[RLM] Communications error with license server (17)

Posted on September 11, 2015 by xsisupport

These warnings mean that Arnold can connect to the RLM license server, but Arnold cannot connect to the solidangle ISV server:

00:00:12 14MB WARNING | [rlm] * Communications error with license server (17)
00:00:12 14MB WARNING | [rlm] * Connection refused at server (111)

Usually the problem is that the solidangle ISV server is not running.

You can check the status of the solidangle ISV server with RLM Web Admin. I like the get the RLM diagnostics (Diagnostics > Run Diagnostics) from RLM Web Admin and review that.

In rare cases, the problem is something else, such as:

Some sort of network connection problem. For example, I recently had a case where we would get these warnings when we used the IP address of the license server in solidangle_LICENSE. But as soon as we switched to using the hostname, everything worked.
Another RLM instance is running and listening to port 5053, and that instance doesn’t have a solidangle ISV running. I heard about this second-hand, from a customer; I didn’t see it with my own eyes and I don’t know how it’s possible. You can have multiple RLM instances running, but each instance has to have a different port otherwise you get ” “Port 5053 in use, waiting…” messages and the second RLM won’t start.

[RLM] Reserving licenses

Posted on August 4, 2015 by xsisupport

Reserving licenses is an RLM feature and is documented in the RLM User Guide (see “The ISV Options File” section).

You use the RESERVE keyword in the ISV options file (solidangle.opt) to reserve licenses for specific users, machine names, or IP addresses.

For example, this reserves 2 licenses for machines with the specified IP addresses:

INTERNET_GROUP renderfarm 192.168.221.1 192.168.223.1 
RESERVE 2 arnold group renderfarm

This reserves five licenses for named users:

GROUP myusergroup steve stephen steven stevie stevo
RESERVE 5 arnold group myusergroup

You can edit the ISV options in the RLM Web Admin page. You need to restart the ISV server after you change the options. Here’s a short video walkthrough (no audio).

[RLM] No ISV servers to start redux

Posted on May 14, 2015 by xsisupport

The technical reason for a “No ISV servers to start” message is that that RLM could not read the ISV line from the license file.

So, for example, if you somehow save the license file as a binary file that looks like this:

then you’ll get No ISV servers to start, because obviously there’s no ISV line in that file.

Note: You’ll also see The hostname in the license file(s) may be incorrect, but that warning can always be safely ignored.

05/14 09:17 (rlm) 
05/14 09:17 (rlm) WARNING: No license file for this host (StephenBlair-PC)
05/14 09:17 (rlm)          The hostname in the license file(s)
05/14 09:17 (rlm)          may be incorrect
05/14 09:17 (rlm) 
05/14 09:17 (rlm) License files:
05/14 09:17 (rlm)     arnold_eval_90b11c647d93_20150514.lic
05/14 09:17 (rlm) 
05/14 09:17 (rlm) RLM License Server Version 11.2BL2

	Copyright (C) 2006-2014, Reprise Software, Inc. All rights reserved.

05/14 09:17 (rlm) License server started on StephenBlair-PC
05/14 09:17 (rlm) Server architecture: x64_w2
05/14 09:17 (rlm) License files:
05/14 09:17 (rlm)     arnold_eval_coffee0000_20150514.lic
05/14 09:17 (rlm) 
05/14 09:17 (rlm) Web server starting on port 5054
05/14 09:17 (rlm) Using TCP/IP port 5053
05/14 09:17 (rlm) ... adding UDP/IP port 5053
05/14 09:17 (rlm) (No ISV servers to start)

[RLM] No ISV servers to start

Posted on May 8, 2015 by xsisupport

In RLM, an ISV server is a license server for a specific product. For Arnold, the ISV server is solidangle.

So if you see No ISV servers to start in your log:

05/07 15:52 (rlm) RLM License Server Version 11.2BL2

        Copyright (C) 2006-2014, Reprise Software, Inc. All rights reserved.

05/07 15:52 (rlm) License server started on StephenBlair-PC
05/07 15:52 (rlm) Server architecture: x64_w2
05/07 15:52 (rlm) License files:
05/07 15:52 (rlm)     arnold_eval_90b11c647d93_20150428.lic
05/07 15:52 (rlm)
05/07 15:52 (rlm) Web server starting on port 5054
05/07 15:52 (rlm) Using TCP/IP port 5053
05/07 15:52 (rlm) ... adding UDP/IP port 5053
05/07 15:52 (rlm) (No ISV servers to start)

That means there won’t be a solidangle ISV server running, and there won’t be any Arnold licenses available:

Here’s a couple of licenses that result in No ISV servers to start.

This license is missing a line break. The ISV line has to be on a separate line; otherwise RLM won’t recognize the ISV statement and won’t find the ISV server name.

HOST localhost 0000coffee 5053 ISV solidangle port=66666
LICENSE solidangle arnold 20161030 28-apr-2015 1 share=h
  min_timeout=120 start=28-apr-2015 issuer=Stephen customer=00340
  issued=28-apr-2015 _ck=fed6ff299c sig="60P0453GDCA9UJKPGJSGAGJK8YWFY
  7M2K3CE5F822H1BS2TYR29EKEUCWGY70B9P1FWCTHJCSV"

This license is a node-locked license, so there is no ISV line, and you don’t need a license server to use the license.
```
LICENSE solidangle arnold 20150430 30-apr-2015 uncounted
  hostid=90b11c647d93 start=03-mar-2015 issuer=Stephen customer=00340
  issued=3-mar-2015 replace _ck=f9d7d6ce9c sig="60PG4512N1FRJ14HSNHACV
  7X25R5KR42PNBWUKR22M09CHC72GE07WRSGKJQJKF54C30FPFKSCG0"
```
How do I know it is a node-locked license? First, there’s no HOST or ISV lines, and second, it’s uncounted. Only node-locked licenses have the uncounted keyword.

[RLM] The case of the expired license

Posted on May 7, 2015 by xsisupport

This case shows that if your license expires overnight, it may not be obvious that that is the problem the next morning. For example, in this case, the customer reported that:

The RLM license server was running.
The solidangle ISV server was running.

But clients were reporting watermarks and “No license for product (-1)” warnings in the Arnold log:

00:00:02   815MB WARNING | [rlm] error checking out license for arnold (version 20150428):
00:00:02   815MB WARNING | [rlm]  * No license for product (-1)

There were no errors in the ISV debug log in RLM Web Admin, just the Reread request by automatic@midnight entries (the RLM license server automatically rereads license files at midnight every day).

Although there were no errors in the log, a check of the ISV solidangle status page showed something wrong: where’s the License Pool Status???

And a quick look at the log files in the RLM folder revealed the problem:

05/02 00:00 (solidangle) ==== Reread request by automatic@midnight ====
05/02 00:00 (solidangle) Using options file solidangle.opt
05/02 00:00 (solidangle) Setting TIMEOUT for arnold to 120 secs.
05/02 00:00 (solidangle) 
05/02 00:00 (solidangle) Re-reading license files, supporting products:
05/02 00:00 (solidangle) (No valid non-expired licenses found)05/07 00:00 (solidangle) 
05/02 00:00 (solidangle) License files:
05/02 00:00 (solidangle)     arnold_eval_0000coffee_20150428.lic

Note that the license file name arnold_eval_0000coffee_20150428.lic includes the expiry date: 20150428

And you can always check the actual license file to see the expiry date on the license:

[Arnold] [RLM] ARNOLD_LICENSE_HOST and ARNOLD_LICENSE_PORT no longer supported

Posted on March 2, 2015 by xsisupport

If you’re still using ARNOLD_LICENSE_HOST and ARNOLD_LICENSE_PORT, now’s the time to stop. As of Arnold 4.2.4.0, these deprecated environment variables are no longer supported.

Instead, use solidangle_LICENSE.

For example, if you currently have these environment variable settings:

ARNOLD_LICENSE_HOST=lic_server
ARNOLD_LICENSE_PORT=5055

you can replace them with this:

solidangle_LICENSE 5055@lic_server

Note: solidangle_LICENSE was added in Arnold 4.0.4 (released back in 23-May-2012).

Also new with Arnold 4.2.4.0 is the ability to use a .lic file instead of an environment variable. Just create a .lic file that looks like this:

HOST lic_server 5055

and put the .lic file in the same folder as Arnold (ai.dll, libai.so, or libai.dylib).

If you want to put the .lic file somewhere else, then you need to set solidangle_LICENSE to point to the lic file.

Running multiple Arnold instances on the same computer

Posted on February 5, 2015 by xsisupport

Arnold licenses are shared by host. That means all Arnold instances running on the same computer share the same license.

For example, you can have multiple copies of Houdini running on your computer, all doing render regions with HtoA, and you’ll be taking just a single Arnold license. Same thing with Softimage and Maya.

License sharing is defined by your license. The share=h in your license means that all processes (aka instances) running on the same host (aka computer) can share a single license.

Even when licenses are shared, you will still see multiple checkouts in your license usage. For example, here’s my license usage when I have an IPR going in Maya, and render regions in Softimage and Houdini:

The debug log would show something similar:

It might look like there are three licenses checked out, but it’s not. It’s just one license, checked out three times (aka shared three times).

If I check my license pool status, I can see that one license is in use:

And if you have reporting enabled, you can check the report and see that all three licenses have the same share handle (which means that the license is being shared):

Arnold Support Corner

Tips, tricks, and troubleshooting help from Steve "xsisupport" Blair

Category Archives: Licensing