Deploying Windows Azure Nodes with Microsoft HPC Pack

Applies To: Microsoft HPC Pack 2008 R2, Microsoft HPC Pack 2012, Windows HPC Server 2008 R2

This section contains information about extending your Windows HPC cluster to include Windows Azure nodes as compute resources. Using Windows Azure nodes, you can increase (“burst”) the capacity of your on-premises cluster either on-demand or according to a schedule you configure.

You add the Windows Azure nodes to the cluster and provision them in Windows Azure by using the tools provided in HPC Pack. HPC Pack manages and monitors the communication with a Windows Azure cloud service and storage account in your Windows Azure subscription, and gives you access to additional Windows Azure features for your deployments. Then, you can use the Windows Azure nodes to run many of the applications and jobs that can run in an on-premises cluster.

Note

  • Support for deploying Windows Azure nodes was introduced in HPC Pack 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 (SP1).

  • Support for running message-passing interface (MPI) jobs on Windows Azure nodes was introduced in HPC Pack 2008 R2 with SP2.

In this section

Title Description

Requirements to Add Windows Azure Nodes with Microsoft HPC Pack

This topic describes the requirements to add Windows Azure nodes to your on-premises HPC cluster.

Windows Azure Feature Compatibility with Microsoft HPC Pack

This topic summarizes the Windows Azure features that can be used in deployments of Windows Azure nodes with HPC Pack.

Deploying Worker Nodes in Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 SP1 Step-by-Step Guide

This guide provides step-by-step procedures for adding Windows Azure worker role nodes to your Windows HPC cluster.

Tip

New to deploying Windows Azure worker nodes? See the video.

Deploying Applications to Windows Azure Nodes in a Windows HPC Cluster

This topic describes the methods for deploying applications to Windows Azure nodes that are part of a Windows HPC cluster.

Best Practices for Large Deployments of Windows Azure Nodes with Microsoft HPC Pack

This topic provides recommendations for configuring the Windows Azure environment and the on-premises head node to support a large number of Windows Azure nodes.

Additional resources