I can’t check out a license, but I can get to the admin web interface!

In some cases, a floating license cannot be checked out from a particular computer, yet that same computer can view the admin web interface from the license server.

In very early versions of RLM (prior to RLM v3.0), the most common cause of this failure is that the “normal” hostname of the server node is unknown on the client machine.

So, for example, if you server node’s hostname is “server”, but it is more generally known as “server.mycompany.com”,  and on the client computer it is only known as “server.mycompany.com”, you will see this behavior.

In more recent RLM versions, the most likely cause is that the hostname in the local license file is not the same as what you typed into the browser.

OK, how do I fix it?

If your rlm software is newer than v3.0, the best way to figure out what is happening is to run rlm diagnostics (available in RLM v8.0 and later).

To run client-side diagnostics, set the environment variable RLM_DIAGNOSTICS to the name of a file, then run the application:

% setenv RLM_DIAGNOSTICS filename

% (run application)

The file “filename” will contain the diagnostic information.  It will look similar to the following:

Near the bottom, you will see the name of the license file that the application is using as well as the server’s hostname.  If this is different from the name you use in your browser, correct the license file and try the application again.

If you have a pre-v3 version of RLM, you might also want to put the server’s IP address into the license file on the server side.  So, instead of:

HOST server hostid port#

use a line like this:

HOST server_ip_address hostid port#

For example, instead of:

HOST  server  12345678  5053

use

HOST  192.16.7.12  12345678  5053