Operational Information and Logging
This section describes some information that could become relevant during the operation of a VE license server and the corresponding Charon emulator products.
Contents
Sentinel/Gemalto Tools not Applicable to the VE License Server
Any Sentinel/Gemalto-specific license tools provided with the emulator installation are not applicable to the VE license server configuration.
Sentinel/Gemalto-specific tools and configuration options in Charon emulator kits:
In Charon emulator kits, the Sentinel/Gemalto-specific license tools and configuration options are available when installing the complete emulator packages. These tools and options are in particular the following:
Charon-SSP:
HASP Viewer, HASP Updater, and HASP Manager in the Tools > HASP Tools menu of the Charon Manager
The Regular and Backup License parameter in the emulator license configuration section
The command-line tools in /opt/charon-agent/ssp-agent/utils/license
Charon-PAR:
The command-line tools in /opt/charon/bin (including the update tool hasp_update, and the license viewer and C2V creation tool hasp_srm_view)
The license_id configuration parameter is not supported. To choose a specific product section, the passphrase of the section is used.
The above tools and commands cannot be used for managing VE licenses. Please ignore them if you have a VE license.
Actions that Can Invalidate a VE License
Starting and Stopping the License Server
Please note: In versions before 1.0.17, the license server can only be started if a valid license is installed.
The license server is a systemd service that is controlled via systemctl.
VE versions before 2.4.9:
Starting the license server:
# systemctl start licensedStopping the license server:
# systemctl stop licensedRestarting the license server:
# systemctl restart licensedShowing the license server status:
# systemctl status licensed
VE version 2.4.9 or later:
Starting the license server:
# systemctl start CharonLicenseServerStopping the license server:
# systemctl stop CharonLicenseServerRestarting the license server:
# systemctl restart CharonLicenseServerShowing the license server status
: # systemctl status CharonLicenseServer
The license server service logs information to license.log in /opt/license-server/log (VE versions before 2.4.9) or /opt/charon-license-server/log (VE version 2.4.9 or later), and to journalctl.
Primary and Backup License Server / Peer Servers
General Information
Charon emulators for VE licenses support a backup license server to ensure service continuity should the primary license server become temporarily unavailable. The primary/backup servers in general VE license mode operate differently from the peer servers of AutoVE mode:
For general VE license mode, backup licenses are typically limited to a certain number of emulator runtime hours. The backup license server is only used for failover if the primary license server fails in order not to deplete the available runtime hours unnecessarily.
For AutoVE mode, the two license servers act as peers between which the client database is synchronized. The total number of instances available on both servers determines the number of Charon host cloud instances that can be licensed from the license server pair. Each instance can connect to either of the two servers. However, if one of the peers fails and there are not enough available instances on the second peer, there is no backup for an instance trying to fail over to the second peer due to failure of its primary server - and the emulators running on this instance will fail. The license on the server designated as backup server can be a countdown license (specified number of runtime hours) or a normal license.
The example below (version 2.4.9) shows the output of a countdown license with an additional expiration date (combining a countdown license with an expiration date is possible starting with VE license server v2.4.8; the display of the remaining time is new in version 2.4.9).:
<<License Viewer>> Current license:
License Fingerprint: 3b082de32bf168c274c6d36132221a0e82b541093104da2cd61f93dd1d9500cb
Customer Name: Stromasys/Waltraud
License ID: 03.00000003.002.013
License Type: COUNTDOWN
Countdown: 359 hour(s) and 59 minute(s)
Expiration Date: 2025-12-17 23:55:00 UTC
Platform: physical.machine
Release Date: 2025-11-28 10:14:52 UTC
Grace Period: 1440 minutes
License Check Interval: 60 minutes
Virtual Hardware: Charon-SSP/4M,Charon-SSP/4U,Charon-SSP/4U+,Charon-SSP/4V,Charon-SSP/4V+
Product Code: CHARON-SSP
Major Version: 6
Minor Version: 1
Maximum CPU: 64
Maximum Virtual Memory: 1048576 MB
Instances Allowed: 5
Passphrase:The above sample is a backup license with 100 hours of emulator runtime. The remaining hours can be checked via the web interface.
Backup License Server Operation
Should the primary license server become unavailable, the emulator tries to connect to the backup license server. If this succeeds, the emulator continues to run without interruption. If no connection to a valid license can be established within the grace period, after the loss of the license has been detected, the emulator will stop. The grace period is defined on the license. Check the license content for the actual value configured (default for new licenses is 24 hours, but the actual configuration may be different).
Please note: If you do not have a valid backup license and the primary license server is unavailable for more than the grace period, make sure to shut down the guest operating system cleanly before the end of the grace period. Failure to do so may cause data loss or corruption.
If the primary license server becomes available again after the emulator has switched to the backup server, the emulator will automatically switch back to the primary server to avoid unnecessary depletion of the backup license runtime hours in VE license server mode.
Log Files
Log files provide important information about the operation of the license server and the Charon emulator software. In case of problems, this is the first place to check.
License Server Log File
Log File Location
The license server service logs information to license.log in /opt/license-server/log (VE versions before 2.4.9) or /opt/charon-license-server/log (VE version 2.4.9 or later), and to journalctl.
At every license server start, a new version of the log file is created and the previous file is rotated to license.log.1. Other existing versions are rotated accordingly.
Log File Samples
Normal startup:
2020-01-16 09:00:43 INFO MAIN Build time: Jan 16 2020 10:54:15
2020-01-16 09:00:44 INFO MAIN License server is ready to serve.
No valid license installed:
2020-01-10 12:17:19 INFO MAIN Build time: Jan 10 2020 17:22:12
2020-01-10 12:17:19 ERROR License license is not available.
2020-01-10 12:17:19 INFO MAIN The program is terminated.
Client connection log (new in 1.0.28):
2020-10-02 21:46:29 INFO MAIN License server is ready to serve.
2020-10-03 01:31:09 INFO Server CHARON-SSP/4U v4.1.32 has logged in from 127.0.0.1:40704.
2020-10-03 01:45:21 INFO Server CHARON-SSP/4U v4.1.32 from 127.0.0.1:40704 has been disconnected
Charon-SSP Emulator Log Files
Log File Location
The default emulator log file location is /opt/charon-agent/ssp-agent/ssp/<architecture/<vm-name>/.
<architecture> can be sun-4m, sun-4u, or sun-4v.
<vm-name> is the name of the emulated SPARC system.
The log file is called <vm-name>.log. At every emulator start, a new version of the log file is created and the previous file is rotated to <vm-name>.log.1. Other existing versions are rotated accordingly. The number of retained files is determined by the log configuration of the emulated SPARC system.