Wow, now that's what I call a project request. :) On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 11:57:48AM -0600, Bair, Raymond A. wrote:

We could start this project with 60K, which should last them through the end of March. [...] Also, does MCS have a license for Matlab Parallel Computing Toolbox that we could share or expand?

No, MCS's license doesn't include the Parallel Computing Toolbox. Their license (which is the one we use on fusion, as we don't have our own) includes: 20 base licenses (one of which is needed for each running Matlab instance) 1 license for Curve Fitting Toolbox (which this project will need) 1 license for Image Toolbox (which this porject also will need) 2 licenses for Optimization Toolbox 4 licenses for Signal Toolbox

In Matlab terms, do we need a Group license or a Concurrent license for Matlab Parallel Computing Toolbox? We could start small, e.g., 4 nodes (32 cores).

We would need a (floating) license for the Parallel Computing Toolbox. Each license for the toolbox provides for 8 worker processes on the local host, so this could be used, for example, by running an interactive job on 1 node and then running Matlab on that node. In addition to the Parallel Computing Toolbox, one can get the Matlab Distributed Computing Server, which allows one to run Matlab workers on a cluster either interactively or in batch. The way it was explained to me is that you could startup Matlab on a login node, for example, to setup the problem which you then submit to the job queues from within Matlab. The submitted job will then use worker licenses from the Distributed Computing Server while it runs on the compute nodes. While it runs, you can quit Matlab on the login node, thus freeing up the license used by that Matlab instance. http://www.mathworks.com/products/parallel-computing/ describes a little bit about the Parallel Computing Toolbox and the Distributed Computing Server. The cost for the Parallel Computing Toolbox licenses are $4,000 each. The cost for the Distributed Computing Server licenses are: 8 workers ........................ $6,000 16 workers ........................ 11,500 32 workers ........................ 21,000 64 workers ........................ 36,500 96 workers ........................ 50,000 128 workers ........................ 65,000 and so on. So not cheap. I'm guessing we'd probably need additional Curve Fitting and Image Processing toolbox licenses, but I don't know how much those would be (I'll ask our Matlab rep). Given the detailed project request, it sounds like the PI has used this workflow before, which suggests that he has (or had) Matlab licenses already somewhere. Maybe he already has his own licenses he could use? John