Idle labs on Parallel Computing Toolbox

I use a network server that is shared with other users in the company to perform heavy calculations with Matlab.

My question is, does Matlab reserve his parallel workers even when idle?

If, for example, I open a matlabpool of 12 labs, does that mean that even when I'm not using Matlab, the other users have 12 cores less to use for themselves? Or does Matlab use them only when asked to?

Answer 1

[Friedrich]

Hi,

Does Matlab reserve his parallel workers even when idle?

Yes, when you open a matlabpool of 12 labs, the others have 12 labs less to use. A matlabpool is like an "interactive job" which takes workers like every other job.

[Walter Roberson]

Though when MATLAB exits, it releases any matlabpool that was opened in that session.

[Yoav Livneh]

So every time I finish I should close the matlabpool until next time I need to use parallel computing.

[Yoav Livneh]

Thanks for the answer, by the way!

[Walter Roberson]

Yes, close the matlabpool when you do not need it.

Note: it sounds as if you might be using the Distributed Computing Server. I have not read enough about the DCS to know when it reserves cores or when it releases them.

[Thomas]

The DCS reserves the cores on the 'matlabpool open' command and releases on getting the 'matlabpool close' command