syskeys.dat file being set to length of zero

[Robert Glover Jr]

On Sparx EA 10  with increasing frequently, shared license file syskeys.dat is mysteriously becoming a file with a length of zero.  This locks out all users of shared license file syskeys.dat  until it is restored from a backup copy.  http://www.sparxsystems.com/enterprise_architect_user_guide/9.3/license_management/keystore_troubleshooting.html says that each user of the the shared license file must be granted Read, Write, and Modify access to it.  That same link says there can be issues if the shared license file is on a RAID drive.  But the link does not mention any situation where the license file becomes a zero length file.  It used to happen only ocassionally, but lately it has been happening about once per week.  One time it happened two days in a row. Oddly but fortunately, each time it has happened there has been a syskeys.dat.BAK file in the same directory.  Something is making a backup and then making syskeys.dat empty.  I opened a ticket about this but have not received a reply yet. It's been a week.  Has anyone else encountered this? What is the solution?  This is happening on a Windows 2003 server SP2.

[ChrisDr]

Happened to us also a lot. We solved it by switching from the license file to the license server.
Chris

[Aaron B]

A 0kb sskeys.dat file typically indicates that a file corruption issue has occurred.  Corruption of file-based keystores has most frequently been reported where users may have been accessing floating licenses via a slow or potentially unstable connection (E.g. VPN from a remote location, or unstable wireless connection).

We highly recommend using the Keystore Service to manage your floating licenses rather than the older file-based key store method.

For more information on the Keystore Service, please see:
http://www.sparxsystems.com/products/ea/floating_licenses.html

For instructions to install and configure a new floating license keystore using the Sparx Systems Keystore Service, please refer to the following Visual Quick Start Guide:
http://www.sparxsystems.com/bin/ssks_install.pdf