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How the error looks like

Updates:
23rd March 2024
- Adding the chapter "Determining the Sybase ASE License Expiry Date";
- Adding the article teaser.

If you have an SAP ABAP trial installation that uses the Sybase ASE database, then it periodically stops working. Often it happens at the beginning of April.
The server just hangs during the startup process and doesn't give any errors to the terminal.


The following information is displayed in the terminal in that case:

vhcalnplci:npladm 54> startsap
Checking syb Database
Database is not available via R3trans
-------------------------------------------
starting database NPL ...
Log file: /sybase/NPL/startdb.log

File /sybase/NPL/startdb.log contains no useful information other than the following message:

ASE instance not available
*** ERROR:ASE instance possibly left running when system
    went down(system crash?).

When you press Control+C, the process is interrupted and a message is displayed that additional information can be found in the trace file. Unfortunately, there is no useful information in the trace file either.

How to find the cause

The root cause of this error is an expired license file. Relevant information can be found in the following log:
/Sybase/<name of instace>/ASE-<version>/install/<name of instance>.log

For example:
/sybase/NPL/ASE-16_0/install/NPL.log

That log contains something like that:

00:0000:00000:00000:2023/04/02 13:38:43.38 kernel  SySAM: Using licenses from: /sybase/NPL/SYSAM-2_0/licenses/SYBASE_ASE_TestDrive.lic
00:0000:00000:00000:2023/04/02 13:38:43.55 kernel  SySAM: Failed to obtain license(s) for ASE_CORE feature from license file(s) or server(s).
00:0000:00000:00000:2023/04/02 13:38:43.55 kernel  SySAM: Feature has expired.
00:0000:00000:00000:2023/04/02 13:38:43.55 kernel  SySAM: License feature name:  ASE_CORE
00:0000:00000:00000:2023/04/02 13:38:43.55 kernel  SySAM: Expire date:   31-mar-2023
00:0000:00000:00000:2023/04/02 13:38:43.55 kernel  SySAM: License search path:   /sybase/NPL/SYSAM-2_0/licenses/SYBASE_ASE_TestDrive.lic:
00:0000:00000:00000:2023/04/02 13:38:43.55 kernel  SySAM: FlexNet Licensing error:-10,32
00:0000:00000:00000:2023/04/02 13:38:43.55 kernel  There is no valid license for ASE server product. Installation date is not found or installation grace period has expired. Server will not boot.


This log also contains the location of the license file that needs to be updated.

Resolution

When the root cause is found, the solution is quite simple. Go to page ABAP Trial Downloads  Developer Trials and Downloads and download the corresponding license file.

I downloaded the license from the following link:

I won't post the exact link here as it may change over time. But it can be easily found on the page I mentioned. Before downloading, you may need to register on the site and accept the agreement.

After that, you need to extract the contents of the archive and copy the SYBASE_ASE_TestDrive.lic file to the folder /sybase/<name of instace>/SYSAM-2_0/licenses/SYBASE_ASE_TestDrive.lic.

In my case the name of the instance is NPL and the target folder will be /sybase/NPL/SYSAM-2_0/licenses/SYBASE_ASE_TestDrive.lic.

Now the server will start successfully.

Determining the Sybase ASE License Expiry Date

If you want to be prepared in advance, you can always find the expiration date of the license.

Approach 1 – in the command line with isql

Perform the following steps in your operating system's console:

1. Start your ABAP Trial instance – the database must be started;

2. Run the following commands:

 

 

su -l sybnpl
isql -Usapsa -X -SNPL

 

 

During the execution, you will be prompted to enter passwords. For the ABAP Trial system, these passwords will be the same as your master password. Additional information can be found here.

3. Then run the following commands:

 

 

sp_lmconfig
go​

 

 

4. In the results, you will find the end date at several positions, as shown in the screenshot below:
screenshot_license_expiry_date.PNG

Approach 2 – Using the license file name

Open the license file located at the following path:

 

 

/sybase/<name of instance>/SYSAM-2_0/licenses/SYBASE_ASE_TestDrive.lic

 

 

Replace <instance name> with the appropriate name, which may be NPL.

You will find the expiration date within the file contents, as depicted in the screenshot below:

screenshot_license_expiry_date_in_file.PNG

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