Citrix Lizenz Server 11.17.2 Build 51000 with Time Bomb

[German]There seems to be an unpleasant surprise for Citrix Service Providers in the License Manager. There are suddenly no more licenses available for some providers. The cause is probably a "time bomb" in Citrix License Server 11.17.2 Build 51000, in which the required license file is simply deleted under certain circumstances. However, Citrix has published instructions on how service provider administrators can finally solve this problem.

German blog reader Joern wrote in this comment on March 3, 2025 that he was affected by this problem. Jan Mischo documented the issue in his German IT blog in the post Bug / „Kill Pill" im Citrix Lizenz Server 11.17.2 Build 51000 im CSP and updated it on 3.3.2025.

Jan writes that there is a bug with CSP licenses in Citrix License Server 11.17.2 Build 51000. On March 1, 2025, a "time bomb" has probably been activated, which deletes the licenses. Jan has documented this in a log excerpt:

01/03/2025 00:07:20.022 [Warning] : main : legacylicensemgmttool.cpp : 196 : Using default time 1740783600
01/03/2025 00:07:20.022 [Warning] : main : legacylicensemgmttool.cpp : 206 : Time to clean the licenses
01/03/2025 00:07:20.022 [Warning] : main : legacylicensemgmttool.cpp : 266 : SUCCESS!! Tool Execution Complete

JJan has received feedback from his contact who is the contact person for Citrix. It seems that Citrix partners have been strongly "encouraged" to upgrade to Citrix License Server version 5100. In this version, a "kill pill" is activated, which is fired if the partner is not shown as fully compliant in the Citrix telemetry, then the license file is removed from the Citrix license server. No one can work afterwards.

The quick workaround is to downgrade the Citrix License Server to an older version and import a license file that was activated before 01.09.2024.

Citrix support writes that those affected must uninstall the Citrix License Server (11.17.2, build 51000) and then install the Citrix License Server version 11.17.2, build 49000. A valid license file must then be imported. Further details including the answer from Citrix support can be found at Jan's blog post. Was anyone else affected by this surprise?