<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation:  Installation and Update Guide > License management > cadett ELSA licensing > Hardware locks > Special circumstances and troubleshooting > Network lock troubleshooting

When a network-based hardware lock is not working properly, there is an error somewhere in a long communication chain. Understanding the different links in that chain is a good starting point for the troubleshooting. Let us therefore spend some paragraphs and a few moments of contemplation over this.

 

1.A physical hardware lock is connected to a USB port of a server of some kind. The first link is the lock itself.

 

2.The hardware communication between the hardware lock and the server is made through a USB port. The USB port is the chain’s second link.

 

3.A driver handles the communication with the hardware lock through the USB port on one side, and a service that is administrating the licenses on the other. The driver is the chain’s third link.

 

4.A service is communicating through the above-mentioned driver with the hardware lock on one side and with the workstations through the TCP/IP protocol in the other. This service is the chain’s fourth link.

 

5.The communication between the service on the server and the cadett ELSA software on the workstations goes through the network drivers and the TCP/IP protocol. The network communication with the TCP/IP protocol and the physical network makes the chain’s fifth link.

 

6.The sixth link of the chain is the cadett ELSA software on the workstation.

 

No chain is stronger than its weakest link. In addition, if one link is missing it is easy to figure out what the result will be.

 

The troubleshooting should hence be targeted on investigating the different links of the chain to find the flaw, so that adequate measures can be taken. Please note that more than one link in the chain might be malfunctioning.