DIAdem unable to pull TDM Server license

[Chris_P_SD]

Hello Community,

This week I had an issue with TDM Server 2017 where DIAdem clients suddenly were unable to connect to the TDM Server on our network.  The TDM Server Manager reported that it was "unable to start because there was no available license...".  I managed to get the TDM Server back online by remoting into the license server running VLM 3.1 and creating a group for the TDM Server 2017 licenses, adding the DataFinder server to that group, then directing the DataFinder server to the license server.  That all worked until today when I am getting

this message from DIAdem clients:

I verified that only three of the eight TDM Server 2017 license are in use.  I looked back at the license server and saw that eight license were pulled by the DFSE computer:

How do I fix this?

[EasyToDo · Accepted solution]

There is a bug within the NI Licensing API.

Please install DataFinder Server Edition 2017 SP1

http://www.ni.com/gate/gb/GB_EVALDMSSUITESOFT/US

or apply the hotfix for the NI Licensing module on the DataFinder Server machine.

This hotfix can be found here

http://www.ni.com/product-documentation/53986/en/

[Chris_P_SD]

Thank you EasyToDo, I applied the hotfix for NILM to the DataFinder Server computer and will monitor to see if the problem persists.  I have not applied the update to TDM Server SP1.  When was this released?  How do I know that I'm not already running SP1?

[Brad_Turpin]

Hi Chris,

This is what it looks like when you've got the TDM Server 2017 SP1:

Brad Turpin

DIAdem Product Support Engineer

National Instruments

[Chris_P_SD]

Got it, thanks for sharing that Brad.  I'm surprised I didn't receive some sort of notification to install that.  I end up rebooting the TDM Server computer about once per week - is there some setting to check for updates other than the DataPlugin update manager?  How critical is the SP1 update, given that the NILM 4.0.2 patch has been installed on the TDM Server computer?

I see the NILM 4.0.2 patch instructions were posted October 9, 2017.  Does the NILM patch need to be rolled out to all the DIAdem clients as well?

[Brad_Turpin]

Hi Chris,

The TDM Server SP1 upgrade is optional, as long as your licensing is working.  There is a DIAdem 2017 SP1 that some of your users may appreciate for bug fixes and the occasional new feature, but there is no need to roll out the NILM patch to your DIAdem client computers.  The TDM Server uses a brand new licensing paradigm that DIAdem does not, which is why it needed the update and DIAdem doesn't.

Brad Turpin

DIAdem Product Support Engineer

National Instruments

[Chris_P_SD]

Thanks for clarifying Brad.  Is it safe to assume the TDM Server SP1 upgrade is a requirement if the licensing is not working?  The NILM 4.0.2 patch didn't seem to fix our issue.  In thrashing to fix the last licensing, perhaps the license isn't configured as it should be.  This is what NILM looks like on the TDM Server computer:

This is how many current connections the TDM Server thinks it has:

This is how many current connections VLM thinks there are:

How do I get these to reconcile?

[Brad_Turpin]

Hi Chris,

Yes, if I had come into this request at the beginning, I would have recommended to upgrade to TDM Server 2017 SP1, because that has the NILM upgrade built into it, plus other TDM Server fixes that might prove helpful.

Theoretically, after you've upgraded NILM separately, I would have expected the TDM Server licensing issue to resolve.  Perhaps my understanding of the fix is incomplete and there were components both in NILM and the TDM Server 2017 SP1.

Brad Turpin

DIAdem Product Support Engineer

National Instruments

[Brad_Turpin]

Hi Chris,

My understanding is that the computer running the DataFinder Server 2017 checks out all the concurrent licenses itself, then hands those out to requesting clients on a first come first served basis.  This is different from how most NI software uses concurrent licenses, so it's bound to compound confusion.  Your screenshots say to me that 3 of the 8 possible DataFinder connections are in use and the remaining 5 connections are not in use.  You can have DIAdem instances launched (consuming a DIAdem license) that are not connected to that particular DataFinder, so I'm not concerned that the number of DIAdem licenses in use is greater than the number of DataFinder connections in use.

I am curious why your DIAdem Base licenses don't have a green dot next to them, though...

Brad Turpin

DIAdem Product Support Engineer

National Instruments

[Chris_P_SD]

Hi Brad,

I had to reboot the DataFinder computer because only three DIAdem users were connected to it and VLM would not allow any additional connections.  These users were only running one instance of DIAdem each.

As soon as I rebooted DataFinder, VLM relinquished all 8 of the Datafinder licenses.  After the reboot, I reconnected to TDM Server and this is what VLM looks like with just myself connected:

I'm not sure why our licensed worked for about a month and then suddenly stopped.  I will try installing TDM Server 2017 SP1 this afternoon.

As for the DIAdem Base licenses missing the green dot, I think that's just because the computer "DataFinder01" was never added to the concurrent license pool for DIAdem Base.  This computer typcially isn't used for running DIAdem.