Troubleshoot

Many of Solidworks user are having issues with Solidworks SolidNetwork License Manager, or so called SNL. This article is published to aid in any issues coming in when using the Solidworks SolidNetwork License Manager.   To troubleshoot the SNL you must speak to your IT department first before performing some tests because you may caused some changes to the settings in your computer.

Firewall Checking

Firewall is good to protect your hardwares but due to some issues it may caused a block to the SNL Manager. It is advisable to check the option ; ‘a firewall is in use on this server’ in the Activation Manager to avoid any blocking

Furthermore, the firewall may blockg the port numbers required for access to the SNL manager. It is best to add both inbound and outbound rules for port number ‘25734’ and ‘25735’ to the exceptions list.

PING test

Sometimes the issue may not come from SOLIDWORKS or the SNL manager but instead from external problems such as hardware or server connections. It is easy if we could check for this by performing a Ping test which may also aid you to see if the client machine is talking to the server.

To initiate a ping test, open a command prompt by going to Start > All programs > Accessories > Command Prompt and perform the following:

Type “ping <server_name>” without quotes and without <> (example: ping Machine123)

For successful ping tests, you’ll see the replies for each packet sent in the ping test. A Windows ping test will typically send 4 packets (see image below).

This is great for troubleshooting for any typical latency issues, but the fact that the ping test returned results means that your computer can connect to the server.

TELNET test

Telnet is very goof network protocol to test the connection to a server and to check whether the specific port is open. In regards to the SNL manager; it’s great for testing if the ports ‘25734’ or ‘25735’ are open or not.

To start a Telnet test, the Telnet Client needs to be turned on by going to the Control Panel > Programs > Turn Windows features on or off. In the list of Windows Features, check the box beside Telnet Client to enable the feature.

Then, launch the Command prompt and type in the command telnet, followed by a space then the server name, followed by another space and then the port number. Example: telnet host_name port_number (see image below for example). Press Enter to perform the telnet. If the telnet succeeds the prompt will display a flashing cursor, if it fails it will report that it cannot open the connection.

 

Registry key

If all the tests have been performed and they are successful but the problems to check out a license from the server still there, the next procedure is to check the license manager registry key to make sure the server name is entered correctly:

1. From the Windows Start menu, select Run and type regedit:
2. In the Registry Editor find these keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\FLEXlm License Manager
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\FLEXlm License Manager
3. Double-click on the string SW_D_LICENSE_FILE and make sure the server name is right. Otherwise, overwrite the server name (25734@server_name).
**Check with IT before making this change**

Please contact us if you still could not solve the issue !