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Windows HPC Server 2008 R2
Updated: November 14, 2011
Applies To: Windows HPC Server 2008 R2
The content in this technical library is intended for users who want to evaluate, set up, deploy, maintain, and submit jobs to a Windows® HPC Server 2008 R2 cluster.
In this topic
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Database Capacity Planning and Tuning in Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 (New!)
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Deploying Applications to Azure Nodes in Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 (New!)
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Job Submission in Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Quick Reference
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DIY Supercomputing: How to build a small Windows HPC cluster or video
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Back Up and Restore a Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Cluster
Service Pack 3 for Microsoft® HPC Pack 2008 R2 is available on the Microsoft Download Center.
Before installing SP3, we recommend that you create a backup of your head node and databases. For more information, see Release Notes for Microsoft HPC Pack 2008 R2 Service Pack 3.
The following documents are available for this release:
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What's New in Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 3
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Release Notes for Microsoft HPC Pack 2008 R2 Service Pack 3
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Deploying a Windows HPC Server Cluster to Run Jobs Using the LINQ to HPC Components (Preview)
The Service Pack 3 release also marks the release of the Windows Azure HPC Scheduler SDK version 1.6. For more information, code samples, videos, and guides, see the Windows Azure HPC Scheduler SDK documentation on MSDN.
For a downloadable version of the documents in this library, go to http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=177810.
The following table lists the documents within each section of this library:
The following videos about Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 are available for viewing:
| Title | Description |
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How to deploy Windows Azure Worker Nodes as part of a Windows HPC Cluster |
In this video (10 min), we show you how Windows HPC Server integrates with Windows Azure so you can add Windows Azure nodes to supplement your on-premises computing cluster. This video shows how to create a hosted service and storage account in your Windows Azure subscription, create a node template in HPC Cluster Manager in Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 (with SP1 or later), and then deploy a set of Windows Azure nodes. This video is meant to introduce steps for node deployment, and does not cover application deployment or file staging. |
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DIY Supercomputing: How to build a small Windows HPC cluster |
In this video (14 min), we walk through the steps to build a small Windows HPC 2008 R2 cluster that you can use to run your parallel software applications, cluster-enabled Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, service-oriented architecture based applications, or parametric sweeps. This video is intended for those of you out there who do not have an IT department to set up a cluster for you, and so you need to do it yourself. After you complete the steps in this video, you will have a cluster that is ready for you to install applications and start running jobs. |
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Overview of Microsoft Technical Computing and HPC Server 2008 R2 |
In this video (25 min), Ryan Waite, the General Manager for Windows HPC, presents a high level synopsis of Microsoft's Technical Computing offerings. |
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In this video (20 min.), Greg Burgess, Principal Development Manager for the Windows HPC team, describes the HPC job scheduler. Job lifecycle is described according to three phases, Admission (jobs enter the scheduler), Allocation (scheduler makes decisions about job placement), and Activation (scheduler starts and controls the job). |
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Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Monitoring and Management Part One |
In this video (22 min.), Cathy Palmer, Lead Program Manager of the Windows HPC Team, presents the management and monitoring enhancements released with R2. |
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Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Monitoring and Management Part Two |
In this video (21 min.), Cathy Palmer, Lead Program Manager of the Windows HPC Team, presents the management and monitoring enhancements released with Windows HPC Server 2008 R2. |
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In this video (29 min.), Rae Wang, Senior Program Manager on the Windows HPC Team, presents the diagnostics and reporting features available in Windows HPC Server 2008 R2. |
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In this video (10 min.), Matt Blythe, Product Manager with the Microsoft Technical Computing team, offers an introduction to Dual-Boot "Hybrid" Clusters that allow Windows HPC and Linux HPC to exist on the same hardware. |
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Overview and sample scenario for Excel offloading on Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 |
In this video (7 min.), learn about a sample business use case scenario for Excel offloading, and learn the basics of how Excel offloading works on a Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 cluster. |
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In this video (11 min.), Rae Wang, a Senior Program Manager in the Windows Server HPC team, demonstrates the new features for adding custom diagnostics tests to a cluster running the Beta 1 release of Windows HPC Server 2008 R2. |
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HPC R2 Demo: New heat map and location-based node management features |
In this video (7 min.), Cathy Palmer, lead Program Manager in the Windows Server HPC team, demonstrates some of the new features for managing and monitoring large-scale clusters with the Beta 1 release of Windows HPC Server 2008 R2. |
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HPC R2 Demo: New job progress, job troubleshooting, and service-balanced policy |
In this video (5 min.), Ryan Baker, UX Researcher in the HPC team, demonstrates changes to the user interface in the Beta 1 release of Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 for job progress and job troubleshooting. He also demonstrates how the new service-balanced scheduling policy works in this release. This demo was recorded during the SC 09 conference in Portland. |
HPC Pack 2008 R2 is the high performance computing aspect of Windows HPC Server 2008 R2. It includes management tools, a job scheduler, and Microsoft Message Passing Interface (MS-MPI), and the client utilities. The Enterprise and Workstation edition additionally includes HPC Services for Excel and the ability to join workstation nodes to the cluster.
You can use the following links to download the HPC software:
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Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Suite Evaluation: You can download the evaluation versions of the Windows Server® 2008 R2 HPC Edition operating system and HPC Pack 2008 R2 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=4b013794-f6fc-4070-b769-9acd0c140ca9&displaylang=en).
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HPC Pack 2008 R2 Service Pack 1: You can download the SP1 which provides improved reliability and new feature sets including Windows Azure integration and user activity detection for Workstation nodes (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=aa86c849-15c0-4f97-a7b4-a23a2ba37890&displaylang=en).
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HPC Pack 2008 R2 Service Pack 2: You can download the SP2, which includes several new features, including additional capabilities in job scheduling and Windows Azure integration.
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HPC Pack 2008 R2 Service Pack 3: You can download the SP3, which includes several new features, including additional capabilities in job scheduling, managing Windows Azure nodes, and harvesting cycles from servers on your network.
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HPC Pack 2008 R2 Software Development Kit: You can download the tools to write parallel applications for the Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 platform (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=198809). Updated versions of the SDKs and code samples, which include new APIs and capabilities introduced in the Service Packs, are available here:
When you install HPC Pack 2008 R2, you can select what edition and what features you want to install. You can install only the client utilities if you want to submit jobs or manage an HPC cluster remotely. All of the client utilities are available in both editions.
The options that you have depend on what operating system is installed on the computer or server:
| Installation option | Supported operating systems | Edition of HPC Pack |
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Head node or WCF broker node |
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Compute node |
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Workstation node |
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