Problem

The ArcGIS application is unable to connect to the licensing server when working remotely and while connected over UBC's myVPN service. The application will either be unable to run at all, or will work periodically but not consistently.

In some cases, the ArcGIS client software cannot check out or borrow a concurrent license from the License Manager server. An error message like the following may appear; there are other varitions:

"Provide your license server administrator with the following information: 

Cannot connect to license server system. 
The license server manager (lmgrd) has not been started yet, the wrong 
port@hostname in the license file is being used, or the port or hostname in the license 
file has been changed. 
Feature:  <product>
Server name:  <license manager server hostname>
License path: @ <license manager server hostname>
FLEXnet Licensing error:-15,570".

Cause

This is usually caused by slow network speeds, the client is attempting to connect to the License Manager server, but the amount of time that the client has to wait for a response is too long and the connection times-out causing an error and preventing ArcGIS from running.

Solution

Solution is copied from https://support.esri.com/en/technical-article/000013086

The amount of time the program waits for a response from the license manager can be increased by configuring an environment variable at the client workstation. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Right-click My Computer and click Properties.
2. In the System Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
3. On the Advanced tab, click Environment Variables.
4. In the Environment Variables dialog box, under System Variables, click New.
5. In the New System Variable dialog box, type FLEXLM_TIMEOUT for the Variable name, and 1000000 for the Variable value.
6. Click OK to close each dialog box.
7. Launch ArcGIS.

If a license is obtainable, the value of 1000000 microseconds (1 second) is sufficient. If a license is not obtainable, repeat the procedure, increasing the value in 1000000 microsecond increments until a license is obtained from the license server.