those 3 weeks. That was strange, considering the fact that manually turning the service on was a regular part of my workflow.

Now that the network nodes are off because the job is finished, I've been getting the license server problems again. I mean the same day the farm computers were turned off, that night, and every day since I've had to restart my sever multiple times.

Could that tell us anything important? Does the FlexNet stay in the "up" mode better when other computers are keeping it busy?

[xsisupport]

I just noticed something that may or may not be the reason I get those "no license" problems.

I had my render farm off for a couple of months, and most of my work was done on my main workstation. During that time, I would get disconnection from the my license server on a regular basis. I'd need to go into LMtools and restart the service.

I just spent the last 2 to 3 weeks with the render farm on. Not one single time did the license server give me any problems. I worried about it during overnight renders, but it never failed me in those 3 weeks. That was strange, considering the fact that manually turning the service on was a regular part of my workflow.

Now that the network nodes are off because the job is finished, I've been getting the license server problems again. I mean the same day the farm computers were turned off, that night, and every day since I've had to restart my sever multiple times.

Could that tell us anything important? Does the FlexNet stay in the "up" mode better when other computers are keeping it busy?

Nope, I've never heard of such behavior. The license manager is running as a Windows service, so as long as it is set to restart automatically (Config tab, Start Server at Power Up check box in LMTOOLS), it should never be down.

Perhaps you should check the Windows Event Log to see if there are any errors in there about ADLM.

[adrencg]

I just noticed something that may or may not be the reason I get those "no license" problems.

I had my render farm off for a couple of months, and most of my work was done on my main workstation. During that time, I would get disconnection from the my license server on a regular basis. I'd need to go into LMtools and restart the service.

I just spent the last 2 to 3 weeks with the render farm on. Not one single time did the license server give me any problems. I worried about it during overnight renders, but it never failed me in those 3 weeks. That was strange, considering the fact that manually turning the service on was a regular part of my workflow.

Now that the network nodes are off because the job is finished, I've been getting the license server problems again. I mean the same day the farm computers were turned off, that night, and every day since I've had to restart my sever multiple times.

Could that tell us anything important? Does the FlexNet stay in the "up" mode better when other computers are keeping it busy?

Nope, I've never heard of such behavior. The license manager is running as a Windows service, so as long as it is set to restart automatically (Config tab, Start Server at Power Up check box in LMTOOLS), it should never be down.



Perhaps you should check the Windows Event Log to see if there are any errors in there about ADLM.

As far as the "start service at power button" goes...that's always been checked, and the service always does start when the computer is powered up. It goes down while I'm in the middle of working, or when the computer has just come out of sleep mode. It just seems like too much of a coincidence that the problem has been absent during the time I used my render farm, then is back again when its off.

Event viewer gives me some info, but a bunch of numbers tells me absolutely nothing.

+ System

- Provider

[ Name] Service Control Manager
[ Guid] {555908d1-a6d7-4695-8e1e-26931d2012f4}
[ EventSourceName] Service Control Manager

- EventID 7036

[ Qualifiers] 16384

Version 0

Level 4

Task 0

Opcode 0

Keywords 0x8080000000000000

- TimeCreated

[ SystemTime] 2013-10-14T17:31:46.989434600Z

EventRecordID 42476

Correlation

- Execution

[ ProcessID] 1004
[ ThreadID] 10604

Channel System

Computer OSCAR

Security


- EventData

param1 FLEXnet Licensing Service 64
param2 stopped
46004C00450058006E006500740020004C006900630065006E00730069006E006700200053006500720076006900630065002000360034002F0031000000


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Binary data:


In Words

0000: 004C0046 00580045 0065006E 00200074
0008: 0069004C 00650063 0073006E 006E0069
0010: 00200067 00650053 00760072 00630069
0018: 00200065 00340036 0031002F 0000


In Bytes

0000: 46 00 4C 00 45 00 58 00 F.L.E.X.
0008: 6E 00 65 00 74 00 20 00 n.e.t. .
0010: 4C 00 69 00 63 00 65 00 L.i.c.e.
0018: 6E 00 73 00 69 00 6E 00 n.s.i.n.
0020: 67 00 20 00 53 00 65 00 g. .S.e.
0028: 72 00 76 00 69 00 63 00 r.v.i.c.
0030: 65 00 20 00 36 00 34 00 e. .6.4.
0038: 2F 00 31 00 00 00 /.1...

[xsisupport]

FLEXnet Licensing Service 64 is used by standalone, not network.

The name of your licensing service is the service name you entered in LMTOOLS, on the Config Services tab.

You should put your LMTOOLS debug log in append mode and see if anything shows up in that log.

[adrencg]

Ok, here's something the log said at 8:55 tonight.....

8:55:45 (adskflex) Wrong hostid on SERVER line for license file:

8:55:45 (adskflex) C:\Program Files\Autodesk Network License Manager\SFTIM2014enlicense.lic

8:55:45 (adskflex) SERVER line says (my host id), hostid is ffffffff

8:55:45 (adskflex) Invalid hostid on SERVER line

Something is definitely not right there.

[xsisupport]

Ok, here's something the log said at 8:55 tonight.....

8:55:45 (adskflex) Wrong hostid on SERVER line for license file:

8:55:45 (adskflex) C:\Program Files\Autodesk Network License Manager\SFTIM2014enlicense.lic

8:55:45 (adskflex) SERVER line says (my host id), hostid is ffffffff

8:55:45 (adskflex) Invalid hostid on SERVER line

Something is definitely not right there.

It's a problem with your network adapter setup. The hostid is the Ethernet Adapter that LMTOOLS gets from the adapter.

[adrencg]

Ok, here's something the log said at 8:55 tonight.....

8:55:45 (adskflex) Wrong hostid on SERVER line for license file:

8:55:45 (adskflex) C:\Program Files\Autodesk Network License Manager\SFTIM2014enlicense.lic

8:55:45 (adskflex) SERVER line says (my host id), hostid is ffffffff

8:55:45 (adskflex) Invalid hostid on SERVER line

Something is definitely not right there.

It's a problem with your network adapter setup. The hostid is the Ethernet Adapter that LMTOOLS gets from the adapter.

Ok, so it seems like we're onto something. Anything I could look for in my network adapter settings?