SBS 2008 Unexpected Shutdown

At our office we have two master systems running with SBS 2008 server. One of these is used just for as a File Server while other is Domain Controller with the FSMO roles. We did this setup about a year ago and so far it was working great without any problems but until two days ago. Since past two days my File server is facing unexpected shutdowns. When we checked the Event Log, this is what we found:

Event ID 1074

The process C:\Windows\system32\silsvc.exe (FILE-SERVER01) has initiated the power off of computer FILE-SERVER01 on behalf of user NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM for the following reason: No title for this reason could be found
Reason Code: 0x2000c
Shutdown Type: power off
Comment: Licensing Compliance Service caused a shutdown. Please look at the events under Microsoft > Windows > Server Infrastructure Licensing > Operational for details.

Event ID 38

The Additional Server Count Check detected a condition in your environment that is out of compliance with the licensing policy. This server will be automatically shut down if the issue is not corrected in 179 day(s) 11 hour(s) 0 minute(s). Please look for additional events for Additional Server Count Check to troubleshoot

The Additional Server Count Check in the Licensing component did not pass because error 0x8007203a occurred in function f4 [KOAU]. The server is not operational.

Event 4

Make sure that your DNS server can be contacted and the following services are running: Active Directory Domain Services (NTDS), DNS Server (DNS), Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC). This server will be automatically shut down if the issue is not corrected.

Any idea what is meant by this? Please help.

As far as I know SBS 2008 licensing won’t allow SBS to be used as File Server or just as File server. And that could be the problem in your case. I don’t know how it was working fine for you since a year but that is meaningless. I guess there would have been some security updates which recognized the licensing and the problem started.

I have been through this situation but in my case it was SBS 2003 and SBS 2008. What you need to fix the unexpected shutdown of SBS 2008 is to make it so it cant see the other SBS server. You can do this either by putting them on separate network. If you want to put them on the same network then keep different IP range/subnet.

And second option is to stop or disable the 'Computer Browser' & 'Remote procedure call (RPC) locator' services.