can't start SAP application server

Question

I can't find any information that is relevant to my specific situation. Around a month ago I had created my own application server which has become my local development machine. The tutorial I followed was available here: https://blogs.sap.com/2016/11/03/sap-nw-as-abap-7.50-sp2-developer-edition-to-download-consise-installation-guide/

This has been working fine until this morning. Last night I shut SAP system down using stopsap and shutdown the VM via shutdown -h 0. When I used startsap this morning it hung infinitely when trying to start the database.

linux-nsts:npladm 92> startsap
Checking syb Database
Database is not avaliable via R3Trans
------------------------------------------
starting database NPL ...
Log file: /sybase/NPL/startdb.log

Checking that log file I find the following messages:

------------------------------ Thu Jul 6 09:35:22 CEST 2017
/usr/sap/NPL/SYS/exe/run/startdb was killed or interrupted. Terminating. 

In the trace file in the home directory

Running /usr/sap/SYS/exe/run/startdb 
DB startup failed

I can't find any other articles that are relevant to my situation. My host file is perfectly fine and the IP can be pinged. I only have one linux user, npladm for starting SAP. The only other command I could find was R3trans but I'm not sure if this would be the right program in this instance.

linux-nsts:npladm 7> R3trans -d
This is R3trans version 6.25 (release 745 - 30.10.15 - 12:47:42 ).
unicode enabled version
2EETW169 no connect possible: "DBMS - SYBASE --- "
R3trans finished (0012)

As for the operating system itself I'm not aware to any changes I could have made that could have caused this. The only command I run on the server is startsap and stopsap.

I'm out of ideas where to look, can anybody offer advice?

EDIT: The license for SYBASE expired and it needed to be updated in my case. There is a link in the tutorial explaining how to switch it and where to download a new one.

Answer 1

I stumbled upon by accident the folder /sybase and found a number of log files in there. My server isn't starting because my database no longer has a license. It expired today, actually.

https://mdocs.sap.com/mcm/public/v1/open?shr=dRhHsVYVLc5c1UDveogwtXBdL9m82JccRlvvBXO6K5Q

00:0000:00000:00000:2017/07/06 10:08:09.37 kernel  SySAM: Using licenses from: /sybase/NPL/SYSAM-2_0/licenses/SYBASE_ASE_DE.lic:/sybase/NPL/SYSAM-2_0/licenses/SYBASE_ASE_TestDrive.lic:/sybase/NPL/SYSAM-2_0/licenses/SYBASE_ASE_XE.lic
00:0000:00000:00000:2017/07/06 10:08:09.42 kernel  SySAM: Failed to obtain license(s) for ASE_CORE feature from license file(s) or server(s).
00:0000:00000:00000:2017/07/06 10:08:09.42 kernel  SySAM: Licenses exist for ASE, but a license containing the configured (PE=EE;LT=AC) attributes could not be obtained. Verify that ASE is configured to use the correct type of license, and either reconfigure; or generate and deploy the desired license from the Sybase Product Download Center.
00:0000:00000:00000:2017/07/06 10:08:09.42 kernel  SySAM: Feature has expired.
00:0000:00000:00000:2017/07/06 10:08:09.42 kernel  SySAM: License feature name:  ASE_CORE
00:0000:00000:00000:2017/07/06 10:08:09.42 kernel  SySAM: Expire date:   30-jun-2017
00:0000:00000:00000:2017/07/06 10:08:09.42 kernel  SySAM: License search path:   /sybase/NPL/SYSAM-2_0/licenses/SYBASE_ASE_DE.lic:/sybase/NPL/SYSAM-2_0/licenses/SYBASE_ASE_TestDrive.lic:/sybase/NPL/SYSAM-2_0/licenses/SYBASE_ASE_XE.lic:
00:0000:00000:00000:2017/07/06 10:08:09.42 kernel  SySAM: FlexNet Licensing error:-10,32
00:0000:00000:00000:2017/07/06 10:08:09.42 kernel  SySAM: For further information, refer to the Sybase Software Asset Management website at http://www.sybase.com/sysam
00:0000:00000:00000:2017/07/06 10:08:09.42 kernel  There is no valid license for ASE server product. Installation date is not found or installation grace period has expired. Server will not boot.