Path: news.mathworks.com!not-for-mail
From: "Rodney Thomson" <readmore@iheartmatlab.blogspot.com>
Newsgroups: comp.soft-sys.matlab
Subject: Re: Serious Question if You Have Experience with MatLab License
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:36:02 +0000 (UTC)
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junoexpress <MTBrenneman@gmail.com> wrote in message
<8a19047b-63cd-4d21-8b89-87eba94e9007@a70g2000hsh.googlegroups.com>...
> Thank you for your response Walter:
> 
> > In the time frame I was doing that work, Mathworks also
changed the
> > licensing scheme, deprecating node-locked licenses in
favour of group
> > licenses. There was a trade-in program, one node-locked
license for
> > (something like) 5 group licenses, and the maintenance
for node-locks
> > was deliberately pushed up to encourage us to switch. So
there were
> > difficult predictive and financial decisions about what
kind of
> > licenses to get.
> >
> Please excuse my ignorance here, but what is the
difference between a
> node-locked and a group license? My understanding was that
a node-
> locked license was for a single machine, but when I
researched the
> MatLab licensing online, I came across a MatLab group
license with the
> words "single computer" written under it, so I'm a bit
confused.
> 
> Matt

With our company we've only had exposure to 2 types of
licenses that Mathworks refers to as Individual and
Concurrent (Possibly what Walter is referring to as Node
locked and Concurrent?)

The Individual licenses are allowed to be installed either:
1) on a single machine used by multiple people, IE a PC used
for testing purposes by many people
2) On multiple machines belonging to one person and they are
the only user (ie Desktop, Laptop and Home computer)

The Concurrent license we have enables X Matlab users to
check out licenses simultaneously. This requires a server to
be set up on the network running FlexLM software that
controls the checking in/out of the licenses.

I'm unsure of what type of licenses your university uses,
possibly a mix of single machine and concurrent licenses (at
approx $3000 a pop, i doubt they would get each student a
license).

With the shift to the new registration scheme, its much more
difficult to manage the license. 

Previously the license keys would get placed on our intranet
and each individual user would grab the install CD and
license key and update away. Likewise the FlexLM required a
new license.dat file and abit of configuring, but overall it
wasn't too bad.

Now you have to login to the Mathworks site and generate a
new license.dat file and license key for each installation
that is tied to specific information from the machine (ie
MAC address). This requires much more communication between
the end user/machine and the admin guys. So its
understandable it will take a lot longer.

And as Walter stated, there are significant financial
implications in updating to new software releases.

For me personally, to install 2008a on my laptop with IT
manager sitting behind me took about an hour and a half. And
thats AFTER all of the political/financial hassle had been
sorted. So for your university and its 100s of licenses...

Rod

--
http://iheartmatlab.blogspot.com