Diagnosing CPLEX error 32201 (Academic Initiative Users only)

Resolving The Problem

Academic users of CPLEX Optimization Studio can only receive a very limited number of licensor errors, as the license key they use is very simple. While information on virtually all ILM error messages can be found by going to http://www.ibm.com/support and searching for "ILM Error" and the appropriate error number, that typically won't be necessary for an Academic Initiative user. Almost all Academic Initiative version license errors are one of the following, in order of likelihood.

• "License not found or unreadable." This typically means the ILOG_LICENSE_FILE environment variable doesn't properly identify the full path of the license file, typically named access.ilm. It must specify the license file name in the path as well as the directory. This can also occur if the license file was corrupted during the download or installation process, or if the license file was never downloaded in the first place.
• "No access key found for this product." This indicates that the license file is legitimate, but it doesn't enable the IBM ILOG components that comprise CPLEX Optimization Studio. These are CPLEX, OPL IDE, and CP Optimizer. Make sure you installed the correct license file, and that these products appear in the license keys. Also, make sure that the ILOG_LICENSE_FILE environment variable doesn't point to an old license file for another ILOG product.
• "Too many open files trying to read key." This means that the processes running on the machine have used all available file descriptors when CPLEX tried to open the access.ilm file. Lack of any available file descriptors can also manifest itself with the "License not found or unreadable" error mentioned above. In either case, locate the process that uses an excessive number of file descriptors. The most likely explanation involves a CPLEX based application that repeatedly calls CPXopenCPLEX (when using the C API) or the IloCplex or Cplex constructors (when using C++, Java or .NET APIs). For example, this can happen in CPLEX applications that implement decomposition algorithms that solve a long sequence of problems, and each problem solve makes a license request. This is typically unnecessary, as usually the application can simply do one license request. Although it corresponds to a different error message, this FAQ describes the remedies in more detail.
• "Access key has expired." Academic licenses have an expiration date and typically need to be renewed once a year.