Matlab Designated Computer Install

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This page covers the steps involved to install Mathworks software on an individual computer. This type of installation is termed a Designated Computer install. Designated Computer installations are completely stand alone installations and are individually activated for each computer. This install type is required if the computers that will run MATLAB are not connected to the campus network when MATLAB is in use, eg. a laptop that you use on and off campus. It is also an acceptable installation choice when maintaining Mathworks software on a small number of computers, however, you may find the Simplified MATLAB Install easier to maintain for any on-campus computers.

The Designated Computer install is generally not practical when a large number of computers need to be maintained, since the overhead of managing individual authorizations for each computer is too high. For example, when you are responsible for maintaining many computers in a lab or department or when you simply don't want to take on the responsibility for maintaining license authorizations for your installation. In the latter case, the Simplified MATLAB Install may be your preferred option.

How to install the software

The following instructions apply to dedicated standalone installations. Please see the MATLAB application page for more information and a general overview of MATLAB and its use at UAB.

In order to install and activate the software, end users need Mathworks accounts. Create a Mathworks account at www.mathworks.com with your official UAB email address (somebody@uab.edu). Students will not be able to install and activate the software. They are free to use the products on any computer on campus after it is installed and activated. For the purposes of this license, graduate students and post-docs are considered staff when using the software in the course of research.

Users will need an activation key to associate their Mathworks accounts with the license. You can get the activation key from the UAB IT software site. See get a UAB Mathworks key for instructions. You only need to request the key once. After your account has been associated with the license, download, install, and activate the software following the instructions below. This is a standalone license, so MATLAB can be used off of the network.

Download and Installation

Follow the instructions detailed in Downloading and Installing MATLAB. An outline of these installation steps are as follows:

1. Create an account at the Mathworks site using your campus @uab.edu email address. Please do not share your mathworks account username or password with anyone as this account will be associated with the UAB TAH license.
2. Request an activation key from the UAB software library page for faculty/staff and from UAB on the Hub for students. Please make sure to request the appropriate key (Faculty/staff or student) as the software are on different licenses.
3. Associate your Mathworks account with the campus-wide MATLAB license using your activation key.
4. Download the software from the mathworks download site and install MATLAB

Activation

If you chose to let the installer launch the activation application, the application can skip several of the steps outlined below because the installer passes the information to the activation application.

1. In the Activation Welcome dialog box, click Next.
2. Log in to your MathWorks Account and click Next.
3. Select the license you want to activate and click Next.
4. Specify the Activation Key in the Activation Key dialog box and click Next.
5. Confirm your activation information in the Confirmation dialog box and click Activate to activate the software.
6. Complete the activation process by clicking Finish in the Activation Complete dialog box.

Your software is now ready to use.

NOTE: You may also find a detailed description of the installation process in the end-user section of the TAH admin guide: TAH Admin Guide

Installation Help

If you get stuck or have problems with the self-service installation then follow the steps below. You must be faculty, staff, post-doc, or a grad student using Mathworks software for UAB research activities to activate this software.

1. Contact tanthony@uab.edu for installation or usage issues.
2. Contact tanthony@uab.edu to be added to the license. Put matlab in the subject line of your email. He will need your @uab.edu email address to confirm affiliation.
3. Download the software from mathworks download site.
4. install

Contact tanthony@uab.edu or support@mathworks.com. Mathworks will want your license number: 678600 (faculty/staff) or 731730 (student).

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

more information

• Matlab site license FAQ
• Getting started with matlab and simulink
• Matlab site license ad hoc working group
• General information on the UAB TAH license