Clear understanding of the user license count...?

SOLVED

I have a customer (2018 Premium, 100c) complaining about user license count issues, when we recently added a couple seats to deal with the extra connections.  What I have always found to be unclear is the number listed in the various screens / menus, with Sage 100 system consuming licenses by design.

Partner portal shows 14.  Perfect.  This includes the newly added users.

System Configuration (Modules tab) shows "Number of Registered User Licenses" of 16.  I've seen the number inflated before but never understood why this is done (with an official clear explanation).

*info shows "Total User Licenses" of 14.  Now, should this be 16, like the System Configuration number?  Or is it a true number (without any reserved system users included), properly matching the user count the customer is paying for?

The root problem is that Master Console is showing 11 Active Users, with new connections being denied, and I need to know whether there are hidden connections (bypassing the service / Master Console), or whether the system registration is not correct (14 vs 16 in the *info screen).

  • 0

    They always give you an extra seat in the registration for the interface to CRM or Fixed Assets (my mind is blank what that is called at the moment - the thing that uses the 8880 port).

    If you have advanced or premium they give you an extra user to handle the  server running.

    In older versions if you didn't have the CRM/Fixed asset interface running you could actually use that as a logged in user,  however in more current versions you no longer can.

    So theoretically you should be able to log in 14 concurrent users. 

    If you can only get 11 in you have some ghost users out there.  I don't recall the exact solution, but try searching the Knowledgebase for ghost or phantom users.

  • 0

    If you have ghost users, get everyone out of the system, shut down the host, then check task manager for any stray pvxwin32.exe processes. Shut those down. Then start up the host again.

  • 0 in reply to Sage100User

    There aren't any stray pvxwin32 processes, and I've even checked for direct MAS90 mode processes (which occasionally pop-up for this customer with an external plug-in by True Commerce), but they're still consistently 2-3 short.

    My main question is whether the "14" I am seeing in *info is the problem... and really a question for Sage.  From comparison with other systems, this "14" should be "16".  I created a case with Sage, but the answer I received initially was mainly generic, not the technical reply I was hoping for.

  • 0 in reply to TomTarget

    The integration engine is off, and while there are WSP services running, that is the source of the question.  WSP is unable to connect with no available licenses, when there should be a couple free.  I need to know if the recently added 2 users actually made it into the customer system properly.  From what I see, that does not seem to be the case.

  • +1
    verified answer

    Update:

    Sage pointed me towards KB 41243, and apparently I was right in assuming the two numbers should match.

    I typed in and activated the old keys (which I luckily still have), then typed in and activated the new keys... and after a server restart the *info number is now 16 (14 + the two for CRM / Premium service).

    This tells me the *info is the technically active number, and System Configuration is not.  They "should" match, but something caused my customer's system to only partially bring in new keys when purchasing new users.  I used the "Update" button in System Configuration originally, so perhaps there is a bug in that function.

  • 0 in reply to Kevin M

    This issue has come up again for us, and the automatic "dial home" does not seem to increase the active license count when a customer is purchasing additional licenses. 

    Can a KB article be created with step-by-step instructions on how to add and fully activate licenses to an existing system?  (System config, restart service for Advanced / Premium, verify *info matches system config, copy activate.pvx for terminal servers... anything else?). 

    It is frustrating (for Partners and Customers) to waste time on this kind of thing repeatedly.

  • 0 in reply to Kevin M

    I agree with Kevin. From my own experience I would advise everyone to skip the convenience of the automatic update--it did not fully activate the additional licenses. You can save yourself time and frustration using the Edit button and manually typing in your activation and unlocking keys. Sage--would love to see documentation included in the email with the new keys. Better yet, fix the auto update!

  • 0 in reply to jcbaker

    Since my client had actually purchased their additional users a year ago - and we don't know why suddenly the *INFO quantity showed the OLD number of users - I had to type in my own license, activate, then type theirs in again and activate again.

  • 0 in reply to bethbowers

    So it isn't just me! 

    Hopefully Sage will do some troubleshooting on the issue and fix whatever is broken with license activation.

  • 0 in reply to Kevin M

    This happened to a colleague today.  v2021 Advanced. 

    Update didn't get the new users into *Info, but Edit did.  Luckily he asked me without wasting too much time but this false/half activation is frustrating and needs to be fixed.