Matlab license error on HAL?

[julielyang]

Hi,

I tried batch running matlab with this call:

/opt/matlab/R2013a/bin/matlab < ./code/AffinityRegression/RunPvaluesNullDistribution/GeneratePvalues/runGeneratePvaluesAnalysis4.m

I got this license checkout error that I am posting below.

Then I just ran my code again and it ran. There are times my code works and times where I get the licensing error below.

My guess is that there was another node running the license I was trying to use. Could you help me figure out what was this error and how to run matlab all the time without getting the license error?

Julie

License checkout failed.
License Manager Error -9
This error may occur when:
-The hostid of this computer does not match the hostid in the license file.
-A Designated Computer installation is in use by another user.
If no other user is currently running MATLAB, you may need to activate.

Troubleshoot this issue by visiting:
http://www.mathworks.com/support/lme/R2013a/9

Diagnostic Information:
Feature: MATLAB
License path: /cbio/cllab/home/jly/.matlab/R2013a_licenses:/opt/matlab/R2013a/licenses/license.dat:/opt/matlab/R20
13a/licenses/*.lic
Licensing error: -9,57.
Warning: No display specified. You will not be able to display graphics on the screen.

[akahles]

The node licenses are bound to the node. That is at most one user can use matlab at a given node at the same time. So if somebody uses matlab on the node already, you would get the error above.

There is a small script available to tell you who is using matlab on which node:

/cbio/shared/software/tools/torque/q-lic

However, this is not to be used for a regular high-throughput query as it ssh's into the nodes to find out.

On a long term the better solution would be if the scheduler knows about who is using which license on which node and then assigns jobs accordingly. I think there was a previous issue about this, but it turned out that this is not quite trivial to achieve.

[tatarsky]

The above is correct. The node locked license/scheduler integration was looking very difficult. The request remains but I've not had time to delve into it and may not be able to actually solve it. #193

[tatarsky]

And actually the better solution is floating licenses. Not node locked.

[akahles]

That is true, but this comes with a price tag :)

[kuod]

IIRC, we have 5 floating licenses on the head node. Also, another idea is to see if your script can run in the open source software octave which is not bound by price tag or licenses.

[tatarsky]

I thought those were for toolkits (the floating ones).

[tatarsky]

Yes, and I know it comes with a price. I'm looking at my assumptions for the integration of the scheduler and the licenses however again as time has passed and I'm older and perhaps wiser now.

[tatarsky]

So we do I believe handle the floating ones with Moab. At least there are some comments to that effect. But I don't think that helps us with node ones. Perhaps some morning we could review the history a notch on this. Its been awhile.

[akahles]

Sure - I mostly moved from Matlab to Python by now (yay) but am happy to help unrolling the history of this.

[kuod]

We have a bit of everything in terms of the toolkits and they're distributed across the nodes. I'll update with more information off the issue tracker. MATLAB usage on the head node is do-able but I would caution against potentially running jobs that bring the cluster head node to a screeching halt.

[tatarsky]

Confused by the words "head node" and "cluster" in the same sentence ;) I assume @julielyang wants to run Matlab on a node.

[tatarsky]

Agree that a brief verbal unrolling might be useful to recall. Its been pretty much the same config as far as I've ever known.

[julielyang]

Hi,

I would like to understand this better.

Can two users be assigned to the same node and the first user already be
using the matlab license on that node?

Can this be solved by requesting a all other user free node?

Julie

On Thu, Nov 12, 2015 at 4:35 PM, Andre Kahles notifications@github.com
wrote:

The node licenses are bound to the node. That is at most one user can use
matlab at a given node at the same time. So if somebody uses matlab on the
node already, you would get the error above.

There is a small script available to tell you who is using matlab on which
node:

However, this is not to be used for a regular high-throughput query as it ssh's into the nodes to find out.

On a long term the better solution would be if the scheduler knows about who is using which license on which node and then assigns jobs accordingly. I think there was a previous issue about this, but it turned out that this is not quite trivial to achieve.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub
#339 (comment).

[akahles]

This is correct - as the scheduler does not know about the licenses, the property matlab only ensures that your job will end up on a node that can run MATLAB but not that nobody else is using MATLAB there already.

You do not necessarily need a node without any other user on it, no other user running MATLAB ist sufficient.