Matlab Distributed Computing Server MDCS cluster setup on Windows 7 Tips

I had a hard time getting my MDCS cluster up and running and have a few tips for others. I followed this guide but still had issues:

http://www.mathworks.com/support/product/DM/installation/ver_5_1/instructions/mdce_install.pdf

So here goes (starting from a fresh Windows OS installation):

1) Install Windows and MDCS on a number of computers. Use the same username/password for each.

2) Configure Windows Firewall on all PC's

2.2) Control Panel > System > Windows Firewall > Incoming > New Rule > Open Ports 27350-29350 (probably don't need that many, follow: http://www.mathworks.com/support/solutions/en/data/1-39LCCA/index.html?solution=1-39LCCA )

2.2) navigate to <matlabroot>/toolbox/distcomp/bin/ right click addMatlabToWindowsFirewall.bat and select 'run as administrator'

3) Start the MDCE service on the PC's that will be worker hosts/nodes (not the head node)

3.1) open an elevated command prompt (start menu > type cmd > right click cmd.exe and select 'run as administrator'

3.2) navigate to <matlabroot>/toolbox/distcomp/bin/ (Hint: 'cd <matlabroot>/toolbox/distcomp/bin/' then <enter>)

3.3) Type 'mdce install' <enter>

3.4) Type 'mdce start' <enter> (again, only on worker nodes)

4) on the PC you will use as your head node start the admin center

4.1) navigate to <matlabroot>/toolbox/distcomp/bin/ right click admincenter.bat and select 'run as administrator'

4.2) add the head node and worker nodes. As described in the above instructions you can use the host name (aka computer name) or the fully qualified host name (eg. mycomputer.myschool.edu) or the IP addresses. You get into a bunch of network nastiness at this step but try a few combinations. I ended up using myIPaddress.myschool.edu but still had host resolution warnings after the connectivity test.

4.3) When you are adding hosts don't select the option to have the admin center start mdce services on the workers (you already started them).

5) follow the rest of the MDCS directions to start the job manager and workers.

If you run into trouble try restarting the mdce service on offending nodes using 'mdce stop' then 'mdce start' or 'mdce uninstall -clean' then 'mdce install' 'mdce start' and maybe restarting the PC. FWIW I didn't need to futz with Windows User Account Control (UAC) with this method. But maybe that's part of why I was never able to get admincenter.bat to launch mdce on remote machines (local mdce launching for the head node worked). I also had no luck with remotemdce command line launching because it doesn't offer a communication protocol Windows is compatible with out of the box.

[Kaustubha Govind]

Lee: I would suggest moving your instructions into an "Answer", so that it is clear these are instructions or a solution, and not a question that needs to be answered. Thanks for sharing your knowledge! :)