Matlab Installation and Licensing

Licensing options and files

• There are TWO license options: Course and Research
• You will need to create a file called license.dat, the text of which can be obtained from:
  1. ) Your CSCF point of contact
  2. ) Course and Research license.dat file text - Access restricted
• The Matlab installer will ask for the location of this file when you install matlab

Course License

• If you are using Matlab for a course there is no cost
  • Obtain the Course version of the license.dat file - see Licensing page above

Research License

• You must purchase a MatLab License - IST Web Store
  • Note: for students this is done by your supervisor using an account number
  • There is a $75.00 yearly fee unless used for course work!
  • Obtain the Research version of the license.dat file - see Licensing page above
  • You may have to wait a day or two after purchasing the license for the license server to be updated correspondingly.

License Scope and requirements for running MATLAB

• Requirements to run MATLAB
  1. ) You must have an active license (free for some courses) - see https://strobe.uwaterloo.ca/ist/saw/webstore/
  2. ) Your computer userid must match your university UWDIR userid!
  3. ) You must be attached to the university network - or - use the IST AnyConnect client when connecting remotely - see: http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/vpn
  4. ) You must have the correct license.dat file installed on your computer - you get this when the license is paid for.

License Errors - flexlm errors

• Any flexlm error normally indicates that your do not have an active license for MATLAB
  • In some cases the license server may be down - or the release of MATLAB you are trying to run is not supported
  • Please see your CSCF point of contact
    • CSCF Research Points of Contact
    • CSCF Teaching Points of Contact

Obtaining Matlab Software

Note: if your have a PC supplied by CSCF or part of a student lab then you likely already have MATLAB installed
Otherwise you can select any of the following 3 methods to obtain and install Matlab Software

1) Register with MathWorks and download it yourself!

• Anyone at UofW can do this but you need an active license to run it
  • See: Online downloading from Mathworks below

2) Have CSCF point of contact install Matlab for you

• CSCF Point of Contacts List

3) Pay for license

• See license section above

Online downloading from Mathworks

Register with MathWorks

FIXME link is broken
Note we need to "join" your user account to the UofW license for Matlab

• Follow these instructions

Download Product from MathWorks

Updated 23 July 2020 *You can download the software directly from MathWorks

• Log into your Mathworks Account My Account
• Download Matlab Product
  • http://www.mathworks.com/downloads/select_release
• Below we use the example R2019b - replace this with the version you intend to download
• Linux download locations
  • Open a terminal
    • sudo bash
    • mkdir -p /tmp/matlab/R2019b - replace with the release you want
      • * We will refer to /tmp/matlab/R2019b as TEMP below
    • mkdir /usr/local/matlab - this is where all of the matlab releases will be installed to later on
• Windows download locations
  • Use Explorer to create a local folder for the matlab download c:\R2019b
  • We will refer to this directory as TEMP below
• Log into My Accounts on this link http://www.mathworks.com/accesslogin/myAccount.do
• Download Now -> Licensed Products and Updates
• Download
• Release version -> ie. R2019b
• Platform -> ie Windows or Linux, 32bit or 64bit
• Download the current versions of all my products
• Opening download agent -> click on Open with Sun Java 6 Web Start -> OK
• Location for download files -> Browse -> TEMP -> Select -> Next
• Download

CSCF Admin Section

The notes in the following section are for mostly for CSCF Staff

Testing after deploying

• The userid "cscf-adm" has now been registered as a licensed MATLAB user so it can be used to test MATLAB after installing

Products available from ASIMOV

Updated 23 July 2020 Note: restricted to cscf staff access only

• Versions
  • We have R2013b, R2015a R2015b R2016a R2017a R2019b R2020a
• Requirements
  1. ) *cscf-adm account password on ASIMOV (2014 version in password safe)
  2. ) You will need a Mathworks account to activate the installation
  3. ) 20G of free disk space - the install files are 10G in size!

Downloading current version from ASIMOV

Updated 23 July 2020

In the example below you can replace R2019b with the release you want

• Linux installer files
  • sudo bash
  • mkdir /tmp/matlab
  • mkdir /usr/local/matlab
  • cd /tmp/matlab
  • rsync -a cscf-adm@asimov.uwaterloo.ca:/images/exports/Matlab/R2019b /tmp/matlab
    • You can replace R2019b with the release you want - see version specific notes below
  • cd /tmp/matlab/R2019b
• Windows installer files
  • Start -> Run -> \\asimov.uwaterloo.ca\exports\Matlab
  • Copy the installation files from R2019b to c:\R2019b
• License Files from TWIKI
  • * license.dat files for installation - Access restricted
• Linux License files - from ASIMOV
  • See Obtaining a license
  • Research License
    • rsync -a cscf-adm@asimov.uwaterloo.ca:/images/exports/Matlab/license.dat /tmp/matlab
  • Instructional License
    • rsync -a cscf-adm@asimov.uwaterloo.ca:/images/exports/Matlab/instructional-license/license.dat /tmp/matlab
• Windows License files - from ASIMOV
  • Research License
    • Start -> Run -> \\asimov.uwaterloo.ca\exports\Matlab
    • Copy license.dat to c:\R2019b
  • Instructional License
    • Start -> Run -> \\asimov.uwaterloo.ca\exports\Matlab\instructional-license
    • Copy license.dat to c:\R2019b
• Installation
  • Proceed to the Linux or Windows installation steps below

Windows Installation

Updated 23 July 2020

• Follow the steps in Downloading from ASIMOV section above
• Run installer
  • c:\R2019b\matlab_R2019b_win64.exe - 64bit
• Choose Network Activation/Install - you will need your Mathworks Account to continue
• License Selection -> Select license to install products for: (you have two choices)
  • 188546 UW Research
  • Course Related
• -> OK

Linux Matlab Installation

Updated 23 July 2020 Note: We suggest using the fast installer method if there is a tar file for it
See: Using FAST install package

• Follow the steps in Downloading from ASIMOV section above
• Extract Installer files
  • 32bit Matlab
    • unzip or untar the installer - glnx86 in filename
  • 64bit Matlab
    • unzip or untar the installer - glnxa86 in filename
  • ./install
    • Proceed to the Linux Matlab Installer section below

Linux Matlab Installer

Note: We suggest using the fast installer method if there is a tar file for it
See: Using FAST install package

• Follow the steps in Downloading from ASIMOV section above
• XTERM INSTALL: ./install
• TEXT MODE INSTALL: ./install -t
• Install Automatically using the internet -> OK
• License Agreement -> Yes
• Matlab Root Directory -> /usr/local/matlab
• Mathworks Account -> Your Math Works email address and password ( you will need your Mathworks Account to continue )
• License Selection -> Select license to install products for: (you have two choices)
  • 188546 UW Research
  • Course Related
• -> OK*
• Install Options -> Check Correct Platform -> OK
• Installation Data -> Create symbolic links to MATLAB scripts in: -> /usr/local/bin -> OK
• License File Location -> /usr/local/matlab/license.dat
• Begin Installation -> OK
• Installation Complete -> Exit
• chmod -R g+r,o+r /usr/local/matlab

Create a Custom Launcher - Linux

Lets you click on an ICON to launch

• See CustomLauncher

Using multiple versions

Updated 23 July 2020

• The script set_matlab_release changes default matlab release
  • Save file to /usr/local/bin
  • chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/set_matlab_release*
• Usage: set_matlab_release R2019b

Creating a FAST install package

• Install MATLAB following the above steps

Create FAST install image

Updated 23 July 2020

• Matlab can be installed simply by copying the directory of a working version from an existing system along with its /usr/local/bin symlinks
  • We can create such TAR gzipped files for each maple release and store it on ASIMOV
• The following creates these TAR files and sends them to ASIMOV
  • This will save MATLAB install under /usr/local/MATLAB/version and its symlinks in /usr/local/bin
• Script: mk_matlab_tar
• Usage: ./mk_matlab_tar /usr/local/MATLAB/R2019b R2019b
• Notes: Creates a TAR file: matlab-R2019b-x86_64.tar.gz
  • x86-64 is the output of the arch command in this case
  • First argument is: full path to your MATLAB release
  • Second argument is: MATLAB release such as R2019b
  • File is then uploaded to cscf-adm@asimov.uwaterloo.ca:/coregroup1/images/packages

Using FAST install package

• See also Creating a Matlab Linux FAST install image
• Matlab can be installed simply by copying the directory of a working version from an existing system along with its /usr/local/bin symlinks
  • We have stored such TAR gzipped files for each maple release on ASIMOV
• The following utility fetches these TAR files and extracts them making for a very fast install process.
  • This will install matlab in /usr/local/MATLAB/version and put symlinks in /usr/local/bin
  • Requires ASIMOV cscf-adm password
• fast_install_matple Download and run this script
• chmod 755 fast_install_matlab
• ./fast_install_matlab R2019b - or the release you want

R2019b

Updated 23 July 2020

• ./fast_install_matlab R2019b * See Using FAST install package example above

R2015b

Note: 15 Oct 2015 - license server not yet working for this version

• ./fast_install_matlab R2015b * See Using FAST install package example above

R2015a

Note: 15 Oct 2015 - tested, it works - Mike Gore

• ./fast_install_matlab R2015a * See Using FAST install package example above

R2013b

Note: 10 Oct 2013 - tested, it works - Mike Gore

• ./fast_install_matlab R2013b * See Using FAST install package example above

Testing

See licensing notes above *Note: the account you will be using must be licenced for this to work - the cscf-adm user is valid

• matlab

Debugging

• matlab -h

Linux Stand alone install with local license server - startup script notes

• Copy this file to /etc/init.d/flexnet
• chmod 755 /etc/init.d/flexnet
• edit /etc/init.d/flexnet change the username to your user id - the one on the license
• chkconfig --add flexnet
  • if you are missing chkconfig run apt-get install chkconfig as root
• /etc/init.d/flexnet start
• See Linux Standalone installer

• set_matlab_release: Change the default matlab release on systems with more then one version