End of support for Matlab Distributed Compute Server
The state wide licence for Matlab is expiring next year (31.03.2018). There are negotiations for a renewal taking place, but the outcome is not certain. As an immediate consequence of the current situation, usage of the Matlab Distributed Compute Server (MDCS) is deprecated and only limited support is provided for legacy installations.
The current situation with Matlab licensing is very comfortable for HPC users and it would be desirable to continue in this way. However, the decision is depending on many factors. Therefore, should the state wide license expire without a renewal, please consider the following alternative strategies, which can already be pursued with the state wide license still active and which can have benefits in their own right:
- If you are stuck with Matlab, consider using the Matlab compiler. Compiled Matlab code does not use licenses.
- Reduce dependencies on individual Matlab Toolboxes by implementing trivial functions yourself.
- Use free software alternatives for new projects.
- If you want to keep the Matlab syntax, we recommend to use Octave
- If you are free to choose the language, we recommend to use Python
- If you need a graphical interface, we recommend to use Julia
In case the Matlab state wide licenses is not renewed, the HPC competence centers will focus their Matlab support activities on reducing license costs using the strategies cited above.