SPM Server Shuts Down During Hibernation
Question
How do I prevent my SPM Server from shutting down during hibernation? Does anybody know how to maintain contact with the USB dongle?
Disclaimer
Fiddling about in the Device Manager is done at your own risk. I/SOFTIMAGE take no responsibility for any damage, gremlins, or odd behavior that occurs on your system(s) before, during and especially after following the advice found in this article.
Symptoms
After 'waking up' your system from hibernation, you find that your license server has terminated and you are unable to restart the server with Lictools. You will also see a message in your spm.log similar to this:
Oct/03/05 12:51:11 ERROR: "C:\WINDOWS\system32\spm\spmdib.exe": Dongle subsystem terminated unexpectedly.
Oct/03/05 12:51:11 ERROR: "C:\WINDOWS\system32\spm\spmdib.exe": Dongle subsystem is not responding.
Oct/03/05 12:51:11 ALERT: SPM_FATAL ERROR (C:\WINDOWS\system32\spm\spmdib.exe) : Error while checking protection system.
Oct/03/05 12:51:11 CRITICAL: fatal error: "Error while checking protection system.".
Oct/03/05 12:51:12 ERROR: SPMD "C:\WINDOWS\system32\spm\spmdib.exe (Ver.1.1.11 [Build 1254])" terminated.
Workaround
This can be fixed in a variety of ways and results can differ with various system configurations and such. These include rebooting the system, restarting the service from the command prompt, or physically reinserting the dongle back into the laptop before restarting the SPM service. However, if you would like to avoid these scenarios, it's possible to ask Windows not to turn off the device while hibernating.
To do so follow these steps:
- Right-click on My Computer
- Select Manage from the menu
- Navigate to the Device Manager
- From the Device Manager locate the usb root hub in which your dongle is plugged.(This is found under Universal Serial Bus controllers).
- Right-click on the usb root hub and select properties
- Click the Power Management tab and deselect "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power."
Notes
- If you have multiple hubs repeat this step for all hubs that you do not want to have disabled during hibernation (or make sure to plug your dongle into the same USB port each time).
- To determine which hub your dongle is plugged into click on the Power tab. You should see the 1-wire device listed.
- Doing this will increase your power consumption while in hibernation mode (by how much I really don't know).
I don't normally work on a laptop so this has not been tested in a production environment over a long term period. But I have observed that this effectively prevents your license server from terminating when your system (laptop) hibernates. Personally, I would recommend turning off hibernation all together while working in 3D.
Now you might ask: "If the server is running in hibernation mode, would it still be able to serve licenses to other computers?" My response to this quetion is that a true license server should never hibernate. Ideally, the server should be isolated from public traffic, and run on a dedicated power source and network connection.
Happy Rendering ...
-matt
