Thanks Andy, I have also made sure that the KMS server info is listed for all relevant affiliations. I noticed that not having it on all the affiliations may cause it to not activate. If it happens again, I will share the logs.
Thanks, -- Al Quiros Enterprise Systems From: Andy Kurth <[email protected]> Reply-To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Date: Thursday, November 1, 2018 at 1:28 PM To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Windows Licensing. KMS activation failing. Hi Al, During an image load, VCL takes the KMS address and executes the same -skms and -ato commands you mentioned. Before doing so, it also checks the version and edition of Windows and makes sure the correct KMS client key<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__docs.microsoft.com_en-2Dus_windows-2Dserver_get-2Dstarted_kmsclientkeys&d=DwMFaQ&c=lhMMI368wojMYNABHh1gQQ&r=iomW2cpnE-Hdilsh5YvIBg&m=2j5UvlUciaVuopqZX-n9HlEADPvEq-P7oPmnzhgt3jA&s=xRvjaT7RhL7RxBYiINftfLbYlElhr-PFFCcvBYibOBw&e=> is installed. I've seen countless activations fail over the years and the reason is not often clear. I don't recall ever finding much useful information on the client as to why it failed to activate, and I don't have access to the KMS server to check its logs. One thing that will cause activation to fail is if the computer fails to obtain a public IP address from DHCP beforehand. If you are using DHCP, check vcld.log for the problematic reservations. There may be output from a previous ipconfig command that shows the computer's public IP address at the time the vcld process was doing its thing. If it shows the computer had a 169.254 address, then that's definitely the problem. You'll need to troubleshoot DHCP. Activation may also fail if you enter the KMS server's hostname into VCL and the client fails to resolve it via DNS for some reason. I have seed this before. The steps VCL performs after the computer boots are done very quickly after the management node's vcld process first detects that it is able to login via SSH. It seems as though Cygwin's SSH service may work before Windows' network stack is fully initialized, namely the DNS client. Because of this, I'd recommend entering the KMS server's IP address in VCL rather than the hostname. One thing to be aware of regarding how VCL handles activation is that an attempt to activate is only made by the process that performs an actual reload of the computer. When a user's reservation ends, the computer/VM gets reloaded with some image and put into the available state. Activation will be attempted by this reload process, and this process only. Later on when a user selects the image that got preloaded on the computer, the process that handles the reservation does not need to reload the computer and will not try to activate again if activation failed during the prior reload. This is by design because (1) the activation commands are extraordinarily slow, and (2) oftentimes it's not actually a problem. If vcld sets the KMS address via -skms but fails to activate via -ato, it does nothing further. The KMS address is still set. Windows will try to activate in the background using this address, every 120 minutes by default<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__blogs.technet.microsoft.com_tip-5Fof-5Fthe-5Fday_2015_04_03_tip-2Dof-2Dthe-2Dday-2Dkms-2Dhost-2Dconfiguration-2Dcans-2Dand-2Dcannots_&d=DwMFaQ&c=lhMMI368wojMYNABHh1gQQ&r=iomW2cpnE-Hdilsh5YvIBg&m=2j5UvlUciaVuopqZX-n9HlEADPvEq-P7oPmnzhgt3jA&s=5Zs1Rn_ib8CmcllZ0K3UWptv-ib2S00tl5U_wP3cjBA&e=>. If the problem was related to network issues when Windows first booted, it usually corrects itself. When you're trying to activate a computer that failed during vcld's reload, run -dlv to check the current status before running -ato. It may already be "licensed". If you still don't find any clues, please send the vcld.log output for one of the reload processes that failed. Hope this helps, Andy On Wed, Oct 31, 2018 at 7:10 AM Evelio Quiros <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Thank you for that explanation, Henry. I was asking how VCL implements KMS activation for Windows reservations. We also use a KMS server, which is accessible to the VCL network. However, we experience many occasions where VCL is unable to activate. We get an error message by email with this (VCL version 2.5): failed to activate Windows using MAK or KMS methods ------------------------------------------------------------------------ time: 2018-10-30 14:04:14 caller: Version_6.pm:activate(262) ( 0) Version_6.pm, activate (line: 262) (-1) Version_6.pm, post_load (line: 206) (-2) VMware.pm, load (line: 759) (-3) new.pm<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__new.pm&d=DwMFaQ&c=lhMMI368wojMYNABHh1gQQ&r=iomW2cpnE-Hdilsh5YvIBg&m=2j5UvlUciaVuopqZX-n9HlEADPvEq-P7oPmnzhgt3jA&s=HLJ260-LcG4IPzwQxB6p0KOgDI_BwE-6k4BZcf0FSlM&e=>, reload_image (line: 588) (-4) new.pm<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__new.pm&d=DwMFaQ&c=lhMMI368wojMYNABHh1gQQ&r=iomW2cpnE-Hdilsh5YvIBg&m=2j5UvlUciaVuopqZX-n9HlEADPvEq-P7oPmnzhgt3jA&s=HLJ260-LcG4IPzwQxB6p0KOgDI_BwE-6k4BZcf0FSlM&e=>, process (line: 275) (-5) vcld, make_new_child (line: 601) (-6) vcld, main (line: 353) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ management node: mgtvcl01.fiu.edu<http://mgtvcl01.fiu.edu> reservation PID: 19012 parent vcld PID: 22599 request ID: 2376 reservation ID: 2376 request state/laststate: reload/reload request start time: 2018-10-30 13:45:00 request end time: 2018-10-30 14:05:00 for imaging: no log ID: <undefined> computer: vm287 computer id: 859 computer type: virtualmachine computer eth0 MAC address: 00:50:56:0a:02:3d computer eth1 MAC address: 00:50:56:0a:02:3e computer private IP address: 10.106.145.81 computer public IP address: 10.106.140.39 computer in block allocation: no provisioning module: VCL::Module::Provisioning::VMware::VMware vm host: vcl_v10 vm host ID: 11 vm host computer ID: 11 vm profile: VMware ESXi - network storage vm profile VM path: /vmfs/volumes/VCL_NFS vm profile repository path: /install vm profile datastore path: /vmfs/volumes/VCL_NFS vm profile disk type: shared image: vmwarewin7-FIUOnline26-v0 image display name: FIU Online image ID: 26 image revision ID: 29 image size: 32462 MB use Sysprep: no root access: yes image owner ID: 1 image owner affiliation: Local image revision date created: 2018-10-25 08:42:52 image revision production: yes OS module: VCL::Module::OS::Windows::Version_6::7 user: vclreload user name: vcl reload user ID: 2 user affiliation: Local -- Al Quiros Enterprise Systems From: Henry Schaffer <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Reply-To: "[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Date: Tuesday, October 30, 2018 at 9:02 PM To: "[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: Re: Windows Licensing While I don't know how to install/activate anything - I discussed the licensing issues with our licensing specialist, and this it what I found out: In all of this we expect MS (Microsoft) to give more clarity in the coming months. VDA while required for remote access to MS software, is covered in many licensing arrangements. Student licensing is included in 365 and in the A1, A3 and A5 models which give virtual rights for Windows OS and Office VCL (remote virtualization) can be covered by a campus license e.g. Software Assurance covers this remote use - for faculty and staff but not for students - but some other licenses do. There appears to be a move by MS to include students Will this include CCs? We don't know at this time Note: in authorization, there are two methods MAK and KMS. KMS is the way to go for the VCL MAK has a limit on the number of activations, so each reservation in the VCL counts against that. That limit can be reset, but the process is very awkward. --henry Schaffer On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 4:28 PM Evelio Quiros <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Hi All, After searching through the VCL wiki, I am not finding any information on how the KMS windows activation works in VCL. I have entered our KMS servers in the management node (our old environment is version 2.3.2). However, I am not seeing Windows activations taking place. We often come across reservations that ask for Windows activation. As a temporary measure, I run “slmgr –skms” and “slmgr –ato” from the command line. Then the image is activated. The KMS server is accessible from the VCL network, but it seems that the management node does not appear to properly activate our Windows instances. Can someone please provide more detailed information on how the Windows KMS works in “vcld --setup” on the management node ? Or, perhaps you could point me to some published documentation on KMS Windows activation in VCL? Thanks, -- Al Quiros Enterprise Systems From: Aaron Peeler <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Reply-To: "[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>, "[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013 at 3:10 PM To: "[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: Re: Windows Licensing I think you will need a kms server to address this, but more knowledgable folks on windows license activation will need to confirm. We're using a kms server at NCSU. Aaron On Thu, May 23, 2013 at 2:35 PM, Dan Huynh <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Hi everyone, I'm setting up VCL for our lab environment. However, we got into the problem where our windows licences are not enough.( I think) I mean we have the volume licenses for Windows XP, 2003, 2008, 7....But each key only have a limited number of activation. (around 500 activation). If we keep activating and destroying the machines, the number of activation will soon reach the limit. (We get the keys from MSDN subscription.) I remember someone using VCL said that "site licensing is a solution for this case". However, I talked to a Microsoft sale tech, they dont offer site licensing for Windows. I wonder how NC State or anyone handle this problem? What kind of license solution that you use for Windows? Thanks in advance. -- Dan Huynh Cary, NC 27513 -- Aaron Peeler Program Manager Virtual Computing Lab NC State University All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties. -- Andy Kurth Research Storage Specialist NC State University Office of Information Technology P: 919-513-4090 311A Hillsborough Building Campus Box 7109 Raleigh, NC 27695
