There are many reasons why your metaframe presentation server cannot contact the license server.  In this article I will advise you what you need to check.

Symptoms

If your citrix presentation server (All versions, and this guide will also apply to xenserver as well.) is having communication problems with the citrix license server the presentation will enter a grace period of 30 days.  What this means is that the presentation server will function normally for 30 days even theo it can not see the citrix license server. You will receive messages in the eventvwr saying “metaframe presentation server cannot contact the license server and has entered a grace period”

If you get the error “metaframe presentation server cannot contact the license server and has entered a grace period” in the eventvwr do not attempt to install citrix hotfixes on the presentation server to fix this error,  The reason why is because the presentation server will be in a grace period, when you install a citrix hotfix it will reset the grace period and the presentation server will need to contact the citrix license server after the hotfix has been installed.

Systems Affected

The citrix systems that are affected by the error “metaframe presentation server cannot contact the license server” are, Citrix Presentation Server Version 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 Xen App 4.0, 4.5, 5.0.  I guess metaframe XP but I have not used this version of citrix

Things You Need To Check

When a user logs on to citrix the citrix presentation server establishes a connection to a citrix license server on a certain firewall port (This is configured in the farm settings) then the license server allocates a license and replies back to the citrix presentation server

The first you need to hard code the license servers IP and firewall port in the citrix farms settings.  Log in to your citrix management console and right click on the farms name at the top and select properties, at the next window select “License Server” first of all check what the license server name, I prefer to enter an IP address here rather than a DNS name,  Now note what port number is being used here to communicate with the citrix license server. The default port number is 27000, this can be changed if you want.

Now make sure communication between the presentation server and the citrix license server is ok, Log on to your citrix presentation server and go to the command prompt and type in  “Telnet %Citrix_Licensing_Server% %Port_number%” for example  “Telnet 192.168.0.77 27000” if the dos command screen goes blank communication is fine to your citrix license server,  If the dos screen hangs and times out then there must be some sort of communication issue.

log on to the citrix license server, we need to check if port 27000 is ok.  Go to the command prompt and type in  “Telnet 127.0.0.1 27000” if the dos prompt goes blank we know port 27000 is working ok, if this is the case there could be a network issue? Is there a firewall blocking this connection? Is the windows firewall service running on the citrix license server? if yes stop it.  Try rebooting the citrix license server it is possible the port has become frozen from remote connections.  If the telnet hangs this means that there is a problem with the port 27000 on the citrix license server.  Reboot the server,  check the citrix license service is running (Possibly set to manual start? Set it to automatic) Still no good?  Check the citrix website to see if there are any hotfixes for your version of citrix license server.

When the license server talks back to the citrix presentation server it uses random firewall ports, if you have a firewall between your presentation server and citrix license server you will need to hard code which firewall port the citrix license server uses.  To do this take a look at Configure Citrix License Server With Firewalls

I have seen it where the connection between presentation server and citrix license server seems fine, but its not.   Log on to your citrix license server and launch the Citrix Licensing program,  check which servers have successfully contacted the license server.  If some servers have polled in but some not try the following.

Log in to your citrix management console and right click on the farms name at the top and select properties, at the next window select “License Server” now change the citrix license servers firewall port from 27000 to anything like 28000.  Restart the IMA service on the citrix presentation server (You might need to reboot the server and also wait for an hour or so).  The presentation server will now use the new port of 28000. Now log back in to the citrix management console and set the citrix licensing port back to 27000.  What this does is refreshes the connection between citrix presentation server and the citrix license server.  Note I havent seen this problem for a few years now so I assume this was fixed in one of citrix’s hotfixes.

Make sure the windows time / date is correct on your citrix presentation / xenapp server and license server.  If the time / date is wrong by 24 hours it could cause problems

Still having a problem,  Is the IMA, Metaframe COM and citrix SMA windows services running on the citrix presentation server?? if they are not start them, if this doesnt work reboot the presentation server.

As a last resort install the latest citrix hotfixes for your version of citrix presentation server. Be aware if you install citrix hotfixes it will reset the grace period and the presentation server will need to contact the citrix license server after the hotfixs has been installed.

Check that you have not run out of citrix licenses, log on to your citrix license server and open the licensing console. This shouldn’t be the problem but you never know.

Do you use citrix subscription advantage?? If yes have the licenses expired? Have you uploaded the newest license files?

Problem Resolved “metaframe presentation server cannot contact the license server”

When the problem has been resolved you will see the following in the citrix presentation servers eventvwr “Citrix server has successfully contacted the citrix license server”

Other External “metaframe presentation server cannot contact the license server” Documents

 CTX112408 – Error: MetaFrame Presentation Server cannot contact …

CTX103795 – Event ID 9015 and 9018 with MetaFrame Presentation …

MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0 and Components: License Server …

Have you got any other fixes for the error “metaframe presentation server cannot contact the license serve” if yes please post them below in a comment.  Thanks