Q100189: "License timed out on server" error message in Nuke

SYMPTOMS

After running Nuke for a while, typically more than an hour, you get a license warning pop up with the following error message:

RLM: License time out on server

 

Once you click OK you should be able to continue to run Nuke.  This can happen when using in-built plug-in nodes such as Kronos, Keylight or OFlow and some NukeX features such as FurnaceCore and will only happen with floating licenses.

 

This issue only happens with floating licenses and is caused by one of Nuke's connections to a license server not maintaining a regular communication with the license server, coupled with the default setting for how long our RLM server will wait before assuming a license is dead.

 

When Nuke runs both the Nuke executable and the internal DDImage libraries check with the server that they have a nuke_i license - only one license is checked out to the computer but it is shared by both processes. Additionally, when you run Nuke in NukeX mode, both the executable and DDImage also check out a nukex_i licence to share.

 

Some nodes in Nuke (e.g. OFlow, Kronos, Keylight) and NukeX features (including FurnaceCore nodes) check that DDImage still has a license checked out, instead of contacting the license server themselves. The bug with Nuke is that the DDImage checkouts aren't maintaining a heartbeat connection to the licence server to let it know that the licence is still in use.

 

License Timeout setting on server
We install an RLM options file with the Foundry Licensing Tools (FLT) which sets a timeout setting for all licences of 1 hour by including the following line:

 

The TIMEOUT or TIMEOUTALL setting determines how long the server will wait without hearing from a license checkout before it assumes license is not being used and takes it back. We set this default value of an hour to prevent crashed programs from keeping a license checked out to a machine.

Unfortunately this combines with the DDImage license heartbeat bug so that if you run Nuke for more than the timeout setting, and then try to use a node that checks DDImage, you'll get the license timed out message. Creating another node or changing a setting on the node should be enough to prompt DDImage to communicate with the server again and check back out the same licence, you shouldn't need to restart Nuke.

 

This issue is tracked internally as bug 156955.

RESOLUTION

You can workaround this problem by increasing the timeout setting in the options file(s) so that Nuke runs for longer before giving you these popups. To do this, you need to edit the following files on the server:

Windows:
C:\Program Files\The Foundry\RLM\foundry.opt
C:\ProgramData\The Foundry\RLM\foundry.opt

OSX:
/Library/Application Support/TheFoundry/RLM/foundry.opt

Linux:
/usr/local/foundry/RLM/foundry.opt

and change the TIMEOUTALL value. For example, to set a timeout of 2 hours you'd change the line to

TIMEOUTALL 7200

 

 

PLEASE NOTE: You will need to restart the RLM server in order for this change to take effect.

 

Windows & OSX:
Run the Foundry License Utility (FLU) as an admin user, go to the RLM Server tab and click on "Stop Server" and then "Start Server".

 

Linux:

Run the following commands as root or with sudo:

  

 

 

More information about the RLM options file and how you can control the behaviour of the RLM server is available in the RLM End User Guide.