EventID 215 from License Service in Event logs

This applies to:

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
• Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Server
• Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003

Summary

Problems with Event Log ID 215 entries appearing in the event logs. There are Warning entries from the LicenseService. Problem happens on 2 out of 4 domain controllers approximatly every 24 hours.

The event is as follows,

EventID: 215
Source: LicenseServer
Description: License database replication to server ads.domain.com was unsuccessful.

Solution

Microsoft does not enforce licensing compliance through software and provides the Licensing tool solely for the purpose of administrative convenience for users in tracking license information.

The easiest and quickest method to eliminate the product licensing errors is to disable and stop the License Logging Service.

316631 XADM: How to Turn Off the License Logging Service
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=316631


If this is not an option then the second option would be to reset the licensing database information.

- If licensing information is maintained on one machine only, use the steps in the following Microsoft knowledge base article:

153140 How to Reset License Manager Information
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=153140


- If licensing information is spread across multiple machines, follow the steps in the following Microsoft knowledge base article (the same files are involved in Windows 2000 Server so this should work for Windows 2000 as well):

194065 How to Reset License Manager Throughout an Enterprise
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=194065


Disabling licensing in your network should have no negative effect in your environment. The License Logging Service is not required for any functionality within a Windows 2000 domain.

Further reading is available on,

273475 Licensing in Windows 2000 and Differences with Windows NT 4.0
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=273475

185953 How License Service Keeps Track of License Usage
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=185953

193218 Configuring License Service Replication in Windows NT Server 4.0 or
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=193218

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Document ID: SKB0212
Published on: 01 Apr 2004