WHMCS Licensing server issues right now

[ADz83]

5 minutes ago, websavers said:

The issue with their licensing servers  is now fixed indeed.

Meanwhile their support staff have told me that the reason this was a problem for us in particular is because our system is checking for licensing more frequently than it should be. They then suggested I check my PHP environment to ensure it's working properly... yet *all* of this code that controls the frequency of their licensing checks is within their encoded PHP that I have no access to. Can't say I'm surprised that even during a systemwide licensing server outage they're happy to put at least partial blame on their customers for something that clearly has to be a problem with their own code.

 

On my ticket they said this..

"The WHMCS software is designed not to rely upon our licensing servers, so in such events the admin area will remain accessible. The order forms, client areas and automation will always remain functional."

 

Are they stupid or something?   The whole point of my ticket was to tell them I have lost access to my Admin area. 

[Bigol'tastynuggets]

4 minutes ago, websavers said:

The issue with their licensing servers  is now fixed indeed.

Meanwhile their support staff have told me that the reason this was a problem for us in particular is because our system is checking for licensing more frequently than it should be. They then suggested I check my PHP environment to ensure it's working properly... yet *all* of this code that controls the frequency of their licensing checks is within their encoded PHP that I have no access to. Can't say I'm surprised that even during a systemwide licensing server outage they're happy to put at least partial blame on their customers for something that clearly has to be a problem with their own code.

Utter nonsense! They don't know how to treat customers with anything but contempt. 

Well if that is indeed the case an unencrypted section of the file is not an unreasonable request?

[Bigol'tastynuggets]

Infact, an admittance of it being incorrect advise designed to deflect blame or access to see what this issue is caused by is the only option! 

This issue will have caused so much in lost income and time wasted! 

[TheHackRepairGuy]

12 minutes ago, ADz83 said:

 

On my ticket they said this..

"The WHMCS software is designed not to rely upon our licensing servers, so in such events the admin area will remain accessible. The order forms, client areas and automation will always remain functional."

 

Are they stupid or something?   The whole point of my ticket was to tell them I have lost access to my Admin area. 

No change here.

Still getting the error:
 

INVALID LICENSE

Your license key is invalid. Possible reasons for this include:

• The license key has been entered incorrectly
• The domain being used to access your install has changed
• The IP address your install is located on has changed
• The directory you are using has changed

If required, you can reissue your license on-demand from our client area @ www.whmcs.com/members/clientarea.php which will update the allowed location details.

[DennisHermannsen]

Just now, TheHackRepairGuy said:

No change here.

Still getting the error:
 

INVALID LICENSE

Make sure that you're not on licenseerror.php - try navigating away from it.

[Bigol'tastynuggets]

They need to use all this new found income to hire someone capable of managing a server. 

How on earth is an entire team this incompetent? 

[TheHackRepairGuy]

1 minute ago, DennisHermannsen said:

Make sure that you're not on licenseerror.php - try navigating away from it.

Yes, it redirects to the license page.

LICENSING ERROR

Unable to perform license validation due to the following local server configuration issue:

CURL Error: SSL: no alternative certificate subject name matches target host name 'f.licensing.whmcs.com' - Code 60

Please resolve the error shown above to enable license validation to complete successfully.

For further assistance, please refer to the License Troubleshooting documentation.

[websavers]

Just now, DennisHermannsen said:

Make sure that you're not on licenseerror.php - try navigating away from it.

Yep, def do that, and if you still have our suggested workaround above in place, make sure to remove it from /etc/hosts (or comment it out) as that'll continue to get you errors, though I believe you'd be getting a different error from the HOSTS override.

 

14 minutes ago, Bigol'tastynuggets said:

Utter nonsense! They don't know how to treat customers with anything but contempt. 

Well if that is indeed the case an unencrypted section of the file is not an unreasonable request?

Haha, tried that with other support requests in the past... they just ignore it like you never asked!

[Bigol'tastynuggets]

3 minutes ago, websavers said:

Yep, def do that, and if you still have our suggested workaround above in place, make sure to remove it from /etc/hosts (or comment it out) as that'll continue to get you errors, though I believe you'd be getting a different error from the HOSTS override.

 

Haha, tried that with other support requests in the past... they just ignore it like you never asked!

I know, but this is beyond stupid. Locking admin and users out because they can't manage to make licensing work? 

This is damaging to our businesses and if they claim its our setups we need proof of it. 

[TheHackRepairGuy]

13 minutes ago, websavers said:

Yep, def do that, and if you still have our suggested workaround above in place, make sure to remove it from /etc/hosts (or comment it out) as that'll continue to get you errors, though I believe you'd be getting a different error from the HOSTS override.

 

Situation is resolved here.
Likely my local caching made that event feel longer than it actually was.

Thanks again.

[lulzkiller]

I have not had any license problems at all, and i've been logged in and servicing customers all day

[Bigol'tastynuggets]

11 minutes ago, lulzkiller said:

I have not had any license problems at all, and i've been logged in and servicing customers all day

Have you had any license problems and have you logged in today? 

 

Oh wait, reading would help wouldn't it? 😉

[lulzkiller]

15 minutes ago, Bigol'tastynuggets said:

Have you had any license problems and have you logged in today? 

 

Oh wait, reading would help wouldn't it? 😉

You'r a little angry aren't you ? I read the whole thread, what am i "missing" then ?

[WHMCS John]

Hello,
Today we experienced a high volume of traffic directed at our licensing infrastructure, this resulted in a degraded ability for the WHMCS software to perform the call home which is required when an installation's domain, IP or directory changes from those stored in the Valid license details. If you were in the middle of moving your installation, a license connection error will have been displayed.

Our system administration team took swift action to mitigate the event. Within 2 hours the impact was fully mitigated and normal service restored.

For those not actively seeking to reissue their license during this time, our support team is available to provide further guidance on why the local license cache may not have been valid on your installation. We are currently busy assisting the less than 100 customers reporting an impact from this event.

Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience caused to those impacted.

[DennisHermannsen]

@WHMCS John
I've got news for you. It wasn't a move or a reissue that caused the issue.

 

We did nothing. I was on a Discord server with a lot of WHMCS users (a few hundred) and a lot of them had the exact same issue as we did.

The way the call home is performed is NOT a viable solution. Our WHMCS installations were down for more than an hour because what? Did we mess something up? No. It was WHMCS' license check that was coded by someone who had their head up where the sun doesn't shine. 

That license check has to be rewritten immediately.

Why is whmcs staff trying to make this less of an issue than it really is? Supporters saying it's something configured incorrect locally, and you stating on only happened for a small group of people who all just happened to reissue their licenses at the same time.

Please, don't let this be one of the topics where you just leave after making your initial reply.

[Bigol'tastynuggets]

4 minutes ago, DennisHermannsen said:

@WHMCS John
I've got news for you. It wasn't a move or a reissue that caused the issue.

 

We did nothing. I was on a Discord server with a lot of WHMCS users (a few hundred) and a lot of them had the exact same issue as we did.

The way the call home is performed is NOT a viable solution. Our WHMCS installations were down for more than an hour because what? Did we mess something up? No. It was WHMCS' license check that was coded by someone who had their head up where the sun doesn't shine. 

That license check has to be rewritten immediately.

Why is whmcs staff trying to make this less of an issue than it really is? Supporters saying it's something configured incorrect locally, and you stating on only happened for a small group of people who all just happened to reissue their licenses at the same time.

Please, don't let this be one of the topics where you just leave after making your initial reply.

Yeah, its definitely much more substantial we had not done anything like that! I was out at the time and had to go back to my desk to see why everyone was locked out! 

Certainly not a believable excuse put forward! 

[Bigol'tastynuggets]

Every other time the license servers failed (lots to recall) this has never happened in the same way! I think it's a faux par of epic proportion in tightening up against the companiesthat let licenses lapse temporarily! 

What you've done is managed to annoyed a substantial amount of paying users whilst non-legitimate users were having a good laugh about it! 

To then blame people's php setup is very see through in my opinion! People like Dennis who seem very competent from previous posts and have multiple instances disprove this quite easily! Please don't Bury your head in the sand and ignore the problems AGAIN 🙏 

[WHMCS John]

@DennisHermannsen,

I can see that prior to today, your license key is being used on some variations other than your Valid Domain:

Invalid Domain - Got mail.primaservers.dk, Expecting primaservers.com,www.primaservers.com
Invalid Domain - Got primaservers.primaservers.com, Expecting primaservers.com,www.primaservers.com
Invalid Domain - Got primaservers.dk, Expecting primaservers.com,www.primaservers.com

Please ensure that the WHMCS Admin Area and API is accessed using the Valid Domain. This will ensure that a local license cache is in place to fall-back to in the event of a license outage.

 

@Bigol'tastynuggets,

I wasn't able to locate an account in your name. But please don't hesitate to get in touch so we can assist further.

[DennisHermannsen]

@WHMCS John

Funny enough, that's one of the domains we had no issue with.

None of our admin areas  (or the API) is accessed from anything but the domain it's used for.

 

Besides that: Would anyone be able to lock us out (in case the license servers are down) as long as they have a domain name that points to our websites' IPs?
 

Edited September 29, 2021 by DennisHermannsen

[Allen-WS]

Just as a thought; let’s say you’re right - and this is a big stretch - that all our servers had some mysterious PHP issue which caused the local cache to fail. 

- Why was there no error about this displayed in WHMCS?

- Why was there no email to the administrators sent by the installation?

- Why did the servers timing out not hit a defined cURL timeout and a subsequent warning message?

- if only a hundred people were impacted, what caused the five licensing servers to be so overwhelmed? 
(at a guess I would say that if so many instances are pinging your licensing servers, it’s probably not a localized license issue)
- Why did the five licensing servers get “overwhelmed” by the “high amount of traffic”?
If you need help administering your servers to avoid this sort of outage, good news! You’ve got a captive audience here of a number of people who can probably help!

Just spitballing here. Hopefully something gets fixed over this. 

 

 

[Bigol'tastynuggets]

4 minutes ago, WHMCS John said:

@DennisHermannsen,

I can see that prior to today, your license key is being used on some variations other than your Valid Domain:

Invalid Domain - Got mail.primaservers.dk, Expecting primaservers.com,www.primaservers.com
Invalid Domain - Got primaservers.primaservers.com, Expecting primaservers.com,www.primaservers.com
Invalid Domain - Got primaservers.dk, Expecting primaservers.com,www.primaservers.com

Please ensure that the WHMCS Admin Area and API is accessed using the Valid Domain. This will ensure that a local license cache is in place to fall-back to in the event of a license outage.

 

@Bigol'tastynuggets,

I wasn't able to locate an account in your name. But please don't hesitate to get in touch so we can assist further.

And give you my ssh logins? Yeah I'm aware of the routine 🤣

So which was it? Im still putting my cash on Catastrophic oversight whilst attempting to get those pesky late payers lol

[Bigol'tastynuggets]

Also, why on earth do you lock me as a paying customer out of the admin area and cause my site to be inaccessible if whmcs licensing servers have yet another oopsie? 

[WHMCS John]

Hi all,

I appreciate that any unexpected changes to a business critical system such as WHMCS can have a significant impact, and we will be reviewing what changes might be made in future to avoid a repeat.

[Bigol'tastynuggets]

So was it indeed a change made to force more monetisation or just poorly designed systems? OR is the earlier story relayed true and can we see what code this is that whmcs have opted to blame, Alternatively a detailed description of what is needed for these mysterious conditions to be met and the error caused? 

I think either of the two latter options is an absolutely reasonable request  if it is indeed true! I must say, I don't believe it in the slightest though, I would stake money on it being yet another excuse for yet another whm-oopsie and then a series of non-answers to avoid admitting fault! It's absolutely frustrating that you guys fall short on such silly little details again and again as it'd help the goal of making us part with cash much easier! Unfortunately whmcs wants to charge the fees of a service beyond reproach whilst making momentous errors like locking people out of their own billing platform, or not being able to charge a card payment automatically. or not being able to calculate currency changes just appending a different currency symbol to a clients account £20 != $20 😂

 

You know.... things a billing system needs as a basic implementation.   Anyway, I look forward to seeing a full example of what this hidden magic code is that needs specific setups..... that whmcs either just made up or forgot to add into documentation! 

[Kian]

recommended

4 hours ago, WHMCS John said:

@DennisHermannsen,

I can see that prior to today, your license key is being used on some variations other than your Valid Domain:

Invalid Domain - Got mail.primaservers.dk, Expecting primaservers.com,www.primaservers.com
Invalid Domain - Got primaservers.primaservers.com, Expecting primaservers.com,www.primaservers.com
Invalid Domain - Got primaservers.dk, Expecting primaservers.com,www.primaservers.com

 

What you describe is the outcome of a bug I reported in 2012 in a ticket. I also opened a couple of threads on this community. This same bug also applies to WHMCS Licensing Addon. No one fixed it.

At the time Matt told me you were having the same issue with WHMCS licenses and that he solved the problem by simply adding more servers and CPU cores to handle license verifications.

I didn't want to waste money on hardware just to mitigate the effects of such a silly bug. With my limited PHP knowledge (it was 9 years ago) I managed to fix the issue in a couple of weeks. It wasn't working all the times but >90% is better than zero. More recently in 2018 I've been able to rethink my old solution in a couple of hours so that now I can sleep well at night.

With all developers and funds you have, you can easily fix the bug in about 2 hours and also save money for CPU cores 👍

4 hours ago, DennisHermannsen said:

Why is whmcs staff trying to make this less of an issue than it really is? Supporters saying it's something configured incorrect locally, and you stating on only happened for a small group of people who all just happened to reissue their licenses at the same time.

This is what I thought in 2012 when I first encountered this problem in my modules. I'm using WHMCS Licensing Addon, more or less the same system that WHMCS uses to verify their license keys.

Quite soon I realized it was not caused by end-users, misconfigured servers, license reissuing or stuff like that. The problem is the licensing script. Anyone with medium-high level of PHP knowledge and understanding of Apache & global variables can spot the issue in /modules/servers/licensing/check_sample_code.php. Basically it's a loop that triggers multiple license checks in a row due to how crons and ticket import work on some servers.

Now if we're talking about fixing the issue for your own softwares, you can do that anytime. As for WHMCS licensing system, you can't fix their script. You must wait for them to take action.

In the meantime you could code a script to override global variables accordingly via auto_prepend_file (not recommended) or ask your sys admin to change how PHP runs on your server (not recommended).

In any case I won't share more details. I have better things to do than facing once another bug I reported back in the old days when I still had hairs on my head 👴

Edited September 30, 2021 by Kian