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License Usage Count is Outdated

Please note this article applies to the latest version of Password Policy.

When viewing Password Policy license usage in Password Policy Domain Administration, admins may encounter the following error:

The license usage count is outdated. Periodic scanning is expected to run once a day. Make sure that the Sentinel is installed and running on the domain controller selected for periodic scanning. 

As the error indicates, the Sentinel on the domain controller holding the PDC Emulator role is responsible for checking license consumption on a daily basis. If this check does not run for several days, the license is flagged as outdated.

To remediate this error, check the health of the Password Policy Sentinel on the PDC emulator.

If you are unsure which domain controller is the PDC, run the following PowerShell cmdlet on any domain controller:

get-addomain |select PDCEmulator

The Specops Password Policy Sentinel service is responsible for the daily license count. Verify this service is installed and started; if the service is stopped user counting will not run, resulting in the outdated license error.

If the service is not listed, ensure you have installed the Sentinel on this and every writeable domain controller. The following article will explain how to verify all components are installed properly in you domain: https://specopssoft.com/knowledge-base/specops-password-policy/how-is-my-specops-password-policy-configuration/

If the service is installed and running, check the Windows event logs for errors indicating an issue with license counting. By default, the license count should run at midnight local time, e.g.:

From there you can either wait for periodic scanning to take place or go to the Periodic Scanning Tab and run a manual scan of the license counting to clear this error as well as get an up-to-date count of your license usage:

Publication date: December 27, 2021
Modification date: February 21, 2024

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