Windows HPC Server 2008 Cluster Deployment Combat

Windows HPC Server 2008 is the successor to the existing Windows Computer Cluster Server 2003 (WCCS2003), based on the Windows Server 2008 64-bit system core. It provides new high-speed networks, efficient and flexible cluster management tools, service-oriented Architecture (SOA) engineering scheduling, support for partner cluster file systems, and can be used in large-scale parallel projects such as computational fluid dynamics, hydro-junction simulations, or blast, Monte Carlo simulations, and other complex parallel projects.

This article describes how to deploy a Windows HPC Server 2008 cluster.

Checklist: Deploying a HPC Cluster

The following checklist describes the overall process of deploying a Windows HPC Server 2008 cluster. Each task in the manifest is linked to the appropriate section in this document that describes the steps required to perform the task.

Step 1: Prepare for deployment

The first step in deploying a HPC cluster is to make important decisions, such as deciding how to add nodes to the cluster and selecting the network topology for the cluster. The following checklist describes the steps involved in preparing for deployment.

Checklist: Preparing to deploy

1.1. Check initial considerations and system requirements

The following sections list some of the initial considerations that need to be checked, as well as hardware and software requirements for Windows HPC Server 2008.

Initial considerations

Before deploying a HPC cluster, check the following initial considerations.

Compatibility with previous versions

The following list describes compatibility between Windows HPC Server 2008 and Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003:

"Windows HPC Server 2008 provides application programming interface (API)-level compatibility for applications that are set up with Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003. However, these applications may need to be changed to run on Windows Server 2008. If you are having problems running your application on Windows Server 2008, you should consult your software vendor.

"Windows HPC Server 2008 supports job submissions from Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 clients, including jobs submitted by using command-line tools, computing the cluster job manager, and COM APIs."

The Windows HPC Server 2008 Client tools, including the Cluster Management Console (HPC Cluster Administrator), the Job scheduling console (HPC job Manager), command-line tools, and APIs, cannot be used to manage jobs or submit jobs to Windows Compute Cluste R Server 2003 cluster.

"does not support clusters with Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 nodes and Windows HPC Server 2008 nodes."

"Does not support concurrent installation of Windows HPC Server 2008 and Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 on the same computer. This includes the Windows HPC Server 2008 Client utility.

"Upgrading the Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 header node to a Windows HPC Server 2008-head node is not supported.

Server roles added during installation

When you install HPC Pack 2008, the following server roles are added to the header node:

"DHCP server, which provides the IP address and related information for compute nodes.

The Windows deployment service, which is used to remotely deploy compute nodes.

"File service, which is used to manage shared folders.

The network policy and Access service, which enables routing and Remote Access so that network address translation (NAT) services can be provided to cluster nodes.