Licensing Issue

[alexwreid]

Hello I apologize for the very long first time post! I work for a municipality and we recently switched over to new PCs running Windows 7 instead of XP. We needed to install an older Autodesk product (Civil3D2009) on one of the new PCs. The installation using the original hard discs seemed to run smoothly. I chose the single server option for licensing purposes. Then I configured the Network Licensing Server following the steps here on Autodesk. I also obtained a new LIC file from our reseller. After confirming the Server (Host) Name and MAC (Physical) Address were correct, I step up the lmtools and tested the new server using "Perform Status Enquiry". It seems to be running just fine. I get the "license server UP (MASTER) v11.11" and "adskflex: UP v11.11" messages. When I try to open Civil3D (even in Windows XP compatibility mode version 2) the FLEXnet License Finder box still pops up. When I Specify the License Server System as the Host Name of the PC that does not work. And when I Specify the License File using the LIC file I received from Autodesk that does not work either. I am concerned the 2009 product is simply too old to update the license information properly. But our reseller did not think we should have an issue. Anything else I may be missing while trying to get Civil3D to find the network license properly? Thanks for any input and again... sorry to write such a long novel.

Alex

[alexwreid]

One more thing... when I first had the FLEXnet pop up issue on startup, I did update the Network License Manager from the version installed during the Civil3D installation to the most recent version on the Autodesk website, v11.11, thinking that would solve the problem. Hopefully performing that update did not create any additional problems!

[asburyj]

Hi Alex and welcome to the forum. Civil 3D 2009 uses the same licensing sceme as the modern products so it's age isn't a concern in this case. Are other products able to check out licenses from that license server? As a first step I would suggest running the test linked below from the client to ensure the ports needed are open between the client and server

http://upandready.typepad.com/up_and_ready/2011/06/verifying-if-license-server-is-up-and-running-and...

In addition, you may wish to try as a workaround entering the server IP address in the clients licpath.lic file rather than the servername to rule out any DNS issues. 

[alexwreid]

Hi Jeffry thanks for the additional info. I did check the server ports through the link you provided and everything seems good. I also tried to use the IP address through the FLEXnet popup and I still receive the "A valid license could not be obtained..." error message. One more thing I thought of. When I installed Civil3D I pathed to a server name I had set up through lmtools. But when I performed the Status Enquiry the Vendor Daemon gave some sort of error. So I created a new server with the same imgrd/license/debug log files and that one works. Do I need to updated Civil3D to look for the new server name instead of the original one I pathed to during the install? If so, can I make that change without uninstalling/reinstalling the whole program? Thanks again!

Alex

[asburyj]

There are two options for pointing the clients to the new license server.

Option 1: Update Licpath.lic files

This is the file that tells the product where to find the license server. Typicaly that file is found in every autodesk program's root folder (ex. C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Civil 3D 2009\). Open the Licpath.lic file in notepad and you will see what server the software is trying to pull the license from. The formatting will be something like "Server        Servername        XXXXXXXXXXXX"

You can update the "Servername" part to the correct server to the correct server name and save the file. You can then copy that file to any other effected machines/programs and they will point to the correct server. 

Options 2: Using the ADSKFLEX_LICENSE_FILE environment variable.

Setting this environmental variable on a system will override the licpath.lic files and direct all Autodesk software on a system to a specified server. Instructions on how to do this can be found at the below link. 

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=8385605&linkID=9240617