Can I run matlab, interacting with its GUI, on another PC?

I have a very small and old PC, which I use mostly as a terminal to interact with servers, which are very powerful instead. They run windows, and I cannot connect to them graphically (if not just occasionally, e.g. when I need to set them up).

I need to run matlab, and I need to run it on that server. How do I achieve that? Can I install matlab both on my pc and on that server and tell my matlab "run the actual code on the other computer, as a worker" in a kind of "parallel computing toolbox" fashion? Is there any other way? I can open any ssh tunnel to that server, if it helps, but not run ssh -x, as it's windows. BTW, my programs also make use of compiled mex functions.

I have academic campus licenses, so I can use all releases of matlab and the number of licenses is not an issue.

[Jan]

"I cannot connect to them graphically" - why not? With RDP or VNC the problem is trivial to solve.

[Luca Presotto]

Because under windows only 1 user at a time can connect using RDP or VNC.

Given that we have 16 physical cores, we'd like to use this PC in at least 2 at a time.

Answer 1

[Jan]

This sounds like a job for the Parallel Server: https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab-parallel-server/index.html?searchHighlight=matlab%20parallel%20server

See e.g.: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/455290-how-can-i-open-a-worker-pool-on-a-remote-machine

[Luca Presotto]

Is this efficient? Won't it still use mostly the RAM, CPU and Disk of my PC, with the exception of bached jobs?

[Raymond Norris]

I agree with Jan's suggestion.

@Luca Presotto you mentioned MEX-files -- are all the machines running the same OS?

[Jan]

If you want to keep all data on the server, VNC or RDP is the best choice. What about using a server version of Windows? You are violating the license agreement of Windows, if you access the computer with 2 sessions ate the same time.

An Alternative is to install a bare-metal Windows Server to run two HyperV machines on the server. As far as I remember the HyperV-Server can be used for free: https://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/how-to-install-hyper-v-r2/free-server-core/

Answer 2

[Luca Presotto]

@Raymond Norris, they're both windows. "Client" is windows 10, "server" is windows 11 however.

[Raymond Norris]

Then MEX-files shouldn't be a problem. I would agree with Jan's suggestion of using MATLAB Parallel Server.