License automation reverts license to previous serial number

Overview

You may face an issue where M-Files Server automatically reverts the license number you see to a different one.

This happens because the license automation fetches a license from the cloud every 24 hours. You can read more details about this feature here: License Automation On-Premises - FAQ.

When you have Joined your server to M-Files Manage, it keeps track of the original subscription ID that its current license had at the time of joining, and then the automation fetches a license for this subscription, even if you manually install a new license.

We have seen this happen most often when partners initially prepare a server for their end customer and use their partner subscription (e.g., because the customer one is not yet ready).

In such a case, even when you try to install the correct license via the License Management dialog in M-Files Admin, it will revert to the old one (either within 24h, or when you click "Refresh License"), even though it will initially accept the new license and show the new serial number for a while.

Solution

If you have NOT joined your server to M-Files Manage

You only need to go to M-Files Manage via your web browser and download the 4-day license from there and apply it in the Licensing dialog in M-Files.

If you HAVE joined your server to M-Files Manage

NOTE: We strongly recommend using M-Files Server 25.8 or later. If you cannot use such a version, contact support to assist you - in such a case there are manual steps that both sides need to perform.

You need to do the following:

1. Download the 4-day license for the correct serial number (subscription ID) from M-Files Manage.
2. If you are using MSM (Multi Server Mode), repeat steps 3-5 for all servers, in quick succession.
3. Apply the 4-day license via M-Files Admin.
4. Stop the M-Files Server service.
5. Unjoin the server from M-Files Manage (open Manage, find Servers, open the Server Details for the specific server).
6. Wait at least 15 minutes for the unjoin operation to complete on the Manage backend.
7. Start the M-Files Server service.
8. Make sure that the serial number is correct. The last retrieval time for the automatic license should show "N/A".
9. Perform the Join operation again.

At this point, your server should use the new (correct) serial number (subscription ID) and be joined to Manage and update the correct license.

NOTE: Joining Manage synchronizes users and logins from the subscription, so altering the subscription may mean you need to clean some of the old ones up from the server and/or vaults that used the wrong subscription - if that subscription had users coming from a different place/vault/logic, you may now have these extra ones on the vaults that were running on the server joined to that wrong subscription. 

Note that whether and how to do this is a business decision (e.g., deleting users will remove the information for any changes they made in the vault, so you may only want to ensure they are disabled, but not delete them) and it is up to the local administrators to decide and implement this. M-Files cannot know the logic and what the correct data would be in order to provide automation.