No valid licence key installed EV 5.0

WOW, EV 5!  That is a blast from the past.  What is the modified date of the license file?  If someone changed something with it they may very well have corrupted it.

Without a valid license nothing new will be archived but you will still be able to view items.  You might try looking for a backup of the license from before you started having problems and putting that in place.  

Unfortunately, you are on a version that is so out of support if you can't find a backup/working version of that license you may very well be stuffed.

One thing I thought of, the license keys used to be tied to the EV server.  Has anything changed on the server?

Is the name of the file actually keys_computername.txt or is it named after the server, like keys_EVServer1.txt?

It should be named after the lanman name of that machine so make sure that the name is resolving properly back to that box, and that the DisableLoopbackCheck and DisableStrictNameChecking registry keys are properly set.  That's #5 and #6 in this article: https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.TECH71173.html

BTW we are now up to EV11.0.1 so if you plan to keep EV around, you really should be looking to get some upgrades done.  We can't really help you if you need support on your current version (both from an "end of life" perspective and a "no one remembers" perspective). We want all of our customers on modern, supported versions so we can help solve issues that pop up!

The key is named after the server (Keys_<actual server name>.txt) as it should be and its last modified date is 22/12/2004. It is located in C:/Program Files/Enterprise Vault.

There are identical copies of it in folder D:/KV5 SP3 Software and in  D:/Program Files/Enterprise Vault.

I don't think anything has been done to the Vault server (bar usual patches) though the mailbox it archives may have been moved about on its server as we have moved most of our mailboxes to virtual servers. This one is still on the physical one though.

Note - The licence is not backed up, though we do seem to have a few copies of it on different drives on the server.

EV5, that was even before my time :)

Have you looked in the .txt file and see if there is an end-date?

I don't think there should be one but may be worth a look.

I know from demo-licenses that there are end-dates in the license files but haven't seen it on real licenses.

But haven't looked in a keys_******.txt file in a long time.

There is no date mentioned at all in the licence .txt file (bar copyright 2000, 2004).

It does use the words "permenent" and "uncounted" after the following features:

FEATURE Base KVSPLC 1.000;

FEATURE Journal KVSPLC 1.000; and

FEATURE EVPM KVSPLC 1.000.

That is your perm key.  You could try to put a new version of the license in the root folder of Enterprise Vault and restart the EV Admin service.

That file is already in C:\Program Files\Enterprise Vault folder and I have restarted both the EV Admin service and the server to no effect.

Is the licence key different to that? If so, any idea what it might be called or where I could get a new version?

Do this:

1. Stop the EV Admin Service
2. Start a dtrace of the EV Admin service and DirectoryService
3. Start the EV Admin Service
4. post the results of the dtrace here.

To start the dtrace you can refer to this:

Note : This command window may be minimized if required, but do not close

1. Log onto the EV Server as the Vault Service Account

2. Open a Command Prompt window

3. Navigate to the EV program folder (typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Enterprise Vault)

4. Type dtrace and press Enter

5. At the Dtrace prompt (DT>) type View and press Enter

6. Record the Id number beside the service or services that the trace will be run to capture

7. Use the following command to set Dtrace for logging against a specific service

   set servicename_or_ID level

   For example, if running a Dtrace on the Admin Service where the ID is 1 and the logging level required is verbose (maximum), then the syntax would be:

   set 1 v

   Note : For a list of possible services to dtrace then please see TECH129595

8. Repeat step 7 for as many separate processes as required

9. Use the following command to specify the log file name:

   log tracelog.log

   Note: A path can also be entered for the location of the file. If only a file name is provided, the location of the trace file will be the directory from which Dtrace has been run. For example:

   log d:\tracelog.log

10. Reproduce the issue or wait until the issue reoccurs

11. At the DT prompt, type quit and press enter

12. Type y to confirm and disable all tracing

13. Collect the log file and attach it to a post here.

Ok, I've done that (see attached). What I did afterwards was:

Restart EV Admin service.

Open admin console - failed

Restart rest of EV services (oops)

Try restarting EV Archiving Service (stopped immediately)

Open admin console.

Try restarting EV Archiving Service from console (nope)

EV Archiving Service Properties - Schedule - Run Now

(Unable to perform Run Now on service; Reason: Server state - Stopped; Start the service and try again)

EV Archiving Service Properties - Synchronization - Synchronize

(Unable to perform Synchronization of exchange server SHEXV02; Reason: Server state - Stopped)

Stopped trace