Automating Matlab without requiring the user to be logged in

Question

Is it possible to setup Matlab to run a specific script in the background when the user is NOT logged in? The script works fine on its own on a Windows Server 2008 machine with Matlab R2014a. It doesn't need a gui for the script to complete, but I'm guessing that Matlab requires user-specific environments to be set. Is there a place where this can be set ahead of time maybe?

I have tried "Task Scheduler" and it works just fine, but you have to set the setting to run only when that particular user is logged in or else nothing happens. The problem, of course, is the user session would require continuous monitoring in order to remain logged in (power outage, updates, etc.).

Has anyone dealt with this in the past? We've considered compiling it, but apparently there are certain functions and objects that the script uses (I didn't write it) that don't carryover during compilation.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome!

Answer 1

I've done some work for a client where we have an instance of MATLAB running continuously on a server, doing some stuff. The server occasionally fails (power outages, IT dept screw-ups etc), and it needs to be brought back up automatically.

Note that MATLAB does need to be run as a user for licensing reasons, so our MATLAB instance always runs under a designated account, with a license dedicated to running that instance continuously.

We have a Windows batch file to start up a suitable MATLAB instance, that contains a command similar to the following:

CALL matlab.exe -nosplash -nodesktop -sd "myStartupFolder" -r "myMATLABCommand"

We then have a scheduled task set up so that 5 minutes after that account logs in, the batch file runs, and we have Windows set up so that when Windows starts, that account is automatically logged in (I'm no Windows admin, but I think we had to do some weird stuff in order to enable that, such as adding the account to some special domain group, or giving the account special privileges - you may need to research that a little more).

Anyway, that solved the issue for us. If the server goes down and then recovers (perhaps IT bring it back up), the account is automatically logged in, the batch file runs, and the MATLAB instance is brought back up. If we need (rarely) to log in directly under that account without the task running, we have a 5 minute window to stop the scheduled task from running, which is no problem.

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

Unfortunately and afaik, Matlab can only be startet without GUI on Linux (maybe on Mac OS X too?).

~$ cat /tmp/stackoverflow.m 
s='stackoverflow';
length(s)

~$ ./R2013a/bin/matlab -nodisplay -nojvm -nodesktop -nosplash -r "run /tmp/stackoverflow.m, exit"

                                                                        < M A T L A B (R) >
                                                              Copyright 1984-2013 The     MathWorks, Inc.
                                                                R2013a (8.1.0.604) 64-bit (glnxa64)
                                                                         February 15, 2013


To get started, type one of these: helpwin, helpdesk, or demo.
For product information, visit www.mathworks.com.


ans =

    13

~$ 

However Matlab itself is not capable of Shebang #! in a Bash script. So it's always a workaround.

A better solution might be to run your Matlab instance continuously and write a daemon/script, which will run you .m script time-dependent for example.

A much better way is to use the Matlab Coder Toolbox (if you have it) and compile a stand-alone binary from you .m file. This binary should be easily runable with task schedular on Windows.