Matlab Network Concurrent User Install

This page covers the steps involved to install and maintain Mathworks software on a collection of network-connected computers. This type of installation is termed a Network Concurrent User install. Network Concurrent Users installations provide simplified software maintenance for environments with many computers because the license activation required to use MATLAB is isolated to a single server. Rather than having to maintain activations on each individual computer, as with the Matlab Designated Computer Install, the computers rely on a license server which issues an automatic authorization to individual computers when the software is started.

This configuration is ideal when you wish to maintain an identical MATLAB software configuration on many computers to simplify administration. The per-computer software activation configuration is a simple, static file that points to the shared license server. This simplified client configuration is the basis of the Simplified MATLAB Install, allowing users to install MATLAB on their computers and then copy a small file to their computer which points to the campus license server and avoid any further license administration on their own systems.

This installation type requires maintaining a separate license server which is then individually authorized under the campus MATLAB license agreement. Due to the overhead of maintain this license service, it is recommended that most on-campus MATLAB users follow the Simplified MATLAB Install and thereby avoid having to maintain a license server.

The Network Concurrent User installation is not an appropriate installation for mobile computers that will run MATLAB while off-campus or otherwise disconnected from the campus network. In these cases, please use the Matlab Designated Computer Install. Please note, off-campus use of MATLAB is restricted to faculty and staff under the MATLAB TAH site license.

Please see the MATLAB application page for more information and a general overview of MATLAB and its use at UAB.

Software Modification

There are potentially three pieces to MATLAB that may require updating if you have an updated license file:

• The license file on the FLEXnet license manager
• The MATLAB software (if new tools were added)
• The license file used by MATLAB to connect to the license server
• The License Manager software (if moving to a new release)

This information was retrieved from the mathworks support site on Jan 05 2011. It may be updated with UAB specific information.

To update your network based license

For instructions on obtaining an updated license file, see the related solution: 1-5VWC8W How can I obtain my Concurrent or Network Named User passcodes for R2008a and higher?

Updating the License File for the License Manager

Follow the instructions below to update your license file:

1. Stop your license manager. For instructions on stopping the manager, see related solution 1-18PYZ "How do I start or stop the MathWorks FLEXnet license manager?"
2. Locate your existing license.dat and rename the file license.old. The license.dat file on the server machine is located in:
   • $MATLABROOT/etc ($MATLAB\flexlm for releases prior to R2010b on Windows)
   • (where $MATLAB is the MATLAB installation directory)
3. Open license.old with a text editor (for Windows, use Wordpad). Always keep a backup copy of your old license file when making changes.
4. Remove all the lines in the file except for the lines that begin with SERVER and DAEMON. For example, you should keep only the following lines:
   • SERVER license-server-1.test.com 001abcd45e56 27000
   • DAEMON MLM "C:\Program Files\MATLAB\R2009a\flexlm\mlm.exe"
5. Paste the new license information into this file below the DAEMON line.
6. Save the new file as license.dat.
7. After you save the file, you will need to restart the license manager.

Updating the MATLAB software

If the new license includes new toolboxes or blocksets, you will need to install these into MATLAB. Otherwise, you can skip this step. The easiest way to add in new toolboxes is to reinstall all of your products using the standard installation procedure. See the network installation guide for more assistance: [1]

If your license file is an upgrade for a new release, see the related solution: 1-424AE3 How do I upgrade my MATLAB from one version to another?

Updating MATLAB's license file

If you are using MATLAB R2008a or higher, or if you are using a Windows platform, you will not need to update MATLAB's license file. Otherwise, see the information below for how to update MATLAB's license file.

If you are using MATLAB R2007b or below on Unix/Linux/Mac, you may need to update the license file if you change the license file on the FLEXnet license manager. Follow the steps below to update the license file:

1. Rename the license.dat file located in $MATLAB/etc (where $MATLAB is the installation folder for MATLAB) to license.old
2. Open license.old with a text editor (for Mac OS X, use TextEdit or a plain text editor. Do not use Microsoft Word)
3. Locate the line that starts with the word SERVER. For example:
   • SERVER license-server-1.test.com 001abcd45e56 27000
4. On a new line underneath the SERVER line add a new line and place the following line:
   • USE_SERVER
   • If this line already exists, you do not need to add it in.
5. Save this new file as license.dat.

Once complete, MATLAB will now check against the license manager. Once updated, you will not need to update the license file if you make any additional changes on the license manager.

Updating License Manager Software

Each release of MATLAB comes packaged with a particular license manager version (lmgrd) and license manager vendor daemon (mlm.exe or lm_matlab). If you are upgrading to a new version of MATLAB, you should also update the license manager software.

To do this on Windows, you should first remove the existing license manager service and installation. For specific instructions on how to uninstall and reinstall this software on Windows, see the related solution: 1-181DV "How do I reinstall the FLEXnet license manager on a Windows machine?"

For Linux/Mac/Unix, you can install the license manager as normal. see the related solution: 1-3XN8PT "How do I install the License Manager for a network license?". Make sure you stop the old license manager before starting the new one. For instructions on stopping the manager, see related solution 1-18PYZ "How do I start or stop the MathWorks FLEXnet license manager?"

Related Solutions:

• How do I reinstall the FLEXnet license manager on a Windows machine? [2]
• Are the License File and installation passcodes (PLP, FIK, etc.) backwards compatible? [3]
• How do I start or stop the MathWorks FLEXnet license manager? [4]
• How do I update the license for my existing standalone installation of MATLAB? [5]
• How do I install the License Manager for a network license? [6]
• How can I get my Concurrent or Network Named User license file for R2008a and higher? [7]
• How do I migrate my MATLAB clients to a new license server when the license server changes? [8]

Other transition information

Network concurrent licenses will need to be converted to the new TAH license. The transition will affect 2007b and earlier differently than 2008a (7.6) and later due to the new activation requirement. 2007b and earlier cannot be converted to the new license.

It should be similar to the following:

• MIT transition info
  • student matlab changes
  • student howto
• GSU new and existing users
• Buffalo student TAH install

MATLAB Support / Mailing List

As with any application or computer language, learning to use MATLAB to analyze data or to develop or modify MATLAB applications is an individual responsibility. There is ample application documentation available from the Mathworks website, potential outreach to colleagues who also use MATLAB, and options for consultation with Mathworks. Mathworks also host on-campus training seminars several times a year and provides many on-line learning tutorials.

Installation support for MATLAB at UAB is provided by your local IT support organization and the Docs wiki.

Mathworks Website

Your first and best option for application-specific questions on MATLAB is to refer to the on-line MATLAB documentation. The Mathworks site also provides a a support matrix and an on-line knowledge base.

UAB MATLAB Wiki

The MATLAB page on the Docs wiki is the starting point for installing MATLAB at UAB and, optionally, configuring it to use cluster computing. All users are encouraged to contribute to the MATLAB knowledge in this wiki, especially if you see areas where improvements are needed. Remember, this knowledge base is only as good as the people who contribute to it.

Contributing to the wiki is as easy as clicking the login link on the top-right of the page and signing in with your UAB BlazerID. If you are unsure about making an edit, you can make suggestions for improvement on the page's Discussion tab or discuss the proposed improvement in the MATLAB user group.

UAB MATLAB User Group

At UAB, MATLAB installation support is provided by your local IT support group. Support for application specific questions is available from peers in your research group. We realize that some people are not as familiar with MATLAB as others. For this reason, we have established a MATLAB user forum (mailing list) where users of MATLAB at UAB can help answer each others questions.

This is a network of volunteers sharing their knowledge with peers. You are encouraged to reach out to this community for questions on using MATLAB by

• Joining the MATLAB user group - alternately send an email to sympa@vo.uabgrid.uab.edu with the following text in the body of the email subscribe matlab-user
• After joining the group, you can email questions to the group via matlab-user@vo.uabgrid.uab.edu

Archives of MATLAB user group discussions are available on-line at https://vo.uabgrid.uab.edu/sympa/arc/matlab-user. You may find your question is already answered in these archives.

UAB MATLAB announce mailing list

To receive information about UAB's MATLAB license and announcements please subscribe to the matlab-annc mailing list by

• Joining the MATLAB announce mailing list - alternately send an email to sympa@vo.uabgrid.uab.edu with the following text in the body of the email subscribe matlab-annc