Overview
M-Files automates the license delivery for on-premise installations. This article answers a few common questions and how to troubleshoot issues.
What are the requirements?
Answer: Network connectivity for the mfserver.exe process to our cloud, and M-Files Server version 24.8 or later. You can read more here: Automatic License delivery automation for On-premises.
Is connecting the server to M-Files Manage required?
Answer: No. While you can join an on-premise server to M-Files Manage, these are two separate operations and tasks with separate benefits.
How do I activate license automation?
Answer: It is always enabled for M-Files Server versions 24.8 and later.
Which licenses are automated?
Answer: The following licenses are fetched automatically:
- M-Files Server - this includes named, concurrent and read-only licenses, and the enabled modules / add-ons.
- M-Files owned vault applications (e.g., Compliance Kit)
Vault applications owned by third parties that are generally not distributed by M-Files are not included. You need to be in touch with their vendor when you need a new license and to apply it manually.
NOTE: In new server installations you need to apply the initial server license manually. This connects the server to your subscription and enables license automation. You can get the initial server license by logging into M-Files Manage and accessing the Licenses page.
How often is a license refresh performed?
Answer: Once the license automation works, M-Files Server performs a check and refreshes the license once every 6 hours. Until the first successful license retrieval, the attempts are made every 24h.
Versions 25.10 and older check every 24 hours even after automation has been established.
How do I make M-Files Server request a license update?
Answer: You can "force" a license update by:
- Clicking the Refresh button in the License Management dialog in M-Files Admin.
- Restarting the M-Files Server service or the OS (NOTE: this is a service break that you may need to plan).
How long is my Server license active?
Answer: Your license is active as long as your subscription is active. The license automation, however, fetches licenses that are valid for a maximum of 30 days at a time, so you will see a 30-day expiration date in M-Files Admin. This license expiration date updates when the daily license refresh succeeds.
How long is my Vault Application license active?
Answer: Vault application licenses are valid for 60 days from their generation date, even though the server license itself is valid for 30. Vault application licenses are generated once a month, however, even if the refresh happens every day, so you can see their validity range between 30-60 days depending on when the generation happened.
Why do I see a 4 day license?
Answer: This is the validity of the initial license provided for new installations / subscriptions to get you started easily and quickly. The license automation should then kick in and update its validity.
What if I cannot use the automation and internet connection?
Answer: Contact your account executive or reseller for the available options. For example, you may be eligible to download your licenses from the M-Files Manage portal manually to apply them yourself, but this may be a billable service.
How long does it take for newly purchased user licenses or add-ons to appear?
Answer: Usually the next license refresh should bring them which means approximately 24 hours. In some cases it may take up to 48 hours. You can click the Refresh button in the M-Files Admin license dialog to force the license refresh manually.
Does applying a license cause an outage?
Answer: No.
I'm migrating M-Files to a new server computer. How do I enable license automation on the new server?
Answer: Back up the master database on the old server and restore it on the new server. Licenses are migrated in this backup. Alternatively, if you cannot use the master backup for some reason, get a new server license from M-Files Manage and install it in M-Files Admin.
Make sure the new server can also connect to the licensing service on M-Files Cloud.
What License should secondary servers like QA/Dev/Staging use?
Answer: The same as the main production server. You can download an initial (4-day) license from M-Files Manage, apply it, and monitor the license automation kicks in for this server. If you are still using an old separate license key or separate subscription, contact your account executive to get those cleaned up as well.
When will I see the 'renews automatically' text in the M-Files Admin license dialog?
Answer: After the first successful automatic refresh happens. So, after applying a license manually (e.g., the initial license), you may need to wait for 24h to see the update that the automation worked.
What information is sent to the M-Files backend?
Answer: See this article: What information is communicated to M-Files Cloud when license automation is in use?
Troubleshooting
If the license automation does not seem to be working (for example, the license expiration date does not update, or newly purchased licenses / modules do not appear), perform the following steps:
Step 1
Make sure that network connectivity is allowed. Contact your network administrators for assistance with that part of the infrastructure troubleshooting. See this article for more details: Testing network connectivity for license automation on-premises
Also check that you have the correct license number installed, and, in case of a new purchase, that at least 48 hours have passed and the update has not occurred.
Also, check for some common issues:
- License automation reverts license to previous serial number
- Behaviors described above that may not be obvious (e.g., that vault applications update licenses more rarely, that it may take up to a couple of days to update licenses after a purchase, that all environments should use the same serial number, etc.).
Step 2
Look at the Windows Event Log for errors related to "greenlights.cpp". An error message there may already point you in the right direction. For example:
- A security/TLS error is likely a network problem such as TLS version 1.2 or later not enabled on your server, or firewall breaking the request.
- Note that M-Files Server runs as the SYSTEM user by default, so firewall rules may be different from your current user.
- You may get errors similar to these:
Step 3
If you cannot resolve the issue, contact M-Files Support and provide the following information:
- the unfiltered windows event log for at least 24h.
- registry export of this key: Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Motive\M-Files\<version>\Server\MFServer
- a screenshot of the License Management dialog of M-Files Admin
- the exact customer name
- the subscription ID (serial number)
- the server computer name
Keep in mind that these files can contain sensitive data, so make sure to send them securely: How to send files via Cryptshare portal.
A temporary workaround may be that you get sent a license key by our licensing department in case there are some issues with the automation, but the goal should be to fix those issues instead of relying on licenses that you have to apply manually.
