This section describes potential problems regarding licensing in the Charon environment which are not yet described in the other troubleshooting sections.

Reading License or Starting Guest via Remote Connection

The license content cannot be read if the user is connected to the system over a remote connection, for example RDP on Windows or ssh on Linux. This also means a Charon instance cannot be started directly.

Workaround on Linux

To display the license content when connected over a remote connection, one possible workaround is to run the command via ssh on localhost:

$ ssh localhost /opt/charon/bin/hasp_srm_view

To start the emulator when connected over a remote connection, the Charon instance can be started as a detached process or as a service at system startup.

The document Charon on Linux - Cannot get license information or run guests over ssh provides more details for starting the emulator and also a second workaround for displaying the license details.
Detailed instructions for starting Charon as a service are provided in the respective user's guides (Documentation).

Workaround on Windows

Please refer to How to read a HASP key over RDP on Windows for details on how to retrieve the license content when connected over a remote connection. You can also use the Charon License Utility that provides this functionality.

To start the Charon instance in such environments, it should be defined as a service. Detailed instructions for starting Charon as a service are provided in the respective user guides (Documentation).

Error Message Sentinel HASP RunTime Error 38 (Too Many Users)

Version affected: probably all emulator products and versions.

Conditions: the emulator does not have a license ID definition in the configuration file and tries to use a network license intended for another emulator.

Problem Symptoms

A running emulator shows messages similar to the following in the log file:

20220722:230002:INFO :0:000003E6:ll_sentine(1829): Performing regular license check ...

20220722:230002:INFO :0:000003DC:ll_sentine(1922): ... found license key <license ID of network license>

20220722:230002:ERROR:2:000003E8:ll_sentine( 430): Sentinel HASP RunTime Error 38.

20220722:230002:INFO :0:00000351:ethane.cxx(3127): session: Detected removal of the license. Normal operation is supported for 59 minutes from now.

If the emulator finds the correct local license again at the next license check, it will continue to run normally. If it again finds the network license first, it will log the error again and terminate.

Problem Cause

If an emulator configuration does not define the ID(s) of the correct license(s) to use, the emulator will try to use the first license found.
If the first license found is a network license, the emulator will also try to use it.
However, if this license is already used by another system and does not have any available slots for additional emulators, the error 38 (too many users) will be logged.
If no usable license is found during the next license check (or after the product-specific grace period as shown in the emulator log file), the emulator will stop.

Problem Solution

Prevent the emulator from accessing the incorrect network license. There are several ways to do this:

Define the correct license ID(s) in the emulator configuration file. This is different for the different products. For details see Handling Multiple License Keys and Product Licenses. This solution requires that guest system and emulator be restarted.
If the incorrect license is a network license served by another host, you can also block the access to this license either using an Sentinel ACC entry or by a firewall configuration. If using ACC, it is best to disallow the address of the emulator host incorrectly accessing the license in
Sentinel ACC > Configuration > Access from remote clients on the license server side,
because newer emulator products do not follow the Sentinel ACC settings to disable access to remote licenses configured on the client side.

License not Sufficient for Configuration

If the installed license does not provide the number of CPUs required by the emulator configuration, the log file may contain the error message

License not found, not valid, expired or prohibits use of cpu_1.

A detailed description of this message can be found in License not found, not valid, expired or prohibits use of cpu_N.

There is a similar error message in cases where the configured memory is not supported by the license. Example:

License not found, not valid, expired or prohibits use of 256MB for ram.

License Removal is Reported Erroneously

In rare cases, the connection to a hardware license (USB dongle) is lost even though it has not been removed and the light indicates that it is available. To solve this problem there are two options:

Remove and re-insert the dongle.
Follow the steps described in Charon for Linux - Detected removal of the license whereas dongle is connected.

Error Message License Checksum not Found in Emulator Log File

Version affected: Charon emulator products requiring a checksum as part of the license content.

Conditions: license medium does not contain a checksum.

Problem Symptoms

The emulator does not start and the following error message is reported in the emulator log file:

20160907:103831:ERROR:2:000003FE:ll_sentine(3694): License checksum not found. Please, update the license.

Problem Cause

A Charon product requiring the license to have a checksum does not find a checksum on the license.

Problem Solution

Contact your Stromasys representative to update the license with the correct content.

Please note: in the unlikely case that you are running a pre-release of Charon-AXP 4.8 that requires a checksum, please contact your Stromasys representative to receive an updated version of the software.

Fingerprint Creation Fails on Linux

Versions affected: Charon-AXP/VAX before version 4.9, Charon-PAR before version 1.10, and Charon-SSP before version 4.

Conditions: fingerprint is to be created for the system while a network license (hardware or software license) served by another system is visible.

Problem Symptom

When trying to create a fingerprint file, the system displays the message:

Can not retrieve the C2V (host fingerprint mode) data.

Please note: in some older product versions this message is misspelled as "Can not retrive the C2V (host fingerprint mode) data".

Problem Cause

The license utilities on Linux cannot create a fingerprint of the local system as long as a network license served by another system is visible.

Problem Solution

Permanently or temporarily disable the network license, for example by disabling the access to remote license servers in the Sentinel ACC configuration menu.

Please note: starting with Charon-AXP/VAX 4.9 for Linux, Charon-AXP/VAX version 4.8 for Windows, and Charon-PAR 1.10, these Charon emulator products do not follow the settings in the Sentinel ACC with respect to querying remote license servers and network visibility. They perform a broadcast search for network licenses even if this has been disabled in the local Sentinel ACC configuration. However, these versions are not affected by the problem described in this section.

HP3000 before Version 1.10 Selects Wrong Product License

Versions affected: the HP3000 emulator product before version 1.10

Conditions: the license key contains more than one product section suitable for the HP3000 product.

Problem Symptom

The emulator chooses the wrong product license section on the license key and may not start.

Problem Cause

The affected versions of the HP3000 emulator always use the first suitable product section found on the license key.

Problem Solution

Select the correct product section on the license key by adding the parameter

sub_license <number of product section>

to the emulator configuration.

Please note: this parameter is obsolete in Charon-PAR versions 1.10 and higher. If this functionality is needed, use the new license_id parameter that provides more configuration flexibility.

Error Message: Instance limit exceeded

Versions affected: Charon-AXP/VAX before version 4.9, Charon-PAR before version 1.10, and other older Charon products

Conditions: attempt to combine a local license (black dongle) with another license (local or network) to increase the number of active instances for the same product running on one host system.

Please note: this error is displayed any time Charon believes the number of allowed instances has been exceeded. This section describes only one specific case.

Problem Symptoms

The emulator instance does not start with the error Instance limit exceeded even though the overall number of instances allowed by the installed licenses seems to be sufficient.

Problem Cause

In the versions listed above, Charon performs the following checks when verifying a local license (black dongle):

Charon reads the number of instances allowed by the selected local license for the specific product code.
Then, Charon checks if there are other instances of the same product running on the host (independent of which license keys these other instances use).
If there are more instances than are allowed by the selected local license, it will stop with the error message described above.

Checks for network licenses use a different mechanism. Charon employs the Sentinel runtime software to attempt a license login. If this succeeds, the emulator will start.

Problem Solution

Contact your partner or Stromasys representative for options to

upgrade the Charon software to a version supporting the combination of local licenses to increase the instance number (versions starting with Charon-AXP/VAX 4.9 and Charon-PAR 1.10), or
combine the required instances on one license dongle and change the second dongle to be a backup for the first dongle.

Please note: Stromasys may require the customer to cover operational costs associated with the license updates or other incurred cost.

Sentinel ACC Shows Duplicate Key ID or Sharing Violation

Versions affected: all Charon emulator products that use HASP licenses

Conditions:

A Charon system on which a software license is installed, is duplicated.
A USB network dongle is served by a host system and passed into a VM (e.g. VMware) where it is also served over the network.
A non-network USB dongle is used by a host system and passed into a VM (e.g. VMware) where it is also used.

Problem Symptom

In case of a Duplicate Key ID, the emulator on the original system may start normally (see section regarding Sentinel HASP RunTime Error 38 above for possible additional problem). However, Sentinel ACC shows that there is a duplicate license.

Problem Cause

The problem can have several causes:

A cloned system with a software license that is brought up in the same LAN as the original system with the license service active and without having removed the software license.
1. By default, both systems will serve the software license on the network.
2. If the original system sees the license served by the cloned system, it will report a duplicate license ID.
3. If the cloned system sees the license served by the original system, it will also report a duplicate license ID. But in addition, the software license will be in cloned state and unusable on the cloned system.
A USB network dongle that is served over the network by a host system and passed into a VM (e.g. VMware) from where it is also served over the network will lead to a duplicate license ID being reported.
A non-network USB dongle is used by the host operating system and passed on to a VM, ACC shows a Sharing violation on the host system and the license will become unusable (error logged that license cannot be used due to sharing).

Problem Solution

If the problem is caused by cloning a system with a software license, follow the steps described in Removing a License to remove the cloned license.

For hardware dongles, ensure that only one system can use the dongle.

Network License Lost After Second NIC Added to License Server

Versions affected: all Charon emulator products that use HASP licenses

Conditions:

An additional NIC is added to a license server and connected to the same LAN on which the license is served.
The additional NIC receives an IP address in the same LAN.
A license client is configured to access the license via the IP address of the first NIC.

Problem Symptom

License clients can no longer access the license served across the network.

Problem Cause

When two NICs with an IP address are connected to the same LAN, it can happen that the license requests are received on one interface and answered on the second. Thus the license client receives an answer from an unexpected address causing the license to be rejected.

Problem Solution

If the second NIC is not required, it can be disabled to fix the problem.

If the second NIC is required, policy routing rules and a non-default routing table must be configured. See RedHat policy-based routing description.

Unable to Find Vendor Library even though Library Exists

Versions affected: all Charon emulator products that use HASP licenses

Conditions:

Loading a license fails with the message that the vendor library cannot be found.
The libraries are correctly installed in /var/hasplm/ (haspvlib_68704.so and haspvlib_x86_64_68704.so).

Problem Symptom

A new or updated license cannot be installed with the error that the vendor library cannot be found.

Problem Cause

The /var filesystem was mounted with the noexec flag. This may be required by a company's security policies.

Problem Solution

Remove the mount flag in the /etc/fstab entry for the /var filesystem and reboot the system.

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