FLEXlm License Finder Error for VideoMaster & AudioMaster running on remote server

[ShawTestEng]

I get the FLEXlm license finder error for my VM and AM that are running on a remote server; issue is as described in the following link:  http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/15BEB6A00E1E0C418625757F00548827

I can then browse to the license files and select the license (I need to do this twice, once for the AM license and again for the VM license as the error popup will occur 2 times).  The license files are located on the remote server in the default location:  C:\Program Files\microLEX Systems\License Files.

If I shut down TestStand on the remote server and restart it, then run my TestStand sequence on the master server, I will get the error popups again!

I also checked the registry settings and they appear correct as follows:

My Computer > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > FLEXlm License Manager

Value name:  MXLM_LICENSE_FILE

Value data:  C:\Program Files\microLEX Systems\License Files;C:\Program Files\microLEX Systems\License Files\MxFlexApi.lic;


How can I get FLEXlm to automatically find the license files in the default location?

Thanks for any assistance.

[JL@NI]

Hello George,

Could you please provide more details on your reference to remote server versus master server? Are you remotely calling a chassis that has the NI VideoMASTER and NI AudioMASTER software installed on it and then receiving the error on your host machine? More specific details about the configuration would be very helpful. Also, I believe that you must have the NI VideoMASTER and NI AudioMASTER license files on the same machine that the hardware is located.

Regards,

Jeff L.

[ShawTestEng]

Update to my original post:

- Yes, I am using a 'master' server to remotely call another server ('remote' server) that is connected to a PXI chassis housing a VM and an AM card.  The error popup will appear on the remote server, not the master server.

My test configuration is as follows:

- I am running TestStand (version 4.0.1f1) on a 'master' server that controls a PXI chassis #1 containing a VM card (software version 3.0.2.2) and an AM card (software version 6.2.0).  The license files for this VM and AM reside on the master server.

- The master server calls a 'remote' server that controls a PXI chassis #2 containing a VM and an AM card also.  The license files for this VM and AM reside on the remote server.

- the error popup does NOT occur every time the Teststand application is restarted on the remote server, but appears to be random.  It does not always occur, but seems to happen once every couple days.

[Greg_S-Video]

Hello George

I hope you are well.  My name is Greg and I am the product support engineer for NI's Multimedia Test products.

I just want to make sure that I have the correct high level understanding of your system.

Your remote server is a PXI chassis which contains your Audio and Video acquisition cards.  You have the the AudioMASTER and VideoMASTER software installed on this system.  Occasionally, it requests the licenses files of your software.  The license files are currently stored on the remote system, correct?  The license error only occurss some of the time?

How are you accessing the remote system exactly?  Which operating systems are running on these systems?  What happens when you use your remote system directly?

Please let me know.

[ShawTestEng]

Hi Greg,

The master server and remote server are identical Dell PowerEdge 2970 Servers running Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3.  Each of the Dell servers is connected to a NI PXI-1033 chassis housing a VM and an AM card.  VM and AM software and licenses are installed on both of the Dell servers; the licenses for the VM and AM in the PXI chassis connected to the master server reside on the master server, while the licenses for the VM and AM in the PXI chassis connected to the remote server reside on the remote server.  The test sequence I am running on the master server makes VM and AM calls to the PXI chassis connected to the master server, and also makes remote computer calls to the VM and AM connected to the PXI chassis on the remote server.

Everything runs fine most of the time, but occasionally I will get the FLEXlm License Finder pop-up message that shows on the remote server as described previously.  Since I never get the error on the master server, I would have to assume that if I use the remote system directly I would also not get the error.  I have run the remote server directly on many occasions and have not seen the error, but my typical use requires me to run as described above.

Thanks,

George

[Greg_S-Video]

Hello George

Thank you very much for your response and clarification.  I will say, the biggest difficulty I see with this situation is that the issue only happens some of the time.

If you could test whether the issue occurs when using the remote system directly, that would aleviate any doubt.

You may wish to re-install the software purely as a safety net.  Just to ensure it is not a faulty install.

Additionally, I think the most important thing we need to do is track down a consistent way to make this license check occur.

If you like, if you can provide me with the serial numbers associated with your license files, I can consult my database. 

Please let me know how you would like to proceed.

[Greg_S-Video]

Hello George

How is everything going?  Have you been able to gain any more insight on this issue?  If you're interested, I might try to set up a similar system on my end to see if I can reproduce the issue.  Please let me know if you would like to continue troubleshooting this issue.  Thanks and all the best!

[ShawTestEng · Accepted solution]

Hi Greg,

Interestingly I have not seen this error come up this week.  I tried rebooting both servers, but everything still ran fine once they were up.  One thing I did last week was to increase the environment variable FLEXLM_TIMEOUT from 10 sec to 20 sec; perhaps that fixed the problem.  Anyways, thanks for the assistance, I think we can close this issue.

Thanks,

George

[Greg_S-Video]

Hello George

Thank you very much for sharing that information with the community.  Please let us know if it does come back and we will continue to assist you.  All the best!