Issue

While working in Alchemy Catalyst, an error message comes up: "The license you are currently using has expired or a problem with the License Manager prevents the license from being verified. You must restart the application."

 

Reason

While Alchemy Catalyst runs using a license, a signal is sent back and forth between Catalyst itself (Catalyst.exe) and a license server (Lmgrd.exe) in the background. This happens both when the license is served on the same machine where Alchemy Catalyst is running or when the license is serverd from an Alchemy Network Licence Manager (ANLM) server on a different machine.

This is needed to avoid a license being used by several users at the same time. For example, a license has been served by an ANLM server which gets disconnected. After it is restarted, the same license can be served back to the original user.
Also, for time limited licenses, that signal is used to find out if a license is still valid and has not expired.

So, while Catalyst is running, this signal has to be able to reach the License server. When something happens that prevents this communication, Alchemy Catalyst sends the error message.

It does not affect your work. You can click the OK button and continue to work but until you restart Alchemy Catalyst, this error will return every 15mins.

 

Solution

The possible causes for the signal to fail are:

  • Network cable has been unplugged (at either sides)
  • License server is off line or switched off
  • License has expired
  • Something interfered with the Tcp/IP protocol at the client side

In the last point if a network cable was plugged in when Alchemy Catalyst starts and unplugged while the application is still running, sometimes it triggers a communication issue between Catalyst.exe and lmgrd.exe (even on the same machine). The same can happen if the network cable is unplugged and a wireless network becomes available and connected. Something often seen happening for users of laptops connected to an office network via a cable, then disconnected to go wireless.

It is suggested to stop Alchemy Catalyst before changing anything to the network connection (like unplugging the cable) and start Alchemy Catalyst again once on the new network.

 

Related topics

 

Products or Versions Affected

  • Alchemy CATALYST 6.0  and greater