Knowledge Base

First of all, make sure that you are running the latest build of both the Carlson program and the Sentinel License Manager.
If the server had been running fine, but was rebooted and now does not work - verify in WlmAdmin (found in the LMTools folder) that the server still has it's license files. If when adding license file you used "Add To Server" instead of the proper "Add To Server AND its File", then the server will lose it's licenses on a reboot. Please add back the licenses you received from Carlson Software.

Most common errors are:

errors #17 and #4 "unable to locate license server"
error #18 "unable to locate license files"

The software is designed to automatically locate the server running on the same subnet, making the setup easier. There are several main reasons why the license server discovery may fail:

the server is not on the same subnet,
server software is not loaded,
server is blocked by firewall,
license itself is not present, or,
there is a problem with name resolution (dns) on either the server or the client.


As a first step, run the WLMADMIN program (found in the LMTools folder) on the server. If you are unable to see the server name, then the server software itself is not running. Please follow the manual on restarting or re-installing the server software.
There is also a possibility that the server is running, but is being blocked by firewall software on the server (WinXP with Service Pack 2, for example). If this is the case, please try running through  Knowledge Base article #269.
If you are unable to see any servers on the subnet you will need to specify the license server by setting an environment variable pointing to server's name or IP address (Rainbow recommends the IP address):

On Windows NT, 2000 and XP:

Open the Control Panel and then open System.
Click on the Advanced tab and click on Environment Variables.
Click on New and use:

LSFORCEHOST for the Variable name, and,
the servername or the serverIPaddress for the Variable value.


Click OK to save.
Open the command prompt and type SET, followed by Enter.
You should see a line something like: SET LSFORCEHOST=SERVERNAME, where SERVERNAME is the server name or IP address specific for your setup.


On Win9x machines, use Notepad to edit c:\autoexec.bat and add/edit the line:
SET LSFORCEHOST=SERVERNAME

at the top of the file. Reboot when done.


At this point verify connectivity to the server by opening the command line and typing 'PING SERVERNAME'. You should see a reliable response from the server. If you are getting a 'connection timeout' error, please contact your system administrator since this is a problem related to your network. If you are getting a name resolution error, please follow instructions on that below.
If the 'ping' test was successful, please re-run the WLMADMIN utility. If you still do not see the server and features on the left side, the server might be blocked by a firewall, the supplied server name is wrong, or this might be the result of name resolution problems. If the server is showing, but there is a significant delay in displaying feature information, that is also a sign of name resolution problems.

If the server itself is running fine, click on the "+" before the server name on the left and then inspect the features loaded one at a time (the feature status is displayed on the right side). If there are no features available on the left side, contact Carlson Software for the license.

If the server name in the error messages is not what you expected, look below at #3 in name resolution issues.

If there seems to be a significant delay in retrieving the feature information, this may be a result of problems in name resolution. Please refer to instructions below.

If the workstation "freezes" for 10-20 seconds every 5 minutes - you are running an older version of the Sentinel Server software and will need to download and install the new one from knowledgebase article #55. Older licenses are compatible with the new License Manager and will load into it with no problems. Please pickup updated LmTools.zip from same page.

If you are having commuter license problems, please refer to Knowledge Base Article 507 for additional steps which may need to be performed on the workstation by the administrator.

Resolving name resolution problems:

Assign the server a static IP address.
Verify that server and client have the same DNS servers specified and these servers are actually available.
Make sure that forward and reverse name resolution produce the same result. To do that, open the command prompt on the workstation and do the following:

type ping server_name, followed by enter take a note of IP it returns. If it is correct,
type tracert server_ip_address_ping_returned, and see if server NAME tracert showing is matching what it should be. If they are pointing to different names then there is a problem on the local DNS server.


In extreme cases, when everything else seems to fail you can add a server name/IP pair to local hosts file for local name resolution of the server name.

On Windows 2000, XP, and Vista it is c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
On WIN9x machines this file is c:\windows\system\hosts



 Add a line like: 111.222.333.444 SERVERNAME to the bottom of the file, using the actual server IP address and name. Save the file and reboot. Do this on BOTH the server and the client machines. Re-run WLMADMIN to verify proper setup. 
If problem persits contact Carlson Software.
BH