Windows HPC Server 2008 R2

Updated: January 2015

Applies To: Windows HPC Server 2008 R2

The content in this technical library is intended for users who want to evaluate, set up, deploy, Mayntain, and submit jobs to a Windows® HPC Server 2008 R2 cluster.

In this topic

  • Featured content

  • In this library

  • Videos

  • Download Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 software

Service Pack 4 documentation

Service Pack 4 for Microsoft® HPC Pack 2008 R2 is available on the Microsoft Download Center.

Before installing SP4, 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 4 and What's New in Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 4.

The Service Pack 4 release also marks the release of the Windows Azure HPC Scheduler SDK version 1.7. For more information, code samples, videos, and guides, see the Windows Azure HPC Scheduler SDK documentation on MSDN.

In this library

For a downloadable version of the documents in this library, go to https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=177810.

The following table lists the documents within each section of this library:

Section Documents

Windows HPC Server 2008 R2: Product Evaluation and Planning

Windows HPC Server 2008 R2: Getting Started

Windows HPC Server 2008 R2: Deploying a Cluster

Windows HPC Server 2008 R2: Cluster Administration

Windows HPC Server 2008 R2: Security

Windows HPC Server 2008 R2: Submitting Jobs to a Cluster

Windows HPC Server 2008 R2: HPC Services for Excel

Windows HPC Server 2008 R2: Technical Reference

Windows HPC Server 2008 R2: Developer Resources

This topic contains links and information about the resources that are available for software developers.

Windows HPC Server 2008 R2: Troubleshooting

Tools and Extensibility for Windows HPC Server 2008 R2

This topic contains links and information about the available tools and the extensibility guides in Windows HPC Server 2008 R2.

Windows HPC Server 2008 R2: White Papers

This topic contains links to the white papers for Windows HPC Server 2008 R2.

Videos

The following videos about Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 are available for viewing:

Title Description

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.

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.

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.

HPC Server 2008 R2 Job Scheduler

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).

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.

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.

Diagnostics and reporting in Windows HPC Server 2008 R2

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.

Hybrid Windows HPC & Linux Clusters

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.

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.

Download Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 software

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 HPC Pack 2008 R2 Enterprise and HPC Pack 2008 R2 for Cycle Harvesting edition (formerly called the Enterprise and Workstation edition) additionally includes HPC Services for Excel and the ability to join workstation nodes and unmanaged servers to the cluster.

You can use the following links to download the HPC software:

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

Head node or WCF broker node

  • Windows Server® 2008 R2 HPC Edition or any other edition of Windows Server 2008 R2

  • HPC Pack 2008 R2 Express edition

  • HPC Pack 2008 R2 Enterprise and HPC Pack 2008 R2 for Cycle Harvesting edition

Compute node

  • Windows Server 2008 HPC Edition or any other edition of Windows Server 2008 R2

  • Windows Server 2008 HPC Edition or any other 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008

  • HPC Pack 2008 R2 Express edition

  • HPC Pack 2008 R2 Enterprise and HPC Pack 2008 R2 for Cycle Harvesting edition

Workstation node

  • Windows® 7 (32-bit or 64-bit edition)

  • HPC Pack 2008 R2 Enterprise and HPC Pack 2008 R2 for Cycle Harvesting edition

See also