Simulink 2012a 64 bit is a slow starter. Can anyone explain me why?

I recently moved from R2010a 32bit XP to 2012b 64bit W7. I got a much faster machine and more memory however... my Simulink takes as twice as before to start and I could not see any real advantaget on it. I neeed to execute some memory consuming task, like Matrixes calculations and such so there is where I would expect to get improvments. What I did not expect was to get a slower performance on Simulink model update.

Frankly, I don't know where the delay is coming from. Does anybody have a clue?

Answer 1

[Luc Gendre]

Hi all!

I found something that might interst you (I hope...). I ran a profiler on my script. It appears that the function that is taking all the time is this one:

 theInfo = internal.matlab.licensing.getFeatureInfo;

I haven't find much information on this function yet, but for what I understand from the name, it might be a function that checks with the server if you have the right to use the toolbox you want to use.

Could you run this line in your prompt please and tell me how long it takes to return the result (add "tic" and "toc" to get the computing time)? For me, it takes about 3 minutes to get the result. Way too long!

Regards.

[Carlo Marques]

Good analisys. Yep, similar here. I measured 4 minutes. So it can be assumed it is related to network access. It can also be related to the amount of data the function is getting from the license server. Anyway this effect was not present in my previous installed relases, so it's not only network related but also with current release. This is in basic terms what I wanted to know, so I accept this answer. Next step is to contact the support team with this info.

[Andreas Goser]

Can you test whether an OS environment variable LM_MATLAB existis and also if you can start MATLAB using the -c option followed by the path to the license file you use?

[Luc Gendre]

@Carlo: If you contact the support, please let me know if you get any usefull information. Thanks.

@Andreas: I can start Matlab without any trouble. And it's fast. Matlab does find the server without any problem at startup. It is once running that problems occur. I tried starting Matlab with the -c command and it starts just fine as well. As for your last request, how do I check if there is a LM_MATLAB variable?

Answer 2

[Luc Gendre]

I got it!! :)

I found a solution that works fine for me. I'm going to describe it to you, hopping it will help you as well... As I expected it was a problem of communication between my computer and the server to check the available toolboxes for my license number, as well as the available tokens. So it is partially a problem of Windows configuration, and not only a proper Matlab problem. Anyway! Here we go!

My computer is working under windows 7, and is configured to have a fixed IP adress on my local network (IPv4, and not IPv6).

When I configured the computer, I did set the computer's IP adress, and the DNS server's IP adress, but I did not give any DNS suffix for Windows to look for. (I hope "suffix" is the right translation from french...)

When I add this suffix in the Windows settings, Matlab works perfectly fine! I still have a little delay (when I call "ver" for example) before getting the result, but that is due to the network architecture at my place. I'm pretty far from the server... However, the delay is now down to 22 seconds, instead ot 3 minutes like it used to be! Much better! :)

Here is a picture of what to configure. Sorry but it is in french... That might help you anyway. You have to go in your network configuration -> IPv4 properties -> Advanced ("Avancé..." on the picture) -> DNS tab -> add the suffix (in my case "univ-mulhouse.fr")

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I hope all this will help you. If you have any question feel free to ask. ;) Obviously you may also contact the person in charge of the network at your place if needed...

Have a good evening.

Luc

P.S.: one thing I don't understand though... Before I made the modifications I just explained, the connexion between matlab and the server did work! Matlab was starting just fine, without any delay (Matlab is starting in a couple seconds, and not in 3 minutes!). So at the startup, Matlab can actualy check with the server that I can use this license. But once it is running, it seems that matlab has some trouble checking the available toolboxes and tokens... Weird... I hope someone from the staff will come around and maybe give a comment about that... ;)

Answer 3

[Andreas Goser]

This can be a varity of different reasons and causes. In order to help you, lets narrow down where the time is lost. Starting MATLAB? Starting the Simulink Browser? Starting a simple model like "vdp.mdl"? Running the BENCH command?

If it is non of the above and just "update diagram" in Simulink, this is likely a case for Technical Support. Update diagram uses very complex algorithms and there may be options to speed up opening the model. I remember a complex issue from last year, where the support engineer invested some days to help a customer speeding up update diagram from some hours to less than one hour by applying multiple things like design changes, compiler and OS settings.

[Carlo Marques]

Starting Matlab by itself takes about 30 sec. And consumes about 280MB Starting the Simulink Lybrary Browser takes about 3m45s . And during that time no Processor is used, no memory usage changed significantly. Starting the Simulink Project Browser also takes about 3m45s. After that openning the vdp.mdl or my design takes just 2 sec. Updating can be time consuming, yes. I start getting a "Matlab is not responding" at the task server.

And only about 5m02s we start to see "Updating" and etc. Making the first change in the design itself can take as much as the the previsouly mentioned figures. It just seems that the task is stuck.

It seems that it just takes this amount of time whe nit needs to start, or re-start an operation. If the operation was started previously, then all becomes much faster....

[K E]

On my machine and R2012a, it takes 40s to open the Library Browser (still seems too long, but faster than 5m). Tech support may be your best bet, but please post anything you figure out to help someone else.

[Chris]

We noticed similar performances issues when upgrading from R2010a to R2012a, 32bit W7. We've been engaged with tech support and they are working towards a solution to our issues.

Answer 4

[Luc Gendre]

Hey guys!

Did you get any solution in the end...?

It seems I have a similar problem with both data acquisition toolbox and image acquisition toolbox. I installed lately Matlab 2012a on a Windows 7 64bits system. I tried an old script of mine to test the system and it appears that when I create a new analog output (using "AO=analogoutput(...)"), it takes hours to create the AO. Same with "videoinput" command of the image acquisition toolbox...

I ran one test though. If I execute a script with "daqreset" at the beginning, then it takes a very long time to create the AO. But if the AO already exists and I execute the script without "daqreset", then everything is fine, including the "analogoutput" command execution.

So it seems that Matlab has trouble creating input/output from a freshly cleared and reseted memory...

I hope your solution will solve my problem. ;) Otherwise, any suggestion is welcomed!

Thanks in advance.

Have a good day. Luc

[Carlo Marques]

Yes, it does like to be the similar problem. In the mean time I had to diverge into other topics, but clearly I will need to open a TechSupport action...

[Luc Gendre]

Ok. Let me know if you get any information, please. I'll do the same. ;) Thanks in advance.

Answer 5

[Pasteur Bagenzi]

I am also experiencing the same issue when starting Matlab 2012A. Starting Matlab by itself takes about 30 sec. And Starting the Simulink Lybrary Browser takes about 20 secs .

Answer 6

[Muhammad Faisal Arain]

I have same problem and i used the following link to solve my problem http://www.mathworks.com/support/solutions/en/data/1-2Z18MA/

I have used option 1 and option 2 both.