Which license should I choose for a single server with multiple users

I'm the admin of a server and I need to obtain a MATLAB license. Some details:

• Single server
• We are using SLURM to balance the workload
• There are about 20 users in total
• There are about ~5 users that need MATLAB for now. This might be more in the future
• Required toolboxes (at least for now): Image Processing, Signal Processing, Optimization

I've read online about different options (e.g. network license, parallel server, individual license vs designated computer license), but I'm still confused as to what should I get for this case.

Answer 1

[Manikanta Aditya]

Hi Pablo,

Based on the information you provided, a network license for MATLAB may be the most suitable option for your scenario. Here are some reasons why:

• Network licenses allow multiple users to access the software on a single server, which is ideal for your situation where there are about 20 users in total and only about 5 users need MATLAB at the moment. This means that you can purchase a license that covers the number of concurrent users you need, and then share the license among those users.
• Network licenses are managed by a license server, which can be configured to work with your SLURM workload manager. This allows you to easily manage the allocation of licenses to users based on their job requests.
• With a network license, you can also control which toolboxes are available to each user based on their needs. You can purchase licenses for the required toolboxes (Image Processing, Signal Processing, and Optimization) and then assign those licenses to specific users or groups of users.

Thanks, Hope it helps.

[Raymond Norris]

Another advantage for concurrent is that it allows your license to "float" between machines on your Slurm cluster. Unless you're going to specify which compute node your MATLAB job will run on each time (taking away some of the advantages of using a workload manager), you won't know which compute node the MATLAB job will run each time. Concurrent makes this irrelevant, as the license isn't tied to a machine.

Note: MATLAB Parallel Server is a product, not a license option

[Pablo]

Thanks Manikanta and Raymond, this is very useful.

A follow-up question: the prices listed online ( https://www.mathworks.com/pricing-licensing.html ) are per user or per organization? (e.g. the Academic option would be per user?).

Considering I want to acquire a network license for multiple users

Thanks again!

[Walter Roberson]

@Pablo

The prices at that link are per-user and apply to Standalone Named User licenses. There are different prices for concurrent licenses; you need to contact Mathworks Sales for those prices.

Historically there was a discounted Group concurrent license that was available for 6 or more users. I do not know if that still applies.. and that particular license might require that the users be named in advance (or more correctly, that there was a configuration file where you could list the permitted group members.) This license was, historically, significantly less expensive than "floating" licenses that could be used by anyone that had access to the server.

[Chris]

How do I get a price list for NNU licenses?

[Manikanta Aditya]

Reach out to Sales team to get the prices information:

• https://www.mathworks.com/company/aboutus/contact_us/contact_sales_b.html

[Peter]

without a licensing manager how can you manage the number of licenses used on a single server? is there a utility that I can run to see if a user is still holding onto a license but is not really using it and I want to release it for another to use?

we went from Flexserver to standalone but 5 licenses per server

[Walter Roberson]

@Peter

You can use lmtools or lmstat https://www.mathworks.com/help/install/ug/network-license-manager-tools.html

However, there are no tools for releasing an individual license hold. The proper "tool" is to go to the user's console and quit their MATLAB session (shooting their MATLAB session does as well, but that doesn't give the user an opportunity to save existing files.) The only alternative for centralized use is to restart the license manager, thus releasing all licenses. The license technology involved has no ability to release individual licenses. (Which is a shortcoming of the license technology, which surely should have implemented tools for this task after so long.)