When attempting to compile a COBOL program, execute sde, execute animator or the editor you get:

Micro Focus LMF - 010: Unable to contact license manager.

This product has been unable to contact the License Manager.Execution of this product has been terminated.

This product cannot execute without the License Manager. Contact your license administrator or refer to the 'Information Messages' chapter of the License Management Facility Administrator's Guide.

When you received the “Unable to contact license manager” message the problem was either:

-- The License Manager in mflmf was not started
-- The pipe LMF-common located in /tmp or /var/tmp was deleted

There is now a third option. If there is a Host Interactive Protection System (HIPS) running on the server it can cause the error. The symptoms are very 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.

You can 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.