Console Inaccessible with Demo Expired Message after Server Upgrade to 8.11 or Higher

Products

Carbon Black App Control

Issue/Introduction

After upgrading to Server version 8.11.x+ the Web Console displays an error message similar to:

Your Demo of Carbon Black App Control has expired. Contact Global Customer Assistance to purchase a copy.

Environment

App Control Server: 8.11.x or Higher

Cause

The Server License file was already expired before the upgrade to Server 8.11.0
There is an DNS issue resolving the Web Server Address to the correct IP address
There is an IIS error or misconfiguration

Resolution

A valid server license is required to resolve the Demo Expired message.

Log in to the Broadcom Support Portal and download your current Server License.
Follow these steps to import the non-expired Server License:
1. Stop the App Control Server and App Control Reporter services.
2. Open SQL Server Management Studio as the Carbon Black Service Account.
3. Open the .lic file in a text editor and copy the content
4. Update the following SQL query by pasting the license value within the single quotes:
```
USE das; EXECUTE dbo.UpdateLicense 'UPDATE VALUE FROM LIC', '0'
```
5. Start the App C Server and Reporter services and attempt to access the console again
If the current license is not available for download in the Support portal:
- Open a Non-technical Case for License Related Issues and/or contact Global Customer Assistance
- In the meantime, while GCA is assisting, you can attempt the following:
  1. Uninstall the 8.11 version from Control Panel
  2. Restore the database from the database backup taken prior the upgrade
  3. Re-install the same version of App Control prior to the upgrade

If getting this error with a valid license, check the following:

I. DNS resolution - the web console validates the license by making an API call to the web server address stored in the database.

Verify the correct Web Server Address is in the database and that it resolves to the IP address of the server for both IPv4 and IPv6
1. Run SQL Server Management Studio as the Carbon Black Service Account
2. Execute the following query to get the Web Server Address:
```
USE das; SELECT value FROM shepherd_configs (NOLOCK) WHERE name like 'WebServerAddress'
```
3. Verify that the Web Server Address matches the expected App Control Server name
  - If the name does not match, update it with this query
```
USE das;EXEC dbo.updateshepherdconfig @name = 'WebServerAddress', @value = 'APPCServer.example.com';
```
Add entries in the HOSTS file for the Web Server Address to resolve to the Local IPs of the server
1. Run Notepad as Administrator > File > Open > C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
2. Add the following lines at the bottom:
```
127.0.0.1  AppCServer.example.com
::1        AppCServer.example.com
```
  - If the HOSTS file cannot be modified, make sure that the DNS resolves the Web Server Address name to the external IP address of the AppC server for both IPv4 and IPv6

Validate the settings by pinging the Web Server Address:

ping -4  AppCServer.example.com
ping -6  AppCServer.example.com

II. Errors or misconfiguration of IIS Web Server - check the PHP Errors log for errors such as:

The following example error is caused by disabling Anonymous Authentication in IIS Manager; to resolve it re-enable the config

[28-May-2025 11:43:31 UTC] API Error from page /login.php: GET appc.example.com/api/bit9platform/restricted/licenseUsage/ with params [] with options{"81":0,"64":0,"19913":1,"42":0,"156":61000,"10023":"[removed from logging]","10022":"[removed from logging]","10015":"[removed from logging]"} returned http code 401 and result in 0.0067501068115234 seconds

This following example error is caused by an IIS configuration error; to resolve it, reinstall IIS

[14-Oct-2025 15:22:45 UTC] API Error from page /login.php: GET appc.example.com/api/bit9platform/restricted/licenseUsage/ with params [] with options {"81":0,"64":0,"19913":1,"42":0,"156":61000,"10023":"[removed from logging]","10022":"[removed from logging]","10015":"[removed from logging]"} returned http code 0 and result  in 0.37768602371216 seconds
[14-Oct-2025 15:22:45 UTC] Last Curl error: Empty reply from server

Additional Information

If any issues are encountered while downloading or locating the Server License:
- Open a Non-technical Case for License Related Issues and/or contact Global Customer Assistance.
- The Serial Number and/or CDC Activation Key are not the Server License
- The License Key is a very long & encoded string
If getting this error with a valid license, confirm that the IIS setting Anonymous Authentication is enabled