Getting Started with MATLAB Job Scheduler, Part 1: Download, Install, and Configure License Manager

Hello. My name is Rebecca Silva Alves. I am a part of the installation and licensing team here at MathWorks. This is the first video of a five-part series where I am going to provide an overview of MATLAB Parallel Server and how to set up and use MATLAB Job Scheduler and a MathWorks Network License Manager.

These steps are broken up into multiple videos, each covering different parts of the process. I am going to cover the following topics, how to install and configure the Network License Manager, install and configure MATLAB Parallel Server with MATLAB Job Scheduler, set up a MATLAB client to interact with MATLAB Job Scheduler, submit jobs to MATLAB Job Scheduler from a MATLAB client, and, lastly, monitor MATLAB Parallel Server usage and upgrade to a new release.

This demonstration will be done using Windows machines. But don't worry, similar steps can be taken to set up MATLAB Parallel Server on a Linux operating system. If you experience any difficulties during this process, please contact your local MathWorks support.

A common cluster setup looks something like this. You have a user who is running MATLAB on their machine, and they want to run their program in simulations on powerful hardware to scale them up. There is a cluster that is comprised of a head node that is typically the entry point, and compute nodes where the user's data is processed and analyzed, and, lastly, a network license manager that hosts licenses for various software running on the user's machine or the cluster.

If you already have a cluster with a third-party scheduler like Slurm, for example, you can integrate MATLAB Parallel Server into your existing environment without setting MATLAB Job Scheduler. Refer to the link below to see our supported list of schedulers and instructions on configuring MATLAB Parallel Server with them. Parts of this video series, like installing and licensing MATLAB Parallel Server, will still apply to your setup.

For this demonstration, we are assuming that you are setting up MATLAB Parallel Server with MATLAB Job Scheduler on a cluster with no third-party scheduler. To simplify things, we will have three machines, a MATLAB client, a machine running the MATLAB Job Scheduler and Network License Manager, and a compute node running MATLAB Job Scheduler workers. Your configuration may be different, but the process should not be significantly different. This video series will show you how to set up an environment that allows users to scale up their MATLAB programs and run multiple Simulink simulations in parallel on the cluster without ever leaving their MATLAB client. Let's get started.

The first step in this process is to set up a network license manager with a MATLAB Parallel Server license. First, log in to your MathWorks account where you can activate your license and generate a license file. Click on your initials in the top right, and select My Account. Note that you will be asked to sign in if you are not logged in. Click on the MATLAB Parallel Server license.

Go to the Install and Activate tab. Activate the license by clicking on Activate a Server. Select the operating system of the network license manager machine. Then enter the host ID of the license manager machine. If you are not sure what this is or how to retrieve it, you can click on How do I Find My Computer's Host ID for assistance. Optionally, provide an activation label.

After activating the license, download the license file or have it emailed to you. The next step is to download the MathWorks product installer so that you can install the network license manager. Navigate to the Manage Products tab, and click on Download. Confirm the operating system of the network license manager machine, and download the MathWorks Product Installer. The latest release should automatically be selected.

Next, launch the installer and wait while it unzips and completes the necessary preparation. You may get a user account control pop-up to allow the installer to proceed. After the MathWorks product installer has launched, click on the Advanced Options button in the top right and then on I Want to Install Network License Manager. Review the software license agreement, and provide the path to the license file that you previously obtained from License Center.

Here, you can select where you want to install the network license manager. On Windows, you will have the option to configure the network license manager as a service. This will start the network license manager service automatically when Windows boots up. Review the information, and click Begin Install. Confirm that the installation is complete, and close the MathWorks Product Installer.

The next step after installing the network license manager is to start it. Navigate to the directory where you installed the network license manager. In the ETC folder, you will find a license.dat file that the installer produced. You will use this to start the network license manager and when installing MATLAB Parallel Server.

Navigate to the win64 folder where you will find the necessary scripts to manage the network license manager. On Windows, you can start the network license manager either through a UI tool called lmtools or via command line using lmgrd. Note that lmtools is not available on Linux.

You may be prompted for user account control here. Make sure that the LMTOOLS Ignores License File Path Environment Variables boxes checked. Let's navigate to the config services tab and verify the correct paths are entered for the lmgrd.exe and the license.dat. Make sure the Start Server at Power Up and Use Services box are checked.

Next, navigate to the Start/Stop/Reread tab, and click on Start Server. To confirm that the license manager is up and running, go to the Server Status tab, and click on Perform Status Inquiry.

To review, we activated the MATLAB Parallel Server license in License Center, downloaded and installed the network license manager, and configured and started the network license manager. The next video in this video series will cover how to download and install MATLAB Parallel Server and configure MATLAB Job Scheduler on a cluster of Windows machines.