The License Forwarder (LF) is an application that acts as a license server for third party applications when using Third Party Usage-Based Licensing (UBL). In order to use third Party render time license, at least one instance of the License Forwarder must be running and connected to the Repository, and Workers must be able to connect to it.
The License Forwarder must not run on the machine running the Deadline Worker or a License Server. It will cause port conflicts for the License Forwarder.
The License Forwarder authenticates to the Cloud License Servers and performs using a client certificate for each feature (e.g. Nuke, Maya, Cinema 4D) associated with a customer. Thinkbox provides this certificate to customers upon the purchase of their credits.. You can download the application license certificate from the Thinkbox Customer Portal.
Communication Workflow from Worker to License Forwarder
- When a job submits to Deadline with UBL license limits, the worker reaches-out to the third party cloud license server to check if the licenses are available for the product.
- Once the worker confirms that the UBL products licenses are available, it sends the registration request to Deadline License Forwarder running on the farm.
- The worker registers with the License Forwarder successfully, it sends the license request for the third party license respective to the limit added to the job.
- License Forwarder forwards the license request to AWS to get the requested license.
- License Forwarder receives the successful response from the AWS for the license request.
- Then License Forwarder gives the license to the worker.
Architecture Reference :
Firewall Port Information
- The License Forwarder listens on a set of ports to receive communication from the workers.
- TCP 17000-17004
- Each UBL product has its own set of TCP ports. Open the ports on the License Forwarder for the products being used:
- 1715 → Houdini
- 1716 → Mantra
- 4101, 6101 → Nuke
- 4151, 6101 → Katana
- 5053, 7053 → Yeti
- 5054, 7054 → RedShift
- 5056, 7056 → Arnold (Only allowed on AWS)
- 5057, 5058 → Cinema 4D
- 5555, 7055 → Maxwell
- 5055, 7055 → Realflow
- 27002, 2702 → MaxIO & MayaIO (Only allowed on AWS)
- 27008, 2708 → Deadline
- 27000, 2700 → Krakatoa
- 27001, 2701 → Iray, MentalRay
- 30306 → Vray
- 40500 → Clarisse
- The License Forwarder needs to be moved to another system if any of the above ports conflict with license servers installed on the system, or you have to change the ports for the license server. The UBL ports cannot be changed.
Troubleshooting License Forwarder (LF) Issues
Below are some common issues customers face when using the License Forwarder and suggestions on how to troubleshoot:
1) General troubleshooting of third party UBL:
- Refer to the task report of a failed job and the render node logs to check for obvious failures. In general, ensure the following configurations are defined:
- Configuring UBL URL and the Activation code under Configure Repository options of Deadline Monitor
- Corresponding License Limits are created and those limits are applied to jobs
- Ensure that License Forwarder is running and has access to UBL certificates
- Ensure workers can communicate with License Forwarder to check out the license minutes
2) Worker doesn’t register with License Forwarder:
- As mentioned, in the workflow section worker sends a registration request to License Forwarder. We have seen cases where the License Forwarder receives a request from the worker but doesn’t fully register to the License Forwarder.
- Check if License Forwarder is listening on the port for a particular product by running
netstat -na
command - Confirm the user running the License Forwarder has access to read the UBL pfx cert files
- Try traffic capturing using Wireshark / TCP dump and check if License Forwarder is connecting out to Back End License Servers. Please share the captures with the Support Team to check the communication stream over product related ports.
3) Error: No License Forwarder available in the desired region:
- Full Error details in the log file:
2020-08-21 19:02:48: An error occurred while trying to connect to a License Forwarder in region stack27bfae8a93734f0b966b228e33d603e5: No License Forwarder available in desired region. Please confirm that a License Forwarder is online in this region and reachable by this machine.
2020-08-21 19:02:49: Scheduler - Returning assigned tasks for Job '5f401a39c3ccb14978e0d4a5' because License Forwarder registration failed. - If worker is added to the region, where License Forwarder running is not part of any region, then the worker will not be able to communicate with License Forwarder. You need to modify the client configuration [deadline.ini] file of License Forwarder to add
region
value to fix the Issue. - Another reason might be that workers are doing concurrent writes to the same collection which is corrupting the collection. Once this happens, the worker will repeatedly fail to register:
2020-08-21 19:02:42: Message From License Forwarder: Failure: Operations that change non-concurrent collections must have exclusive access. A concurrent update was performed on this collection and corrupted its state. The collection's state is no longer correct. (System.InvalidOperationException)
- This can also happen if the worker and License Forwarder are different versions spanning 10.1.13. So a 10.1.9 worker will fail to connect to a 10.1.16 License Forwarder.
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