HowTo: Fix the Invalid License Error

Any version of InterWorx-CP.

There are a variety or reasons why you may get the “invalid license” error. They all relate in some way to the quad daily license verification. This HowTo document will give the reader an overview of each cause and how to fix them.

There are 5 known causes of the invalid license error:

1. The time on your system clock is off
2. Port 2443 is blocked or InterWorx is mot installed on a publicly available IP
3. You’ve changed IP‘s and haven’t made the change on our licensing server.
4. Your server is unable to resolve license.interworx.com
5. Your license has expired or been suspended due to non payment

Depending on the cause, please follow the instructions below to fix your server:

1. Log into your server as ‘root’ and verify the system time
2. Sync your system time against an Internet timebase server (run the following as root):
   • service ntpd stop
   • ntpdate tick.usno.navy.mil OR ntpdate bitsy.mit.edu
   • service ntpd start
3. Sync your license with the licensing server:
   • /home/interworx/cron/license.pex --sync (or ~iworx/cron/license.pex --sync)
4. That should fix your problem.

InterWorx MUST be have at least one IP that is publicly available with port 2443 OPEN to all connections. You can install InterWorx on an internal IP, but you will have to make appropriate changes to firewalls/routers to make that port on at least one IP accessible to the Internet. The InterWorx software contacts our licensing server 4 times a day to verify the license. If it fails to make contact, there is approximately a 24 hour grace period and then it suspends the software until such time as it can make contact.

• Reconfigure you router if needed to make sure at least one IP is available to the Internet.
• Verify that port 2443 is completely OPEN in your firewall.
  1. Log into your server as root and run the following command ~iworx/cron/license.pex --sync
  2. That should fix your problem.

Each licensed copy of InterWorx-CP may only be installed on ONE server at a time. In order to enforce this license, the InterWorx software attempts to contact the licensing server 4 times a day to verify the license. If the IP of the server and the IP on file with the licensing server for a particular license key do not match, the InterWorx software will suspend itself until such time as this is corrected.

• If you are planning to run InterWorx-CP on more than one server, you will need to buy a separate license key for each server (even in clustering).
• If you have changed servers or have changed the IP or your existing server:
  1. Follow the instructions in this howto doc to change the IP associated with your license key.
  2. Log into your server as or su to root and execute the following command ~iworx/cron/license.pex --sync
  3. That should fix your problem.

As part of the license verification process, InterWorx attempts to contact license.interworx.com. If the dns lookup fails this can also suspend your license.

Assuming you are using your own server as a dns server:

Check your resolv.conf settings:

[root@iworx ~]# cat /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 127.0.0.1
[root@iworx ~]#

This is EXACTLY what you should see. It should NOT read localhost or have the actual IP of your server.

If this has been changed somehow:

1. Edit resolv.conf so that it reads as above
2. Execute service ntpd restart as root

If you are using an external dns resolver

1. Run ping license.interworx.com as root
2. If you don’t get a response, contact your DNS provider for assistance

1. Please check causes 1-4 before contacting InterWorx unless you already know that this is the cause.
2. Contact InterWorx to verify that your license is up to date and paid.
3. Renew or pay your bill as needed.
4. Log into your server as root and run the following command ~iworx/cron/license.pex --sync
5. That should fix your problem.

If none of these issues seems to be the problem, direct clients, please open a support ticket. Indirect clients, please contact your reseller for assistance.