Resolve Error: License Checkout Failed

Issue

When using MATLAB® Parallel Server™ with the network license manager, a licensing problem might result in a message that starts with the following:

License checkout failed.

Possible Solutions

Licensing errors can arise from issues such as incorrect license file configurations, system date discrepancies, or connectivity problems between worker machines and the license server.

Resolve Incorrect License File Configurations

When cluster users submit jobs to a cluster with MATLAB Parallel Server, MATLAB checks the license file during worker startup to verify product licensing. If licensing issues occur, workers fail to start and the MATLAB client displays errors such as:

  • License checkout failed. License Manager Error -5 No such FEATURE exists.

  • License checkout failed. License Manager Error -5. Cannot find a license for <product_name>

These errors indicate that the product is not in the network license manager's license file or there are formatting issues in the license file.

You can find the network manager's license file, named license.dat, in the matlabroot/etc folder on the server machine that hosts your network license manager. matlabroot is the MATLAB installation folder. You might also have a copy of the network license from installing MATLAB Parallel Server on the worker node.

Open the license.dat file in an editor.

Verify Product Licensing.  Verify that the product is listed in the network license manager's license file.

Each INCREMENT line identifies a product, the number of keys available for the product, and other information. To locate the product, find it within an INCREMENT line in your license file. Here is an example of an INCREMENT line:

INCREMENT MATLAB MLM 46 30-jan-2025 13 FDC7243F4976  \
        VENDOR_STRING=vi=0:at=200:ae=1:lu=300:lo=CN:ei=1234567:lr=1:2p=0:  \
        DUP_GROUP=UH asset_info=123456 ISSUED=21-Nov-2021 BORROW=720  \
        NOTICE=product=MATLAB SN=123456 SIGN="00C8 0547 EFDF 50D7 B9CE  \
        4C9D 3348 561B E9E3 6CCA 7986 C2F6 38C8 794F EE84"

Confirm the product is listed in the license file. If you are unable to find the product and expect it to be there, contact support.

Check for Formatting Issues.  This error can also occur as a result of having extra carriage returns or tabs in your license file or an INCREMENT line wrapping onto the preceding line.

Ensure each line in the license file begins with either #, SERVER, DAEMON, or INCREMENT and is left justified. If you spot any formatting issues, stop the network license manager and edit the license file to fix the formatting issue, After fixing the license.dat file, restart the network license manager. For help with stopping and starting the network license manager, see Start and Stop Network License Manager.

Check System Date.  If your system date is before the date that your network license was made, you might get this error. Update the system date.

Resolve MATLAB Job Scheduler Worker License Issues

You might see the following error when you start a MATLAB Job Scheduler worker using the startworker command and the installation does not have access to a worker license:

The mjs service on the host hostname 
returned the following error:

Problem starting the MATLAB worker.

The cause of this problem is:

==============================================================
   Most likely, the MATLAB worker failed to start due to a
   licensing problem, or MATLAB crashed during startup.  Check 
   the worker log file
   /tmp/mjs_user/node_node_worker_05-11-01_16-52-03_953.log
   for more detailed information.  The mjs log file
   /tmp/mjs_user/mjs-service.log
   may also contain some additional information.
===============================================================
In the worker log files, you see the following information:
License checkout failed.
License Manager Error -15
MATLAB is unable to connect to the license server. 
Check that the license manager has been started, and that the 
MATLAB client machine can communicate with the license server.

Check Worker Can Connect to Network License Manager.  To ensure the worker can connect to the network license manager, verify the connection between the worker node and the network license server.

  1. Verify communication by pinging the license manager server from the worker node with the following command, where hostname is the host name of the server machine: 

    ping <hostname>
    If the ping fails, a network error might prevent communication. Contact your network administrator to resolve this issue.

  2. You can also ping the license manager server from the worker node using the server's IP address. If you can ping the server's IP address but not its host name, the issue lies in your network's DNS configuration. The worker checks the local license file, network.lic, for the server's host name. As a workaround, replace the host name in the SERVER line of network.lic with the IP address. Find the network.lic file in the matlabroot/licenses folder, where matlabroot is the MATLAB installation folder on the worker node.

  3. Verify that the SERVER line of the network.lic on the worker node matches that of the license.dat file on the server. If the SERVER line differs, the worker node might contact the wrong server/port.

  4. Determine if firewalls exist between the worker node and the license manager server. The license manager uses two ports that must be open in the firewall. These ports are specified in the license file on the license manager server. If a firewall is running, contact your system administrator to open the necessary ports.

Check for MATLAB Parallel Server Installation.  You can also see this error if you installed only Parallel Computing Toolbox™ on the worker node. If MATLAB Parallel Server is not installed, workers running on the node cannot obtain a license. Make sure that MATLAB Parallel Server is correctly installed on the worker node. For more information about installing MATLAB Parallel Server on worker nodes, see Install Software on Cluster Nodes.

See Also

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