Powerpath/VE License Server Forgets Licenses it Served

Are you seeing multiple license for same host?
Are you seeing the license which is not in use?

Can you please provide complete output of "STATUS" from License server tool.

Problem is, now, all of the licenses show up in the tool becuase I ran a check_registration on all hosts that should have a license served. Doing this repopulates the license server, so it looks ok now. Problem is, after a some time, the tool won't show any licenses and the count is wrong.

Hi! I believe what you are experiencing is a known issue.  PowerPath VE 5.7 is unregistered after the host rebooted.   This is normal behavior for PowerPath VE 5.7 and it is working as design.  PowerPath VE 5.7 supports the automatic license registration feature.  As long as the license server/remote server is running with a valid PowerPath VE license, and the rpowermt display dev=all host= command is manually running to manage PowerPath VE after the host reboots, then PowerPath VE will automatically register again if it shows unlicensed earlier.

PP/VE license is not persistent across vSphere host reboot due to VMware limitations. However, on the vSphere host, the PowerPath driver is functional from initial PowerPath/VE installation. There is no concept of unlicensed functionality on the vSphere host with respect to multipathing.

The Primus Solution emc281559 describes how to automatically re-register the license for display, monitoring, and configuration change purposes. At no time is PPVE multipathing disabled upon ESX reboot.  We are working to make the reboot process more automated in the future.

I don't think the ESX server rebooting is the problem.  When I run the "lmutil lmstat -a" command, the system shows no records and the "in use" count shows 0. If I run a check_registration against all ESX hosts that were once served with a license, the lmutil command shows the correct "in use" count and the license records also appear. After about a month or so, the license server seems to forget about the licenses. I don't have to re-register any license. It almost seems like the "linger" value has something to do with this problem. Below is a sample lmutil output. This is correct now but after a month the records will disappear and the "in use" count will be 0 even though all of the ESX hosts are registered.

lmutil - Copyright (c) 1989-2009 Flexera Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Flexible License Manager status on Thu 11/15/2012 10:24

[Detecting lmgrd processes...]

License server status: 27010@q1sm21ms
    License file(s) on q1sm21ms: C:\emc\License Server\QA_q1sm21ms_active.lic:

  q1sm21ms: license server UP (MASTER) v11.8

Vendor daemon status (on q1sm21ms):

     EMCLM: UP v11.8

Feature usage info:

Users of PowerPathMP:  (Total of 47 licenses issued;  Total of 32 licenses in use)

  "PowerPathMP" v5.4, vendor: EMCLM
  floating license

    rpowermt.exe@168.98.1.10->168.98.1.20 4dbed39c-74f3-82c8-c372-001a64f6afac CL-G96-B5PB1J1 (v5.4) (q1sm21ms/27010 1601), start Tue 11/13 15:21 (linger: 3888000)
    rpowermt.exe@168.98.1.11->168.98.1.21 4dbed3d1-f2c5-1e38-2dac-001a648deda2 CL-G96-B5PB1J1 (v5.4) (q1sm21ms/27010 1701), start Tue 11/13 15:21 (linger: 3888000)

...
...
...
...

That is strange. I would suggest to open a ticket with EMC Support.

Hi,

I would recommend the following action:

1. Ensure that the version of PP/VE being run matches the version printed on the license documentation. If this differs, you will need to contact EMC licensing to have a new license re-issued

2. If the license version matches the PP/VE version, I would recommend opening a SR with EMC for Powerpath VE for further assistance and diagnostics.

Kind Regards,

Martin

I'm seeing the same thing with PowerPath/VE 5.8 (build 342) on some ESXi 5.1 hosts which means the issue is inconsistent and not by design, or there's a bug that allows the issue to not occur sometimes, which would be a pretty nice bug to have.

For example, I'm currently upgrading a vCenter cluster of ESXi 4.1 servers to 5.1.  We're doing it by wiping each server, so the 4.1 install and PowerPath/VE 5.4 install disappear.  The old servers were using unserved licenses so that could not possibly play a role in how the new install functions.  After installing 5.1 fresh, I configure the server, add it to vCenter, then install PowerPath/VE 5.8 via update manager.  Once it's installed, I use the command:

rpowermt register host=1.2.3.4

to register a served license to the ESXi system in question.  Running the check_registration command afteward will confirm a successful license registration.  Running "rpowermt setup list_hosts" will also successfully show the new server's IP in the list of served licenses.

So far, I've upgraded ten servers in this manner, and eight of the ten will stay licensed through a reboot.  The other two will come up unlicensed again each time they're reboot.  There's nothing different about them, that's just how they behave.  This is a real pain because when they come up unlicensed, the EMC plugin in vCenter manager stops working, then I have to take the host out of lockdown mode (so that the rpowermt server can authenticate using local account as we're running the EMC vApp appliance and not running rpowermt and licensing from the vCenter server), re-license, re-lockdown.

Have you had any luck resolving this problem Daniel?  I'm experencing the same problem.

Nope, it would be nice. I can't believe there are so few people complaining about this issue.

Let's increase the number of people complaining about it them! I am also having exactly same issue here. I use unserved license and every time a host goes down, I have to re license it again.

I had a great hope it would be fixed on 5.8 but it does not seem to be the case here.

We have a script that runs everyday to check whether the host is registered. If it is not, then the script will license it during the process.

We too are experiencing the same issues, migrating from a 5.7 Windows License server to a vApp 5.8 License server and have noticed the same. I have been working with a support tech who told me that when the vApp server reboots, I will have to manually restart the license service for it to function. He also stated that a reboot of the host requires a manual re-register of the license which I think is crazy! If I have 200+ hosts setup on an automatic patch schedule, I'm not about to have to log onto the vApp and re-register each one when they reboot.

They still have not resolved this issue but rather state 'as designed'...