How can I check in (release) a license?

I know I can use license('checkout','map_toolbox') to checkout a license. Is there a simple way to check a license back in (release it so others can use it) without closing your MATLAB session?

[Eric nestler]

So I have no idea why this answer would be accepted. It said nothing. Could Mathworks please say exactly why there is not symmetric call to license as license('checkin','matlab_coder')

That would be an acceptable answer to me. Closing Matlab is completely unacceptable. Thanks, Eric

[Andreas Goser]

You write "Could Mathworks please say...". If you expect a Mathworks employee speaking in behalf of the company in this technical user forum about a non technical topics, then you will be dissappointed. In case you have not yet spoken to your MathWorks Account manager, please do so.

Answer 1

[Andreas Goser]

There is an article about this topic here.

But beside that, it would be important to know why closing MATLAB is not considered as an option. From my experience, some reasons are related to business topics and I'd suggest you reach out to your MathWorks account manager for the non-technical part of such a topic.

[Russ Duren]

Andreas. Thank you for answering my question.

You stated, “it would be important to know why closing MATLAB is not considered as an option.” The answer is more a matter of efficiency. Here is the problem:

1. My company shares a limited number of licenses for some of your toolboxes across multiple sites.

2. Often an engineer will use a toolbox function once in a MATLAB session and then the license is unavailable for the rest of the engineers for the rest of the workday.

3. One can look up who has the license checked out and request that they release it periodically, but that is very inefficient.

4. Many of the functions in question are only used during a small percentage of the session time. For example, the license may only be required during simulation or compilation (the latter for coder products). Most of the session time may be devoted to editing code or block diagrams and analyzing the results of simulation; tasks that do not require the license. If the license was only tied up during simulation/compilation and automatically released afterwards, this would not be a problem.

I have used many tools from other CAD vendors that only tie up a license during certain operations. The license is then automatically released for other engineers to use without requiring the original user to end their session or to manually release the license. Without mentioning company names, some examples include: licenses for FPGA synthesis, place and route, etc.; high-level synthesis compilers; software compilers; and HDL simulators. Products from four different companies come to mind quickly.

I realize that the MATLAB toolbox licenses can be made available (i.e. a workaround) by training engineers to:

1. Be aware of the limited number of licenses available for some toolboxes.

2. Know which functions/actions checkout a license.

3. Close and restart their MATLAB session after executing such a function, when they do not anticipate needing it for a certain time.

However, all of the above training and effort is inefficient and would be unnecessary if MATLAB were to do this automatically. I would like to see The Mathworks adopt this licensing policy/method.

The above comments are just my opinion and based on my knowledge. They do not necessarily represent the opinion of my company.

Russ

Answer 2

[Andreas Goser]

Thank You Russ, some of those items indeed are related to non-technical business topics and are not a good topic for this technical forum. I will let the account manager for your company know of this thread.

[Justin]

License management is a relevant topic which can directly affect the user's workflow and code. System level workarounds are unacceptable/inaccessible in many work environments, so please do not dismiss those of us who are frustrated with this situation. We have neither the time nor desire to sit down with our account manager, who of which are also people with many other responsibilities and share the lack of desire to be bothered with such a ridiculous issue.

After having spent an hour reading through many similar questions on this forum, I have noticed a trend of:

• Asked by MathWorks Support Team
• Latest activity Edited by MathWorks Support Team
• Accepted Answer by MathWorks Support Team

This issue has been around for years(>7), "raised" multiple times by the "MathWorks Support Team" and real users. Unfortunately, no reasonable resolution seems in sight. No, the licence borrowing "feature" since R14 doesn't cut it since it's only function seems to be the slow and painful death of your userbase, as they slam their heads repeatedly into their monitors.

Is it a security issue? Has it been too technically challenging to implement a proper checkout system? Is it simply more lucrative to force employers to buy extra licenses which are only needed for 1-5% of the session/analysis?

Justin

[Walter Roberson]

"Asked by MathWorks Support Team" are support articles published by Mathworks to answer user questions that have come up elsewhere.

[Walter Roberson]

Is it your position, Justin, that anything is needed only 1-5% of the time should be free? So that would be anything used up to 72 minutes per day on average? Automobiles, lunch, telephones, gardening services, dry cleaning, plumbers, roofers ?

[Justin]

That's a pretty nice straw man you've got there. Would you like a hat for it?

At what point in my comment did I mention that it should be free? To me it's like a hammer, screwdriver, hacksaw, vicegrips, or wrench, once I'm done with it I put it away so others can use it at their convenience. I certainly don't hold onto each and every tool I use all day long. That would be rude. Unfortunately as luck would have it, some jerk put superglue on my hands and I can't put anything down (metaphorically).

[Walter Roberson]

As soon as you talk about it being "lucrative" without talking about possibilities like reduced cost licenses for peak times, then you are saying that you want the extra usage for free.

Nothing is stopping you from putting down the license by simply exiting out of MATLAB. When someone else asks to borrow your hacksaw, screwdriver, or the like, do you say "Sure, but it needs to stay in my toolbox because I don't want to have to put it down" ?

[Justin]

My colleagues and I rarely exit matlab. We generally type "clear all" and move on to the next part of our analysis. It'd be convenient if "clear" or a similar call would release one or all sequestered licenses (putting it/them back into the toolbox for someone else to use). Sometimes my code runs for a day or longer, during which the signal processing toolbox is needed for less than a minute and the other 1439 minutes are spent using the Neural network or Statistics toolbox.

I have no problem with Mathworks making money off their product. Mathworks produces and continually improves good products, but their licensing practices are illogical and impractical from my point of view.

If a group/company only has access to one or a few licences of a product, the current licensing policy leads to: fewer active users -> less code -> fewer parallel batch solutions -> less impetus to purchase extra licenses.

"Nothing is stopping you from putting down the license by simply exiting out of MATLAB" That is impractical and unprofessional advice.

Nice Tanuki in your profile pic, it seems familiar but I can't put my finger on it. Where is it from?

[Walter Roberson]

You were not using logic, you were using rhetoric.

The tanuki is from a photograph I took at a store near Kobe; it is not one of the famous versions.

[Justin]

Well if that's your only complaint then I guess I win. Thanks for the "free" win.

Did you get a chance to try their famous beef?

Answer 3

[Andreas Goser]

Justin, if your contact record in this forum is still up to date: Your university - actually pretty much all universtities in your Bundesland - have purchased a license for all researchers and all students for use at university and at home and to my best knowledge all products. Here is a press release.

[Andreas Goser]

And you have access to a larger MDCS license to speed up your code.

Answer 4

[Jay Jones]

You could use the flexlm license manager utility:

lmutil lmremove -c license.dat feature user host display

[Walter Roberson]

It is against the Terms of Use to use lmremove or otherwise restarting the license manager to free up a license early (less than the 4 hour minimum license timeout that can be configured.)