Troubleshooting licensing

"lsadmin reconfig" gives "User permission denied" message

If you ran lsfinstall as a non-root user to install a multi-user cluster, the LSF administration commands lsadmin and badmin might give the error message “User permission denied”.

Use the following commands to change the ownership for lsadmin and badmin to root and the file permission mode to -rwsr-xr-x:

chown root lsadmin badmin
chmod 4755 lsadmin badmin

Now the user ID bit for the owner is setuid. If lsadmin and badmin are in a directory shared through NFS, the directory must be shared and mounted with setuid enabled. Do not mount with the nosuid flag. If your site does not permit this, copy lsadmin and badmin to /usr/bin or /bin.

Primary cluster administrator receives email “Your cluster has experienced license overuse” message

This occurs when your cluster is using more licenses than you have purchased. LSF allows for some overuse due to the peak usage of the cluster.

See the lsf.cluster_name.license.acct file for details of the peak license usage of your cluster:

OK

Peak usage is less than the maximum license availability

OVERUSE

Peak usage is more than the maximum license availability

If your cluster experiences frequent license violations or overuse, contact Platform Computing or your Platform LSF vendor to get more licenses, or plan your cluster to reduce the license usage during peak periods.

lsadmin command fails with "ls_gethostinfo: Host does not have a software license"

This may occur when you have installed the new key but have an old (unlicensed) LIM running on the LSF master.

  1. On the LSF master, enter the command:

    ps -ef | grep lim

  2. Kill the LIM, using one of the following commands:
    • kill lim_PID
    • kill -9 lim_PID
  3. After the old LIM has died, start the new LIM on the master host using one of the following methods:
    • lsadmin limstartup

    • LSF_SERVERDIR/lim as root.

Platform LSF commands give "Host does not have a software license"

You may see this message after running lsid, lshosts, or other ls* commands.

Typical problems and their solutions:

If you experience this problem ...

Do the following:

Your demo license (not tied to FlexNet server) has expired.

Check the license.dat file to check the expiry date. If your license has expired, contact your account manager to obtain a new demo key or a permanent license.

Your license file may be formatted incorrectly. One of the following things may be responsible:

The license file may have more than one FEATURE on a line.

The license file was edited in Windows and incorrect line ending characters (^M) exist in the file.

Each FEATURE must be on its own line, and should only have UNIX line breaks. On UNIX or Linux, run dos2unix to remove the Windows line breaks (^M characters) from the license file.

If the license key is tied to a FlexNet server, restart lmgrd.

Restart the master LIM.

The LSF master host is unable to communicate with the FlexNet server.

Check the network communication by entering the command:

ping FlexNet_server

License daemons (lmgrd and lsf_ld) are not running on the FlexNet server.

Check if lmgrd and lsf_ld are running by typing:

ps -ef | egrep 'lmgrd|lsf_ld' 

on the FlexNet server. If not:

Check the license.log file for error messages.

Start lmgrd.

Restart the master LIM.


Platform LSF commands fail with "ls_initdebug: Unable to open file lsf.conf"

You might see this message after running lsid. This message indicates that the LSF commands cannot access the lsf.conf file or lsf.conf does not exist in LSF_ENVDIR.

Solution:

  • Use LSF_CONFDIR/csrhc.lsf or LSF_CONFDIR/profile.lsf to set up your LSF environment, or

  • If you know the location of lsf.conf, set the LSF_ENVDIR environment variable to point to the directory containing the lsf.conf file.

lmgrd fails with message "Port already in use"

The port number defined in LSF_LICENSE_FILE and license.dat is being used by another application (by default, LSF uses port number 1700).

Possible causes:


If you experience this problem ...

Do the following:

lmgrd is already running for this license

Use ps -ef and make sure that lmgrd and lsf_ld are not running.

lmgrd has been stopped and the operating system has not cleared the port

Wait a few minutes for the OS to clear this port.

Another process is using the same port (this is not likely)

If the port number is being used by another application, execute the following to change the port number used by LSF:
  1. Edit license.dat and change the port number in the line:

    SERVER FlexNet_server 3f8b6a3 1700

    The fourth field on the SERVER line of license.dat specifies the TCP port number that the FlexNet server uses. Choose an unused port number. The default port set by FlexNet is 1700. Platform LSF usually uses port numbers in the range 3879 to 3882, so the numbers from 3883 forward are good alternate choices.

  2. In lsf.conf:

    • If LSF_LICENSE_FILE is defined as follows: LSF_LICENSE_FILE=port_number@FlexNet_server (for example: 1700@hostA), the port number must be changed accordingly.

    • If LSF_LICENSE_FILE points to the license file path (for example: LSF_LICENSE_FILE=/usr/local/lsf/conf/license.dat), no changes are required.

    • Restart lmgrd.