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Troubleshooting

The errors listed here can usually be found in the following error logs: /usr/local/lsws/logs/error.log or /etc/apache2/logs/error_log

Domain Limit Reached

Error

[WARN] Domain limit has been reached, domain limit: 5, total domains: 11.
[NOTICE] Domain list:
[NOTICE] #1 [domain1.com]
[NOTICE] #2 [domain2.com]
[NOTICE] #3 [domain3.com]
[NOTICE] #4 [domain4.com]
[NOTICE] #5 [domain5.com]
[NOTICE] #6 [domain6.com]
[NOTICE] #7 [domain7.com]
[NOTICE] #8 [domain8.com]
[NOTICE] #9 [domain9.com]
[NOTICE] #10 [domain10.com]
[NOTICE] #11 [domain11.com]

The error log shows the licenses' domain limit has been reached. The domain limit for this license is 5 domains, but the error shows there were 11 domains on the server. A Site Owner and Site Owner Plus license have a domain limit of 5, while a Free Starter license has a domain limit of 1. These licenses cannot be used on a server with more than that.

Note

The domain limit is applied to all existing domains on the server. Unfortunately, there is no way for you to define which domains will be counted towards the limit. You cannot run LiteSpeed simultaneously with another web server.

To solve this issue you can either remove enough unused domains or, if you require more than 5 domains, you can upgrade your license.

Note

We do not allow upgrading/downgrading Free Starter licenses.

Failed to Decrypt License Key Received

Error

[ERROR][LICENSE]Failed to decrypt license key received!
[NOTICE] Memory size is: 8388608KB.
[ERROR] [LICENSE] License key operation failure: ERR LC.V: New license type is not supported prior to 5.3.

These errors occur on versions of LiteSpeed Web Server that are 5.2.8 or earlier when you try to activate a license that will only work on LSWS version 5.3 and newer. The above error simply means “old binary cannot work with new license type”. In our store, we state that these licenses will only work with version 5.3 and newer. These license types that only work with v5.3+ were released in September of 2018.

The new license.key has special encryption that can only be decrypted by version 5.3 and newer. Users who don't plan to update to 5.3 should not order one of these licenses.

If you've already purchased one of these licenses, you have a few options:

  • Owned Licenses
    • Purchase a yearly update add-on so that you can install the latest version of LSWS.
  • Leased Licenses
    • Update your installation to the latest version.
    • Revert back to a license that works with LSWS 5.2.8 and earlier.

You may perform these options through your Client Area in the LiteSpeed store.

License Key Operation Failure

Error

[WARNING] Server signature does not match the license key #2.
Please request a new license key!
[NOTICE] Memory size is: 16270292KB.
[ERROR] [LICENSE] License key operation failure: EXCEPTION LCA.2: fail to process

You may experience this error if you copy your existing license key to another server with a different server signature.

You must re-register a new license key for your server. Please run the following commands in the command line:

$ sudo /usr/local/lsws/bin/lshttpd -r
$ sudo /usr/local/lsws/bin/lshttpd -V
$ sudo systemctl restart lsws
$ sudo /usr/local/lslb/bin/lslbd -r
$ sudo /usr/local/lsws/bin/lshttpd -V
$ sudo systemctl restart lsws

RAM Limit Reached

Error

[ERROR] [LICENSE] License key operation failure: ERR LR.R: Memory limited license cannot be used on server with more than 8GB memory.

You may see an error similar to the above in your license status when using a license with a RAM limit on a server with RAM exceeding that limit.

Free Starter, Site Owner, Web Host Lite, and VPS licenses all have RAM limits. These licenses cannot be used on servers that contain more RAM then the license allows. Site Owner Plus licenses, Web Host Essential licenses and higher do not have these limitations.

For example, a Free Starter license cannot be used on a server using 16GBs of RAM, it exceeds the Free Starter limit. You would need to cancel the license, and order a Site Owner Plus license, Web Host Essential license or greater for this particular server.

If you receive this error you can resolve it by upgrading to an appropriate license for your server's RAM.

Note

You cannot upgrade/downgrade a Free Starter license.

Locked IP License

Error

[ERROR] [LICENSE] License key operation failure: ERR LR.R: IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx does not match locked IP.
removed uploaded serial.no
restored the original trial.key from /usr/local/lsws/conf/trial.key.backup.8901
ERROR Aborted!

When a reseller orders a license through the API with a pre-assigned IP, the license will be locked to that IP and cannot be used on any other IP. If a user tries to install a license with a locked IP to a server with a different IP, you will receive the error above.

Users are able to lock and unlock IPs from their Client Area in most cases. There are some situations where we will lock a license to an IP and not allow the user to unlock it though. During these situations, if you want it unlocked you must contact us.

Maximum Number of Server(s) Reached

Error

[ERROR] [LICENSE] License key operation failure: DT.7: The maximum number of server(s) can be installed with this serial number has been reached. If you want to migrate a license used on another server, please consult the product manual regarding how to transfer a license. count=1
Error when activating new license
Back up current license files under /usr/local/lsws/conf/ ...
Trying to switch to a new production license ...
... Saved serial number "xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx" to /usr/local/lsws/conf/serial.no
... Serial number is available.
... Contacting licensing server for license key ...
... failed to retrieve license key, please double check your serial number: 2018-10-08 13:41:02.100411 [NOTICE] Memory size is: 32007000KB.
2018-10-08 13:41:02.489385 [ERROR] [LICENSE] License key operation failure: ERR LR.R.lic.p_reg_serial_next_seq: Max number reached.
removed uploaded serial.no
ERROR Aborted!

You may experience this error while transferring your license from an old server to a new server. It indicates the license is still registered on the previous server.

Warning

A serial number can only be used on one server at a time.

Please visit our guide, Transfer or Release a License, to learn how to correctly set up your license on a new server.

Contact With License Server Failure

Error

NEEDS an ERROR HERE

When your server fails to contact the license server, it may be an easy fix on your end. Please check the following before you log a ticket.

Is your server's DNS okay?

To check your DNS, run:

$ ping gooogle.com

Does it return the right result? (Don't try to ping our license server since it is not allowed.)

$ ping google.com
PING google.com (172.217.12.206) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from lga25s63-in-f14.1e100.net (172.217.12.206): icmp_seq=1 ttl=128 time=10.1 ms
64 bytes from lga25s63-in-f14.1e100.net (172.217.12.206): icmp_seq=2 ttl=128 time=11.3 ms
64 bytes from lga25s63-in-f14.1e100.net (172.217.12.206): icmp_seq=3 ttl=128 time=12.5 ms

Does telnet work?

If your DNS is okay, you can try to telnet to our license server by using port 443. Try license and/or license2.

$ telnet license.litespeedtech.com 443
$ telnet license2.litespeedtech.com 443
$ telnet license.litespeedtech.com 443
Trying 35.171.237.73...
Connected to license.litespeedtech.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
^]
telnet> quit 
Connection closed.

If you see the above, it means your server can connect to LiteSpeed's license server without any problem.

Does cURL work?

Run the following cURL commands:

$ curl -I -k https://license.litespeedtech.com
$ curl -I -k https://license2.litespeedtech.com
$ curl -I -k https://license.litespeedtech.com
HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2018 18:54:16 GMT
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Server: LiteSpeed
Alt-Svc: quic=":443"; ma=2592000; v="35,37,38,39"
Connection: Keep-Alive

If you see the above, it means your server connected to the license server without any problem. Don't worry about “404 Not Found”, it is normal.

Check your DNS Server and Disable IPv6 DNS Server

Check if there's any IPv6 DNS nameserver. Our license server does not like IPv6 mapped IPv4 addresses.

$ sudo cat /etc/resolv.conf
nameserver 62.50.161.166
nameserver 217.149.113.30
nameserver 2620:0:ccc::2
nameserver 2620:0:ccd::2
nameserver 2001:4860:4860::8888

If so, comment out the IPv6 server records and try to verify the license again.

nameserver 62.50.161.166
nameserver 217.149.113.30
#nameserver 2620:0:ccc::2
#nameserver 2620:0:ccd::2
#nameserver 2001:4860:4860::8888

Check with your Service Provider

If your server can connect to the license server without any problem but it still returns “failed to contact license server”, your data center is most likely blocking the license server. You will need to contact your service provider to fix it.

Whitelist our License Server IPs

If you would like to add our license server IPs to your firewall whitelist, you can add the IPs that the following hostnames resolve to:

license.litespeedtech.com
license2.litespeedtech.com

At the time of writing this, they are 34.231.236.27 and 167.99.112.67, but they may change and you will need to check the IPs yourself to make sure.

Trial License Failure

Error

[ERROR] [LICENSE] License key operation failure: ERR LCT.2: Your trial period has terminated. Please contact sales if you need to extend your trial. 

This error occurs because our licenses are bound to a machine's IP address, and this IP has already used the trial license.

If you would like to use a trial license again on a machine that has used it previously, you can contact us to request we extend the trial period for that IP. If this IP address is being used with another active Enterprise license, you will have to use a different machine with a different IP address to start a new trial.

Owned LiteSpeed Web Server Update Errors

You Are Not Authorized to Use This Binary

Error

[ERROR] You are not authorized to use this binary, please purchase upgrades.

You may receive this error when trying to update your license version. If you do, type this commmand in the command line:

$ sudo /usr/local/lsws/admin/misc/lsup.sh -f -v <version>

If you are still getting a similar error you most likely have an owned license with an expired update period. You will need to purchase a yearly update add-on if you want to use the latest version. Check out the How-To article to learn how-to purchase the add-on.

Software Update Expiration

Error

Software Update Expiration
Sep 01, 2018 Expired

When the software update expires, you may see the above message on the LiteSpeed Admin Console. This means it's time for you to purchase a yearly update add-on if you would like to continue getting updates. Check out the How-To article to learn how-to purchase the add-on.

Software Upgrade Has Expired

Error

$ sudo /usr/local/lsws/bin/lshttpd -V
[OK] License key #1 verification passed! Software upgrade has expired.
[NOTICE] Memory size is: 131735720KB.

When the software update expires, you may see the error above. You will need to purchase a yearly update add-on if you want to use the latest version. Check out the How-To article to learn how-to purchase the add-on.

Error in Update Log

Error

$ sudo tail /usr/local/lsws/autoupdate/update.log
[OK] Package is up-to-date.
Checking for new release...
[OK] Package is up-to-date.
Checking for new release...
[OK] Package is up-to-date.
Extracting package file
[ERROR] You are not authorized to use this binary, please purchase upgrades.
[ERROR] License key verification failed
Checking for new release...
[OK] Package is up-to-date.

The update log may show the same error, if the upgrade to the latest build is not working. You will need to purchase a yearly update add-on if you want to use the latest version. Check out the How-To article to learn how-to purchase the add-on.


Last update: August 1, 2023