Question

Directory Server: Activation was not successful: License already in use. (LFDS10)(LMO52)

Directory Server Version 11 Licensing

Updated June 8, 2021

asked on June 7, 2021 • Show version history

Hi,

We just bought Laserfiche and I have started the installation of Directory Server (Laserfiche 11). We have a site license for our production environment, and also a sandbox license.

We have 2 servers in a failover cluster environment, and our primary site license is working perfectly for that environment (using our primary activation license for production).

However, I was playing around in LFDS, creating and removing another licensing site for our "sandbox" environment (using Sandbox activation license), and when I attempted to re-add the license after a 2nd time, then the app threw me this error:

Activation was not successful: License already in use: License already in use. (LFDS10)(LMO52)

So then I noticed that my license count went from 3 to 2 for the Sandbox license count. So then I thought OK, it must just be a 1 time activation. So then I saw that we can use an .exe to deactivate a license:
ActivationToolNet4.exe -deactivate -key XXXXXXXXXXX

I ran that, it said that it has completed the deactivation, and then the license count went from 2 to 3, which to me says that all should be good.

But as I continue to request a primary license with that same sandbox activation key, I continue to get that error code.

Any ideas on how we can fix that? I might be misunderstand how the topology works, but the setup That I currently want is:

2 servers on a failover cluster that will share LFDS in an active/passive node setup, and LFDS should have 2 licensing sites: one for production (on production SQL) and one for sandbox (on dev SQL)

Thanks, any insights on this would be great!

0 0

Replies

replied on June 8, 2021

Hello,

It appears your production license and sandbox license both have the same site GUID. LFDS will not allow two licensing sites to share a site GUID. It's recommended you have a second LFDS instance somewhere for the sandbox environment (and you can even use a duplicate of your production database there since the site GUID is the same).

Is there a specific reason you would like to have your sandbox environment on the same LFDS instance as your production environment?

2 0

replied on June 8, 2021

Seconding Chase's question. One of, if not the main reason we've heard for wanting separate Sandbox licenses is to have a non-Production instance of LFDS to test upgrades/patches against prior to deploying those to Prod LFDS.

Our recommended use of Sandbox licenses is to deploy separate LFDS instances in the non-Prod environments and activate the Sandbox licenses on those, so each LFDS has a single licensing site.

I would also say to avoid multiple licensing sites on the same LFDS unless absolutely necessary. While an officially supported configuration, multiple license sites introduce a whole class of potential edge cases that can and do show up in support cases.

1 0

replied on June 8, 2021 • Show version history

That's what I figured was happening. Thanks for the explanation.

Our plan was to have a failover cluster between our production LFDS server and sandbox server for the LFDS service (3-node failover: 1. prod LFDS server, 2. sandbox server with all Laserfiche products pointing to a test SQL environment, other than LFDS service (point to prod SQL), and 3. prod Laserfiche repo file share as tie-breaker), instead of wasting another production VM just to be on standby in case of LFDS service failure. Each VM will on their own VMWare host as well to add an extra layer.

The idea was to have 2 licensing sites, each with their own license, but one pointing to production SQL environment, and the other pointing to test SQL environment.

That way, at least we are utilizing all servers at max capacity and at least have some form of a DR plan without going overkill on server resources. I tell myself if it fails over to a sandbox environment (which technically still points to production database) to at least keep the environment up and running, is better than nothing at all. At least it buys us time in the event of a failure.

So that's why I was thinking the licensing site didn't care about the actual server itself (instead base itself on license activation counts), but proved me wrong, haha. 1 license = 1 unique server.

0 0

replied on June 8, 2021

If you're trying to use host resources efficiently while still having failover capability, you're best off configuring the LFDS service to automatically recover from failures in Windows (might be set by default), along with VMware HA (with or without DRS). Simplifies the configuration at every level. That guidance goes for all Laserfiche components.

2 0

You are not allowed to follow up in this post.

Question

Question

Directory Server: Activation was not successful: License already in use. (LFDS10)(LMO52)

Replies

Sign in to reply to this post.