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PowerShell TCP test - for troubleshooting why Online Activation attempts can fail in the backup client (that will typically cause the prompt to "Activate off-line" to be seen, but not many license keys contain the ability to perform an Offline Activation, so that can't be done anyhow due to that current license property value, just realize)

!Warning! Keep in mind that the majority of NovaBACKUP license keys do NOT have the ability to actually be able to perform an Offline Activation method/part (and that is even though the client GUI will normally prompt the user to "Activate off-line" (in a pop-up dialog) if it can't complete the first stage of the complete "Activation" function, which will be the "Online Activation" method/part of that complete function always, and only if it can't get the "Online Activation" method/part to work to activate the client with will it prompt the end user via the client GUI to perform the "Offline Activation" method/part. This means that the majority of NovaBACKUP license keys won't be able to Offline Activate even if they can reach that dialog to attempt that second part of the complete "Activation" function process in that case, and in the end.

We have a separate KB article on a related or similar subject, that contains more ability to troubleshoot DNS issues, and additional "ping" and "nslookup" commands to utilize, and you can read that other similar KB article here.

The reason that either the "Activate off-line" prompt will be seen (and pop-up) during an Online Activation attempt, or if the "Activation failed because of unknown reason" error text is seen if you do attempt to perform an Offline Activation attempt is seen can be due to (but is certainly not limited to as a reason why that can occur, in fact much less percentage of a chance to be the actual issue in that case we know) that the backup client app (NovaBackX.exe and nsService.exe would be the two process / task names that are involved in that activation function) itself cannot connect to our License Server server's DNS address ("ls.novabackup.com", and to a much lesser extent "ls.novastor.com", but that latter DNS address would only be utilized by very old backup client versions to activate with, such as older than NovaBACKUP v18.0 or so, or as a 2nd fallback DNS address in case the first DNS address does not work to activate the client with). We commonly see that is 80% of the time due to DNS Server issues, where the necessary License Server DNS address can't be resolved by your network interface adapter's current DNS Server IPs, or a Firewall is blocking that connection attempt for it to get to the License Server DNS address (which is "ls.novabackup.com at TCP port 443) in that case.

  1. Perform a PowerShell TCP test to our License Server DNS address at port 443 (and port 80 optionally after that, to replace "443" with "80" in the PowerShell command in these instructions, but only after you test port "443" first):

    • Note: This is just an additional test, other than the "ping" and "nslookup" command tests that were both detailed in Step 1 of our other similar "https://support.novabackup.com/knowledgebase/fix-switching-to-cache-channel-backup-log-error-which-means-that-the-client-machine-cant-reach-the-storage-server-endpoint-address" KB article, where this text will be found but that will be for a slightly different use case, as that KB article doesn't detail if you have "Activation" function related issues in that case, whereas that other above KB article is more for testing the connection to the Cloud Storage endpoint DNS address, but the instructions that I have posted in this current KB article that you are reading now are very similar in that case (mostly the DNS address is different if you were to compare the two instruction sets in this current KB article versus the above other similar KB article, which has some more items or methods that could prove useful to test with).

    • The reason that the error "Activation failed for an unknown reason" text during at least an Online Activation attempt in the backup client can be seen can be due to the backup client simply can't connect to the HTTP/HTTPS web address of the License Server DNS address at either port 443 and port 80 (if port 443 works then only port 443 is needed, but if port 443 doesn't work it tries to fallback to using port 80 just know), that it needs to be able to connect to in order to perform Online Activation at least. and that License Server DNS address is ("ls.novabackup.com"). That normally is due to some sort of firewall or DNS issue on the client end.

      The following PowerShell TCP command should be able to connect, if it doesn't it means there is an issue on the network side (90% of the time it is DNS related we've found).

      Please run this connection test to our "ls.novabackup.com" License Server DNS address, that the Activation function uses to make a web based (using HTTPS port 443 first and then HTTP port 80 second, in that order, but only if HTTPS/443 can't connect in the first part) connection to.

    • Go to Start Menu and type in PowerShell, and run it, and paste this command in (and make sure to modify the storage server DNS address portion of the statement to replace that text with the License Server URL address (that is always the same DNS address and port in that case):

      test-netconnection -Port 443 -ComputerName ls.novabackup.com -InformationLevel "Detailed"

      In addition run the same command as above but this time replace "-Port 443" with "-Port 80", and optionally at this point, but mainly if either of those "test-netconnection" commands do fail, run the ping command "ping ls.novabackup.com" to see if it fails to ping or if it can resolve to a valid IP.

      If the test-netconnection command last output line of text shows "TcpTestSucceeded : True" then it passed. If the output shows "TcpTestSucceeded : False" then it did NOT pass. If the test did NOT pass, check to see what the "InterfaceAlias" line of text shows, that will state what network adapter was used, and if it is a VPN or other such adapter, disconnect the VPN & retry the tests. If the output shows "TcpTestSucceeded : False" then disable the SW & HW firewall and retry, and if it still fails then add these public DNS Servers to the main (LAN & WiFi) network adapter's DNS Server settings, by editing the adapter(s), and do a properties on the "TCP/IPv4" section, then click "Use the following DNS server addresses:" and specify these DNS Server IPs manually (Google & CloudFlare public DNS Server IPs):

      8.8.8.8, 4.4.4.4, 1.1.1.1

      Then save the changes and retry the same PowerShell TCP test & ping commands again. If both commands work it was due to the Firewall or the DNS Server settings, to resolve our DNS address. You can leave the DNS Servers manually config'd on that same network adapter, or you can on your internet router add at least 1 of the 3 above public DNS Server IPs in as a DNS Server address, and then change your main network adapter back to using automatic DNS Server settings, and run the same test again (possibly after a PC reboot, or after disabling that network adapter and re-enable it).