Factory Talk Activation Borrow and Return problem

We installed RSLogix 500 and RSLinx on a laptop with Windows 8 (I know, don't say it) along with RSLinx Lite and FTAM.

We tested the ability to borrow the RSLogix 500 license over a VPN connection and all seemed to be going well.

We did this for rare cases when another team member may need to get a license for use from across the internet when out in the field. After we got this all working, we returned the license to the server and that also appeared to work fine. But, about that same time the (wireless) connection to the router went awry and now the license is still showing in use and borrowed, but on the machine to which it was loaned, it is not listed.

On my trusty laptop, I see the same thing. The license is showing as borrowed and in use. Also, on my FTAM list, there is a hyperlink that is supposed to show the "borrow details" but it comes up blank.

I guess I have 7 days to get this figured out if it doesn't fix itself. And, yes, I left the default borrow term at 90 days for this quick little test. We are rebooting the target machine now, and can reboot the server if necessary.

If anyone has any other suggestions, I would be grateful.

Thanks,
Paul

wow, that's weird. if true then they messed up some hand-shaking logic.

Have you tried to borrow again from the same remote PC? Have you tried to "Refresh Activation" from the remote PC and the server while connected? The server is supposed to show which PC has the borrowed license so I think a "re-sync" of some sort might do the trick.

ETA: Also, I should mention under the Advanced Tab, you can open up the diagnostics veriew

harryting said:

wow, that's weird. if true then they messed up some hand-shaking logic.

Have you tried to borrow again from the same remote PC? Have you tried to "Refresh Activation" from the remote PC and the server while connected? The server is supposed to show which PC has the borrowed license so I think a "re-sync" of some sort might do the trick.

ETA: Also, I should mention under the Advanced Tab, you can open up the diagnostics veriew

Click to expand...

Yep. We tried refreshing the server and resetting it, then we tried rebooting (both machines) We cannot borrow it again since the license is not available. It does show up as both in use and borrowed from my machine as well as on the server and on the problem laptop. My machine has FTAM 3.51 while the other two have 3.50. I think that might be why mine has the hyperlink under the license count columns to allow me to try to look at the "borrow details". We tried borrowing the other license on the server (RS5000) and this time set the borrow time to 1 hour, and it worked as expected but did not help with the "lost in space" license when we returned it.

This will probably require a call to a/b during business hours unless someone else has seen this and knows a trick or two. I looked around in the log file on the FTAM on the server (Windows 2008 server). There were a lot of things listed but none of the items in the log jumped out at me as being a smoking gun.

This is what I get for bragging about how simple and reliable FTA is. In many years I never had much trouble out of it and certainly nothing like this. My boss' laptop with Windows 8 is reputed to be cursed so I should have known better.

Thanks for the ideas, though and if there are other thoughts on what to try, I am interested in hearing them.

When that happens to me, it has always cleared up overnight (as long as no actual programs were running that needed the license.

Really hate the FT Activation system overall though. Just another layer of complexity and additional always running services consuming resources.

My first guess with this type of issue is that the Server and Client FTAM versions are mismatched, but you've already confirmed that they are both at v3.50.

So it must have been some other glitch, like your connection dropping, that caused the Server to not complete the Return Transaction.

Usually, when you have a borrowed license that's stuck in limbo, you'll have to Rehost the Activation to make it available again.

That would be my best guess as to your solution here, but I would still advise you to contact Support anyway and see what they think.

You could wait a day or so to see does it recover, but with 90 days expiry, I don't think it will?

Regards,
George

Geospark said:

...
So it must have been some other glitch, like your connection dropping, that caused the Server to not complete the Return Transaction.

Click to expand...

This did happen (loss of connection to server). It seems to have occurred at the same moment the laptop thought it had completed the return process. I had my boss check the status this morning and the license is still in limbo. I am in the field all day today. Tomorrow I will follow up again and call in to tech support if it doesn't clear up by the FM principle.

Geospark said:

Usually, when you have a borrowed license that's stuck in limbo, you'll have to Rehost the Activation to make it available again.

Click to expand...

Rehosting it did the trick. I didn't have the server login credentials to try this last week, but got it done today. After rehosting and then reactivating it I had to hit the refresh serer button to reset the counts and now all is well.

Factory talk activation borrow license through VPN

I have a active rockwell license that I need to borrow to my coworker remotely. How I can do it. He is in texas and I am in NJ. Please help

He borrows you loan, end of todays English lesson