This guide provides conceptual information for planning the deployment of a high performance computing cluster using Windows® HPC Server 2008. It also provides step-by-step procedures for deploying the head node in your cluster, adding compute nodes, and for verifying that your deployment was successful.

Note
You can download a printable version of the Windows HPC Server 2008 Design and Deployment Guide (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=128405).

The following information may also be useful when you are planning and deploying an HPC cluster:

• You can configure your HPC cluster for high availability by installing the head node in the context of a failover cluster. If the server that is acting as the head node fails, the other server in the failover cluster automatically begins acting as the head node (through a process known as failover). For more information about running an HPC cluster with failover clustering, see the Configuring Failover Clustering in Windows HPC Server 2008 Step-by-Step Guide (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=123894).
  
  
• Some design and deployment decisions have specific security implications in an HPC cluster. For more information, see Security in Windows HPC Server 2008 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=157794).
  
  

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