Summary

This Knowledgebase article discusses the occurrence of an invalid Neverfail Continuty Engine license including the symptoms, causes, and resolutions.

More Information

The Neverfail Continuty Engine license is generated using either HBSIG of the host machine. This unique key is generated by examining select components on the Primary server. The license key must match the HBSIG in order to be seen as valid.

Neverfail Continuity Engine 

Symptoms

During normal operations, you receive an error message stating your Neverfail Continuity Engine license key has expired or Neverfail Continuity Engine fails to start after rebooting the server or stopping Neverfail Continuity Engine.

Cause

A license key can become invalid for any of the following reasons:

• The domain name of the server has been changed.
• The server has been removed from the domain and re-added.
• One or more processors have been added or removed from the Primary server.
• The Security Identifier (SID) has been changed.
• A new plug-in has been installed since the last license key was generated. 

The Neverfail Continuity Engine license has expired:

Should a licensing problem arise during an implementation, you may provided a temporary or time-limited license so that the implementation can proceed. Temporary or time-limited licenses have a defined expiration date, and when the date is exceeded, will not allow Neverfail Continuity Engine to start.

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) hung or not running:

Neverfail uses WMI to validate the license on the Primary server and if WMI is hung or not running, validation cannot complete.

Resolution

1. If the cause of the invalid license key is the result of a change to the domain credentials of the server, the addition of a new plug-in, or expiration of a temporary or time-limited Neverfail Continuity Engine license key, you must generate a new license key for the Primary server.
   
   Note: Automated licensing of Neverfail Engine requires use of the internet. If your organization uses an internet proxy, configure proxy information in the Management -> License > Configure an Internet proxy server for licensing dialog.
   1. To add a license for Neverfail Engine, using the Engine Management Service, navigate to the Management drop-down and click on License > License the Selected Server.
   2. If there is an Internet connection from the Neverfail Continuity Engine Management Service, select Apply a License from your Neverfail account, enter your Neverfail credentials, press Next and continue from step d.
   3. If there is no Internet connection from the Neverfail ITCE Management Service, you can obtain a license key from Neverfail. Select Manually enter a license key, enter the key and press Apply. If the key is successfully applied, click Finish, otherwise review the error message.
   4. In the Select License step, from the table of licenses, select the license to apply based on the features required. Licenses already used for the selected cluster are shown as Applied. Click Next.
   5. Review the Ready to Complete summary information and Click Next.
   6. On the Apply License step, click Finish.
2. If the cause of an invalid license error is not the result of a domain credentials change, or expiration of a temporary or time-limited Neverfail license key, check the Windows Services and ensure that WMI is running. If WMI is running, stop the WMI Service, restart it, and then attempt to start Neverfail Continuity Engine.   

Applies To

Neverfail Continuity Engine

Related Information

None