Problem:
When trying to run a Server Express development utility, for example the COBOL compiler, the Animator, or the SDE, the following error message appears:
Micro Focus LMF - 010: Unable to contact license manager.
Resolution:
The License Manager is a daemon process that usually runs in the background without requiring manual intervention. The process is named "mflm_manager" (visible in "ps -ef" output). Also, the License Manager creates and uses a named pipe on disk. This is named "LMF-common", and is usually located in /tmp (though its location is configurable).
The most common reason for the error message "LMF - 010: Unable to contact license manager" is that the License Manager is not running, and the solution is to re-start the License Manager.
1) Login as root
2) Change directories (cd) to the directory where the License Management Facility (LMF) is installed. This is /opt/microfocus/mflmf by default (or /opt/lib/mflmf or /usr/lib/mflmf in older versions), but the person who installed the COBOL product might have installed the LMF in a different directory. See the section below in this article named DISCOVERING THE OPERATIVE LMF DIRECTORY.
3) From the operative LMF directory, to start the License Manager, enter the command: sh mflmman
4) To confirm that the License Manager is running, enter the command: ./lmfgetpv
5) Test by running the development utility (the COBOL Compiler, the Animator, etc) to see whether the problem is solved.
If in step 3) you see the message: "There is already a copy of License Manager running!" this means the named pipe LMF-common has been accidentally deleted. To solve this problem, use the following command to discover the Process-ID (PID) of the License Manager process:
ps -ef | grep mflm_manager
then use "kill -15 <PID>" to kill the process. Then run "sh mflmman" to re-start the License Manager.
If the error message "LMF - 010: Unable to contact license manager" still occurs, the permissions of the named pipe LMF-common may not be correct. The permissions must be 777 i.e. prxwrxwrxw. Also, the directory must have full read/write/execute permission for all users who will be using the LMF. Change the permissions to 777 then test again.
There is another possible reason for the error message "LMF - 010: Unable to contact license manager". If there is a Host Interactive Protection System (HIPS) it can cause the error. The symptoms are strange:
-- You can compile to .int code (cob –v), but cannot create native code .gnt (cob –u)
-- You can execute tbox, but not sde or vice versa.
To resolve this issue, modify the mode that Host Interactive Protection System runs under to allow Micro Focus’ License Manager to function properly. To resolve this issue, Admin should modify the exception rule to HIPS which then allowed execution of $COBDIR/bin/ncg32.
RELOCATING THE NAMED PIPE LMF-common
The error message "LMF - 010: Unable to contact license manager" sometimes occurs because the LMF-common named pipe was accidentally deleted. The reason it was deleted is probably because it is located in /tmp. In Linux and UNIX, /tmp is traditionally a scratch location, where users can write temporary or transitory files. A System Administrator may periodically delete files from /tmp to free up space. To prevent the LMF-common named pipe from being accidentally deleted, it can be relocated to another directory.
Use the LMFCOMM environment variable to indicate a custom location for the LMF-common named pipe, for example LMFCOMM=/var/tmp. Be sure to set the LMFCOMM environment variable in all of these places:
1) The script /etc/mflmrcscript, that runs when the machine is booted to automatically start the License Manager
2) The script "mflmman" in the operative LMF directory
3) The .profile or login environment of all users of the COBOL system
For more information, begin at this link to the Server Express documentation:
https://supportline.microfocus.com/documentation/books/sx51ws02/sx51indx.htm
From there, navigate to Development System Licensing Guide > Chapter 2, Administering the License Management Facility > Relocating the Long-lived Named Pipe.
DISCOVERING THE OPERATIVE LMF DIRECTORY
In order to view and manage development licenses, you need to know the operative LMF directory. One way of discovering this location is by invoking the command "lmfgetpv" found within $COBDIR/lmf. For example, enter:
$COBDIR/lmf/lmfgetpv
If the License Manager is running, lmfgetpv will produce output similar to:
License Manager version 129 Loaded from /opt/microfocus/mflmf
The "loaded from" location is the operative LMF location. In the above example, "/opt/microfocus/mflmf" was discovered to be the operative LMF location.
If the License Manager is not running, lmfgetpv will report:
License Manager is not running
In that case, a way of discovering the LMF location is by entering the following command:
grep COBDIR= /etc/mflmrcscript
The COBDIR returned from this 'grep' command is the operative LMF directory configured for automatic start at boot time. Note: in just this particular case, COBDIR does not mean the location where the product is installed, it means the operative LMF location.
When you discover the operative LMF location, change directories to that location and begin administering development licenses.
