Centova Technologies Forum

Centova Cast v2 => Technical discussion => Topic started by: Jim on April 28, 2011, 10:15:20 am

Title: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 28, 2011, 10:15:20 am
Two out of the three of our licenses have decided to expire today despite being valid and paid for.

/home/centovacast/system/runascc/runascc exec ccmanage cronjob all --debug
INF License reissuance forced; renewing license information (this may take a few moments) ...
OK Key updated; new renewal date: 2011-04-28 16:38:53

The Key gets updated ok but the renewal date is set in the past hence is automatically expired.

I wonder if any other Centovacast license holders are being affected ? This feels like an issue at Centova and not a local problem. I have obviously gone through the knowledge base and tried everything i can find including re-issuing the keys but nothing works. I still get a key issued in the past.

I've  also just got word that other radio hosting companies have had their licenses go down too so it appears to be a MAJOR issue.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 28, 2011, 11:22:54 am
Heres the ticket i opened 5 hours ago : II7-NYQ7-182
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Trombones13 on April 28, 2011, 11:31:09 am
Ours is saying that it has expired as well.  ???
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 28, 2011, 11:36:27 am
Just had another centova user email me with the same problem :

http://streams.servidordedicado.info/login/index.php
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Trombones13 on April 28, 2011, 11:38:14 am
Yup; that's exactly what we're now getting as well. :(
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 28, 2011, 11:50:31 am
I've turned the cronjob off for our last remaining server so that it wont make any license checks and go offline. Not sure if it will help at all but worth a try.

I imagine more and more people are going to have this issue appear as licenses try and update. I've checked a few of the big players and their Centovacast installations are fine at the moment.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: James Davis on April 28, 2011, 12:12:19 pm
i've been getting this same error on one of our servers, and my ticket has gone unanswered...

i also purchased a new license key late last week, paid for it and everything and still have not received a key :(
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 28, 2011, 12:39:13 pm
Interesting bit of info : "Centova Cast only performs license validations once per week (and if a validation attempt fails, it will actually retry for 3 more days before issuing a licensing error)"

http://forums.centova.com/index.php?topic=182.0

It seems perhaps we are the unfortunate ones to have the problem first. Other installations could take up to 13 days to go down if the issue isn't fixed.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: banglounge on April 28, 2011, 03:20:41 pm
Hi Guys I have  the same Problem,

I wait now  around 2 weeks,  to get a answer on my Ticket.

I think  the problem is  with the  payment system on Centova   but  nobody think that is a problem by centova because nobody  is able to give a answer.

Centova don't care about everybody, Waht can we do  that the stream is working

We lose each day more and more customer
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 29, 2011, 01:53:30 am
Ive had another user email me direct with their license going down :

http://users.secondstreams.com/cast/login/index.php
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Alliance on April 29, 2011, 04:34:06 am
have the same problem and no response from centovacast (ticket #QK7-EDL3-187), we paid for annual license and still not have given us a key.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 29, 2011, 05:19:13 am
Been doing some digging.

http://license1.centova.com/license/validate.php Gives me "OK Key updated; new renewal date: 2011-04-28 13:00:00"

http://license2.centova.com/license/validate.php Gives me "OK Key updated; new renewal date: 2011-03-19 12:00:00"

http://license3.centova.com/license/validate.php is DOWN

Not sure what to make of it though. It seems license2 is even more out of date then license1...
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: AgentPete on April 29, 2011, 05:50:14 am
Interesting bit of info : "Centova Cast only performs license validations once per week (and if a validation attempt fails, it will actually retry for 3 more days before issuing a licensing error)"

That's not exactly correct.  The cron job Centova installs runs every five minutes.  It appears to check with the licensing servers to see if your license is current and paid for.  If so, it then gives your server permission to run for a further period of time.

The problem currently appears to be that the licensing server is returning a permission  value that is in the past.  Therefore - your server is taken off air, irrespective of how long you actually have left on your license.

I don't know why the licensing is so aggressively fierce.  if you've paid for 12 months, you should be allowed to run for 12 months.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: AgentPete on April 29, 2011, 05:56:07 am
PS - solving this problem shouldn't be too difficult.  All that's necessary is for Centova to find out why their licensing server is returning dates in the past (reboot?  synchronize with NTP?) and everyone's servers will come back up at the next cron job. 

Please Centova...?
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Alliance on April 29, 2011, 06:12:01 am
the problem is that Centova support is very slow, they do not verify that your servers are running smoothly.

Nor care for the tickets, the first ticket sent by a client may detect an error.

take up to 14 days to submit an answer and not answer the phone, it appears that a single person working in this company and is on vacation
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: AgentPete on April 29, 2011, 06:26:05 am
I don't want to be too negative about Centova, because I like the software and I'm sure the aim is to provide good service.

However, the longer this goes on, the more trouble it's going to create.  What will happen next - will this site suddenly disappear?

There is still some goodwill amongst Centova's customers, which will be very important in persuading us to buy version 3.

I think Steve needs to decide what his intentions are re Centova - and us.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 29, 2011, 06:49:27 am
Totally agree Pete, no need for such agressive license checking (and above all no support for weeks). I pay for three 12 month subscriptions for Centovacast too. Ive turned off the crontab on my remaining server so it shouldn't check have an opportunity to check the license and therefore get an old renewal date. Hope it keeps it online. The only downside is log processing and other maintenance tasks performed by the cronjob.

Ive had a quick look at reverse engineering the license server but there is a lot of encryption used so unlikely it will yield anything.

@ Daniel : I agree. I really like Centovacast and in the past i have received very good support. This is one of those shit hits the fan moments and we really need this to be fixed asap.

Out of interest what are other hosting companies doing about this ? We have setup a temporary Cast Control server and we are setting up temporary accounts for the 2/3rd's of our clients who have been affected.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Trombones13 on April 29, 2011, 06:49:36 am
OK; this is weird...for some reason, it's playing again (as far as I know, no one did anything to it--it happened overnight, I guess), but it looks like the date/time may be messed up--it says it's 12:40am on the 20th (coincidentally, the day with the best stats ever :P).
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 29, 2011, 07:29:26 am
So your control panel is functioning despite the license renew being in the past ?
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Alliance on April 29, 2011, 07:50:04 am
who knows how to change auto dj to live source manually?
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Alliance on April 29, 2011, 07:59:20 am
@ Jim we are also offering another control panel temporarily to our customers.

customers with live source are not affected, we are offering a new control panel source who did not use live or those who wish to change

who knows how to change auto dj to live source manually?
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 29, 2011, 08:17:29 am
Quick Dirty Fix : Set your system date and time to the past.

Its not a good idea really but at least it gets things working again while it gets fixed.

*Respect to alex@secondstreams.com for the tip...
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 29, 2011, 08:17:55 am
who knows how to change auto dj to live source manually?

Not sure on this one.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 29, 2011, 08:43:10 am
date --set 2011-03-29
sudo -u centovacast /home/centovacast/system/runascc/runascc exec ccmanage cronjob all --debug

^^^^ The Dirty Fix
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Alliance on April 29, 2011, 08:50:25 am
my server does not accept the date change

[root@serv ~]# date --set 2011-03-29
date: cannot set date: Operation not permitted
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 29, 2011, 08:53:51 am
my server does not accept the date change

[root@serv ~]# date --set 2011-03-29
date: cannot set date: Operation not permitted


I preformed this as root. Do you have root privileges ?

Try : sudo date --set 2011-03-29

BEWARE: this is a DIRTY fix and may break other things on your system.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Alliance on April 29, 2011, 09:00:23 am
yes, i have root access, is a VPS.

[root@serv ~]# sudo date --set 2011-03-29
date: cannot set date: Operation not permitted
Tue Mar 29 00:00:00 MSD 2011
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 29, 2011, 09:08:15 am
Ive had a quick google on the matter and it looks like it might not be possible. Have a search yourself, you may find the answer. I dont run any VPS, only dedicated so not the best person to assist....

Also see this thread : http://forums.centova.com/index.php?topic=511.msg1695#msg1695
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: banglounge on April 29, 2011, 09:11:34 am
if  i try 

sudo -u centovacast /home/centovacast/system/runascc/runascc exec ccmanage cronjob all --debug




INF License reissuance forced; renewing license information (this may take a few moments) ...
Warning: cannot open /proc/net/dev (No such file or directory). Limited output.
INF FGC-P http://license1.centova.com/license/validate.php OK
INF Result from http://license1.centova.com/license/validate.php - ERR/SUSPENDED: License key has been suspended
INF FGC-P http://license2.centova.com/license/validate.php OK
INF Skipping invalid result from http://license2.centova.com/license/validate.php - OK valid ccefea9524a60abee0bca3531287e83f
INF FGC-P http://license3.centova.com/license/validate.php failed -  Warning: file_get_contents(http://license3.centova.com/lic                                                                       ense/validate.php): failed to open stream: Connection refused in /home/centovacast/system/class_SystemControl.php on line 0
INF Skipping invalid result from http://license3.centova.com/license/validate.php -
ERR License validation failed:  License key has been suspended
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 29, 2011, 10:18:28 am
Has the date definitely been set to the past ? If so then it could be you are suffering from a suspended license rather than an expired one.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 29, 2011, 10:19:49 am
Its worth pointing out that the dirty fix breaks causes odd statistics to be displayed in the control panel (understandably) and the code snippets report incorrect track / listener info.

Best of a bad situation though really. At least with this dirty fix the clients can use their radio servers again.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Alliance on April 29, 2011, 12:11:55 pm
i can not use this fix because i´m using a VPS...

Has anyone had any response Centova?
I find it very irresponsible on their part not to offer support to the problems they have generated
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: gmustuk on April 29, 2011, 12:22:34 pm
This is pretty unfortunate. I spent half the day troubleshooting this problem...and it turns out an issue on Centova side. Not the way that I like to spend my time.

I really hope that Centova addresses this issue QUICKLY ( I did submit a ticket)...and response to all of us by making changes so that something like this never happens again.

How the system is setup now...if they go out of business or their server has problems or is down....we all lose.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Mark Carney on April 29, 2011, 01:47:55 pm
ERR This installation of Centova Cast is using an expired license key. Please contact an administrator for assistance. .

I hope this gets sorted asap as even I cannot gain access to my panel, I have tried to manual update my licence using the licenseupdate.php and my key to no avail, this has been going on for over two weeks now and I am getting serious grief from my customers, once in a while to seem to reissue the licence then fails again.

Some customers have feeds still running but cannot access their statistics which are required for their weekly reporting reports.

I have had no issues with Centova as a rule until Steve announced the launch of his Beta 3 panel then all hell seems to have broke lose with absolutely no response to stuff on this forum or tickets raised. NOT good public PR if you ask me.

I am seriously now considering an alternative package as I feel this all now seems very much a one man band operation!
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 29, 2011, 01:55:38 pm
I am seriously now considering an alternative package as I feel this all now seems very much a one man band operation!

Good luck  :-\ Cast control is the only real competitor we have found and its pretty clunky. Centovacast is by far the best out there. Would love to hear if you find anything else.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Roberto Brandolini on April 29, 2011, 05:06:56 pm
Same problem here. 2 servers OFF and dozen of customers very upset and other LOST.
I don't know what think about this issue...
I'm very worried about this problem.
I have dedicated servers. Do you think that changing back the system time can resolve partially waiting Steve to get us an answer?
We have other 6 licence. They are still working at the moment... but I have fear for them in the next close hours...
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: raul on April 29, 2011, 05:56:06 pm
have the same problem and no response from centovacast  >:( >:( >:(
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Brad on April 30, 2011, 02:01:54 am
Same problem here!!!

Not Happy!!!
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Brad on April 30, 2011, 02:32:29 am
I ran the command and got the output below, so it looks OK ??
But I still get that error when trying to access the cp. Licence has expired??

root@server3 [~]# sudo -u centovacast /home/centovacast/system/runascc/runascc exec ccmanage cronjob all --debug
INF License reissuance forced; renewing license information (this may take a few moments) ...
OK Key updated; new renewal date: 2011-04-29 03:05:43

DATE/TIME ON MY SERVER IS: Sat Apr 30 19:25:29 EST 2011

Thanks
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: J.J. Draijer on April 30, 2011, 02:34:16 am
Date is newer then license expire.. You need to set back your date on your machine.. Then it should work again
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 30, 2011, 02:53:06 am
I have dedicated servers. Do you think that changing back the system time can resolve partially waiting Steve to get us an answer?

Yes, it should sort it out temporarily although it is a dirty fix and will most likely cause inconsistencies in your logs and incorrect stats but its better than the control panel going off.

I feel everyones pain, we probably lost a fair few clients because of this... Heres hoping for the speedy return of Steve...
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Roberto Brandolini on April 30, 2011, 03:30:27 am
I think Steve will have to change the license system in the future.
Is not possible to work in this way. Same thing happen about 18 months ago but the issue was for 2 days.
I have 8 annually licenses and all my business is based on Centova.
I'm very upset.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Brad on April 30, 2011, 03:33:19 am
My guess is it wont been seen / addressed by centova until monday, which is pretty disappointing.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: banglounge on April 30, 2011, 03:44:11 am
The  autodj  is working but not  the playlist 

Is a temporie solution  to creat  a playlist   via  autodj (winamp  edcast  nicecast sam) but is not  the right solution 
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on April 30, 2011, 04:37:42 am
You need to change your system date to before 2011-04-29 03:05:43 and then run :

sudo -u centovacast /home/centovacast/system/runascc/runascc exec ccmanage cronjob all --debug

WARNING: This dirty fix may have unforeseen issues on other services on the server.

I ran the command and got the output below, so it looks OK ??
But I still get that error when trying to access the cp. Licence has expired??

root@server3 [~]# sudo -u centovacast /home/centovacast/system/runascc/runascc exec ccmanage cronjob all --debug
INF License reissuance forced; renewing license information (this may take a few moments) ...
OK Key updated; new renewal date: 2011-04-29 03:05:43

DATE/TIME ON MY SERVER IS: Sat Apr 30 19:25:29 EST 2011

Thanks
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Azrael on April 30, 2011, 07:55:26 am
Hello,

another server here who has the same problem.
Had some testing-licenses left which i tried out but none of them worked. Seems like the backend system for reissuing a license is also broken as i got informed: not valid for this domain although the webinterface of centova client login showed the change to be accepted.

At the moment i have one of four systems failing.
Changing the system date to the past only works if you don't have anything else running on the server. My failing system unfortunately has about 100 additional domains on it and dating it back would screw everything!

If i read your replies and seeing no reaction for such a long period it's crazy. Nobody is answering the tickets or phone number and Steve isn't online in ICQ.
Never thought such a situation could occur and this is getting crazy.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Mark Carney on April 30, 2011, 01:05:19 pm
Well I for one hope this all gets sorted ASAP but as said already I am now evaluating other CP's as I MUST now find an alternative if only as a backup to this ever happening again.

Current tests are Cast Control and  Wowza Media Server although Wowza this is in no way an alternative to Centova Cast as it is primarily for video, also waiting to see what PleskSonic is like as I use the Plesk CP rather than Cpanel which would have given me the option of WHMSonic.

Have to be honest there are not many audio CPs out there so if anyone knows of others ONLY as a backup to Centova Cast as I would not ideally wish to move totally away but due to the current issues MUST look at an alternative to satisfy my customers.

I truly hope this can be sorted soon but feel it is unlikely to happen any time this weekend or maybe even next week! But who knows? Not me.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Alliance on May 01, 2011, 10:53:51 am
date --set 2011-03-29
sudo -u centovacast /home/centovacast/system/runascc/runascc exec ccmanage cronjob all --debug

^^^^ The Dirty Fix

how I can prevent the server automatically update the date? I configured the server with a past date, but after a few hours, returns to the current date and Centova shows the error again
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: J.J. Draijer on May 01, 2011, 11:19:10 am
Do you run some kind of cron updating the datetime? Maybe ntpd running?
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Alliance on May 01, 2011, 12:49:03 pm
I disabled all cron (hourly, daily, etc), hope this helps
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Alliance on May 01, 2011, 02:24:11 pm
again the date is updated automatically, I have no active cron, but I have cpanel / whm installed on the server (although I am not using), any ideas?
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Rick Houghton on May 02, 2011, 12:02:50 pm
Add me to the list of users with an expired license and a DEAD SERVER  >:(!  I filed a ticket 8 hours ago and I have received NO RESPONSE!  This is bullshit....
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Brad on May 02, 2011, 04:48:24 pm
Many of us posted support tickets before the weekend, and still NO REPLY!!! :( :(
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Alliance on May 02, 2011, 09:35:11 pm
centova is back!

http://forums.centova.com/index.php?topic=511.msg1791#msg1791
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: tengkorak on May 02, 2011, 10:39:18 pm
I have try this and it work

1.Login to your client area at centova.com.
2.Click "Manage Product Licenses" and select your Centova Cast license.
3.Click the "Re-issue license key" link.  (See the section below if you do not see a "Re-issue license key" link.)

This will authorize the reissuance request on our end. Next, you just need to tell Centova Cast to request a new license.  Login to your server via SSH and run:
/home/centovacast/system/runascc/runascc exec ccmanage reissuelicense currenthostname.com

ref: https://secure.centova.com/pages/faqs/display/changing_licensed_domain_name_48
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: J.J. Draijer on May 03, 2011, 01:51:08 am
Works perfect. I now hope they will look into our V3 license problem also.
That is still not working :(
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Brad on May 03, 2011, 03:07:13 am
Thanks tengkorak!!

Worked for me also!

Cheers
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Centova - Steve B. on May 03, 2011, 03:20:12 am
Hi all,

I recognize that it's a little late for apologies or excuses at this point... all we can really do at this point is do our best to ensure that nothing like this ever, ever happens again, and demonstrate a change as opposed to making useless promises.

That said, as owner of Centova Technologies, I am terribly sorry for the disruption of service you all have experienced due to the licensing system outage.  Rest assured that we're learning from our mistakes and implementing corresponding safeguards.

For those of you who haven't noticed, we are also seeking new hirees to improve our (currently abysmal) helpdesk response times -- check the front page of our web site for details and send in your CV if you have relevant experience and are looking for work.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Centova - Steve B. on May 03, 2011, 03:22:18 am
Works perfect. I now hope they will look into our V3 license problem also.
That is still not working :(
J.J., what problem are you having?  v3 licensing should also be restored and working now as well, although you might need to restart the control daemon (/etc/init.d/centovacast restart) to update the license.

You have my email, feel free to contact me directly. 
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Jim on May 03, 2011, 04:20:14 am
GREAT to have you back Steve! I do hope you are well :)

Reissuing the license works :

Set date back to current time : /usr/bin/rdate rdate.cpanel.net
Login to Centova control panel and reissue license key.
Run : sudo -u centovacast /home/centovacast/system/runascc/runascc exec ccmanage cronjob all --debug
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Reinaldo C. Andrade on May 03, 2011, 07:00:55 am
Friends, please help me, what should I do to get my license back?
 I made some changes to date as suggested by the forum here to get the system running for these days.
 Now my panel opens to customers, but do not have access as administrator. What should I do?
thanks
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Centova - Steve B. on May 03, 2011, 04:09:25 pm
Now my panel opens to customers, but do not have access as administrator. What should I do?
thanks
This doesn't sound like it has anything to do with the issue described in this thread, but if you can describe exactly how you don't have access as administrator I'd be happy to help.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Reinaldo C. Andrade on May 03, 2011, 10:38:19 pm
Steve, I sent you the data administrator to verify the error that, but I have not received any response.
 If you have any solution, please, post them here, because of some flaw in my mailbox, I am not receiving messages sent through the support ..
 Thanks
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Reinaldo C. Andrade on May 05, 2011, 08:22:38 am
Mr. Steve, please, my problem is serious, I'm losing several customers, other than those mentioned, I have another problem.
 The scheduling of playlists, like general rotation of some customers by being driven repeat the same audio, not playing a random schedule.
I realized all the procedures described in the knowledge base, and got no sucesso. Eu not know what else to do.
  There are already three sleepless nights.
 I do not know what kind of problem, you may be experiencing that can not answer a simple email, then I wonder if something similar happen in the future, what should I do? What type of company could be summarized in a single person who can not report on the work, and still can not any official willing to work. What assurance that I will have this system from now on?
This is a rant, but could be a waiver for the use of their services.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Centova - Steve B. on May 05, 2011, 04:12:07 pm
Mr. Steve, please, my problem is serious, I'm losing several customers, other than those mentioned
I replied via PM... the problem you're having has nothing to do with the licensing server outage and is different than everyone else who's reporting problems in this thread.  You've just got your license issued to the wrong domain name.

The scheduling of playlists, like general rotation of some customers by being driven repeat the same audio, not playing a random schedule.
Please open a ticket with the support department and provide a bit more detail about what you mean by "being driven repeat the same audio" and we'll be happy to help.
Title: Re: Centova Cast is using an expired license key
Post by: Mark Randall on May 06, 2011, 06:17:50 am
If your streams are repeating the same audio have you made sure that the date is set correct? This was something that changing the date back caused...