If we look around, there are couple of applications now a days which can make our lives easier and help us in our day-to-day activities, There are “n” number of applications, software, tools, utilities, and much more. Let's discuss these tools which could actually help people diagnosing issues related to licensing, We will discuss a few basic components and then dig deeper into the errors and the tips and tricks on how they can be resolved.

Lets start with some command line utilities which are packaged as a single executable called LMUTIL, On Windows systems, the different forms of utilities or command are available as shown below:

• lmborrow: Supports license borrowing
• lmdiag: Diagnose license checkout problems
• lmdown: Shuts down the vendor demons gracefully
• lminstall: Converts licenses to a different formats
• lmremove: Release the licenses to the free licenses pool
• lmreread: Tells License demon to re-read the license file
• lmstat: Displays the status of the license server

I have elaborated below on the necessary commands which will be of great help while troubleshooting licenses issues:

LMDIAG:
lmdiag allows you to diagnose problems when you can not check out a license
Syntax: lmdiag [-c license_file_list] [-n] [feature[:keyword=value]]

Where
-c: Diagnose the specified files
-n: Run in non-interactive mode
feature: Diagnose this feature only
Keyword=value: If license file contains multiple lines for a feature, then using this keyword you can select a particular line, for lmdiag to report on



LMDOWN:
Self explanatory utility, allows for the graceful shutdown of the license demons (both lmgrd and vendor demons)
Syntax: lmdown -c license_file [-vendor vendor_demon] [-q] [-all] [-force]

Where
-c license_file: use of the specified license file
-q: Don't prompt or print a header
-all: If multiple servers are specified, automatically shuts down all
-force: If licenses are borrowed, lmdown runs only from the system where the licenses server is running, and then the only if the user adds -force, -vendor vendor_demon : shuts down only this vendor demon


LMREREAD:
The reread utility will ask the license server to re-read the license file and start any new vendor demons that have been added ( if any ), In addition all other demons re-read the license file and there options file for change,
Syntax: lmreread [-c license_file] [-vendor vendor] [-all]

where
-c license_file : use a specified license file,
-all: If more than one lmgrd is specified, this will instruct all to re-read,
-vendor vendor: Only the vendor demon, specified by the vendor option, rereads the license file and the options file,


LMSTAT:
This lmstat utility will help you to monitor the status of all the network licensing activities, Demons are running or not, License file, Users of individuals features, Borrowed licenses, etc.
Syntax: lmstat [-a] [-c license_file] [-f [feature]] [-i [feature] [-s[server]] [-s [vendor]] [-t timeout_value]

where
-a: displays all the information
-c license_file: Uses the specified license files,
-f [feature]: Display users of feature,
-i [feature]: Display information from the feature definition line for the specified feature,
-s [server]: Display status of all the license file in LM_LICENSE_FILE,
-t timeout_value: Sets connection timeout to timeout_value.




Output of lmstat looks similar to:
lmstat -copyright (c) 1989-2007 Macrovision Europe Ltd. and/or Macrovision corporation. All Right Reserved.

Flexible License manager Status on Wed 11/28/207 15:30
[ Detecting lmgrd processes......]
License server status : 27000@prod (hostname of the machine)
License file(s) on prod (hostname of the machine) : C:\prod\i86_n3\counted.lic:

prod: License server UP v 11.8
Feature usage info :
Users of f1: (Total of 5 license issues; Total of 1 license in use)
"f1" v1.0, vendor: demo
Floating license



LM TOOLS ( LICENSE TOOLS Windows only):
What do you mean by License Tools ( LM TOOLS ), License tools is an application which is used to manage licenses, or you can say that, it is a utility or a graphical user interface that allows you to administer the license server, Some of the functions this utility perform includes:

• starting, stopping, and configuring license servers
• getting system information, including hostids
• getting server status
• configuring using license file/services

NOTE: On Windows Vista run lmtools utility as an administrator.

Now the question arises that how this TOOL can help an individual to manage the licenses. In order to understand this we need to understand the entire structure of this tools and its functions.

To start with, this tool will be by default installed while installing the Rational License Key Server on windows. FLEXlm license manager LMTOOLS.exe as a service in Windows is described in the technical note (link below)
LINK: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21129743


Configure Services (Config Services):
Service Name: We can specify the service name “FLEXlm”.
Figure will show you how to configure services in LMTOOLS, For instance this will have the location of different files and information on the logs as well.

• Path to the Lmgrd.exe file : Physical location of the Lmgrd.exe file.
• Path to the License file : Physical location of the license file.
• Path to the debug Logs : Physical location of the debug logs files.

Once the paths are defined we can save the services using “save service” tab ( right top corner ).
You may always view the logs for any troubleshooting prepossess by clicking on “View Logs” and close using “Close Logs”.

It's always recommended to Enable 'Use Services'; 'Start Server at Power Up', In order to maximize the output.

If in case there are issues with the licenses and you have trouble resolving them, then you can always contact support, Now an important and or helpful step would be to collect everything ( Logs, License file, hardware info, etc ) in a folder and share it with the team for further analysis.

This is no more a hectic job, of getting into each and every directory or launching different application gathering data etc etc...To make your job easier, let me introduce you to a vibrant tool which will do all this in seconds, called “IBM Support Assistant Lite”. Also known as ISALite for Rational Common Licensing, this is a small download-able package that allows you to automate data collection steps when data are requested by Rational support team. This particular package is specific to Rational Common Licensing product, as well as the products listed below. The tool will gather initial data needed for troubleshooting your problems with the product. Tool usage and what is collected would have a detailed description on our website and which can be easily located by clicking on the below given link.

LINK: http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21606152



Starts of the server:
When you start the license server be sure that you direct the output into a local log file where you can examine it, the log file often contains useful information.

Service which needs to be started should be selected “(Lmgrd)” in this case, If it is not the case, go to “config services” tab, select the service to be used, and then return to “Start/Stop/Re-read tab.

1. Stop Server tab will stop the server once executed and will pause all the applications, Using the command line on a Windows system running the FLEXlm license server:
   
   Stopping license server : lmutil lmdown -c
   While LMTOOLS is the recommended method, However, it is also possible to start and stop the license server using the Windows services applet. To do so:
   Navigate to the "Services" control window. Generally this is listed as an item under "Administrative Tools" under the "Control Panel."
   Locate the "License Server" service. If you have manually created the service, locate the name of that service instead.
   Double-click the service to bring up the Properties window, and use the appropriate buttons to Stop, Start, Restart, Pause, or Resume the License Server
    
2. Start Server tab will start the server and resume all the services and start serving licenses, 
3. Re- reading the license file, will help incorporating any changes made to the license file and you may need them to be effective immediately,
4. If we click on advance tab it will give you different boxes, which will help you:
   Restrict lmdown to work only from node where lmgrd is running. Disable inremove from the license file.
   

Functional Check if the Server is Running:
Click on “Server Status” tab and then on “Perform Status Enquiry”
Please see the result in the below given window,

1. Port number indicates in this window corresponds to the SERVER line of the license file used to manage connections,
2. It will show you the path to the license file (Location of the License file).

  
3. Shows the version of FLEXlm, and indicates the state of the license manager if started or not.
If you see the screen above (and the output) it will show the status of the license server (it started detecting lmgrd process) So the “License Server Status : 27000@CYPRES”
License file(s) on CYPRES: E:\FlexLM\License (This is the physical path of the license file),
Proceeding further we have the version of the License Server (License Server UP (MASTER) v10.1).
Then it will show that the Vendor daemon status and Feature usage information (If the licenses are issued and how many are in use), Please see the output below,


Vendor daemon status (on CYPRES):
ibmratl: UP v10.1
Feature usage info: How many licenses are served/issued from the server and how many in use,
Users of Distributor: Total of 3 licenses issued; Total of 2 licenses in use
Users of Presenter: Total of 3 licenses issued; Total of 2 licenses in use
Users of DOORS: Total of 3 licenses issued; Total of 2 licenses in use
Users of DRL: Total of 3 licenses issued; Total of 2 licenses in use

If there is an issue with the License server or with License file it will throw an error and will not have the feature usage info as license issued.


References:
FLEXlm Error -97 rational daemon process suddenly locks up:
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21133235

Error message on the LMTools Perform Status Enquiry output:
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21452500