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Title
Safeguard Authentication Services 7.0 GPO Licensing Editor Fails with Legacy License Files -
Description
After upgrading to Safeguard Authentication Services (SAS) 7.0, administrators may observe one or more of the following behaviors when managing licenses via Group Policy (GPO):
- Opening Authentication Services → Client Configuration → Licensing in GPMC.msc causes the editor to spin and close unexpectedly.
- The Group Policy Editor does not open or immediately exits when accessing licensing settings.
- Existing legacy license files (5.x or 6.0) are not displayed or cannot be added through GPO.
- License files generated for version 6.1 continue to appear and function correctly.
- No explicit error message is displayed in the user interface.
This issue typically occurs only after upgrading an environment from an earlier SAS version to SAS 7.0.
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Cause
This behavior is caused by a known product defect in SAS 7.0 Control Center related to the handling of legacy license formats (5.x and 6.0) when license management is performed through Group Policy Objects (GPO).
During internal testing, Engineering confirmed that:
- The issue is specific to GPO‑based license management.
- License handling outside of GPO (Control Center Preferences or CLI) is not impacted.
- The issue is not related to environment configuration, domain settings, or the upgrade procedure itself.
This issue is tracked internally under bug 708369.
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Resolution
At this time, there is no permanent fix available for this issue. The behavior has been identified as a product defect and is tracked under bug 708369, which affects how Safeguard Authentication Services (SAS) 7.0 Control Center handles older license formats (5.x and 6.0) when managed through Group Policy Objects (GPO).Supported Workarounds
Customers may use one of the following supported methods to successfully manage licenses in SAS 7.0 environments:
Option 1: Use Control Center Preferences (Recommended)
Manage licenses directly through the SAS Control Center interface:
- Navigate to Control Center → Preferences → Licensing
- This is the recommended and supported method for SAS 7.0 and allows licenses to remain visible and manageable, avoiding the GPO licensing editor issue.
Option 2: Add Legacy Licenses via Command Line
Older license files (5.x or 6.0) can always be added directly on the system using the command‑line interface. This method remains supported and is effective even when the GPO licensing editor fails to load. This will add the license to QAC, so other devices running legacy versions can pick up the license at joing to the domain.
Example command:
/opt/quest/bin/vastool -u sysadm license add /path/to/license/file.dlvThis approach allows legacy licenses to be applied successfully without relying on GPO‑based license management.Additional Information
- License files generated for version 6.1 are not affected and can be managed normally.
- If an environment was upgraded from an earlier SAS version, existing legacy licenses may remain visible through Control Center → Preferences, even though they cannot be re‑added via GPO.
- Engineering continues to evaluate bug 708369 for potential improvement in a future SAS release.
- Until a permanent fix is available, GPO‑based license management is not recommended for environments using legacy license files on SAS 7.0.
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Change Request
708369