Requirements for Using the C# Cluster-SOA Debugger for Windows HPC 2008 R2

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Review the following requirements before using the C# Cluster-SOA Debugger to debug services on a Windows HPC 2008 R2 cluster.

Development computer requirements

Your development computer must have the following software installed to run the Cluster-SOA Debugger:

  • An edition of Visual Studio 2010 or Visual Studio 2008 SP1 that includes the remote debugger

    Visual Studio 2008 SP1 also requires the following updates:

  • The C# Cluster-SOA Debugger add-in for Windows HPC 2008 R2 for Visual Studio 2008 or Visual Studio 2010

  • Microsoft HPC Pack 2008 R2 SDK (to write a client application that initiates a session with the HPC Job Scheduler)

  • Microsoft HPC Pack 2008 R2 client utilities (to launch the Cluster-SOA Debugger from a client computer)

  • The devenv.exe program added to the list of firewall exceptions.

Note


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

Cluster requirements

To launch the debugger on a Windows HPC 2008 R2 cluster, you need the following setup:

  • Administrative permissions on a Windows HPC 2008 R2 cluster.

  • At least one Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) broker node configured on the cluster.

  • Visual Studio must be able to access the compute nodes (service hosts) on which you want to run the debugging session. The following scenarios provide the necessary access:

    • You are developing your application on the cluster head node or on a dedicated logon node.

    • You are using a cluster in which the compute nodes are connected to the enterprise network (Topology 2, 4, or 5), and your development computer is joined to the same domain or to a domain that has a trust relationship with the cluster domain.

Note


The Cluster-SOA Debugger will not run on workstation nodes that are added to the HPC cluster. Workstation nodes are managed differently than dedicated compute nodes, and the debugger will not have sufficient permissions to launch msvsmon on the workstation nodes.

Note


A minimum test cluster can consist of a single server. When you install HPC Pack 2008 R2 on a server, the head node is configured to also act as a broker node and as a compute node by default. You can download the evaluation versions of the Windows Server 2008 R2 HPC Edition operating system and HPC Pack 2008 R2 at Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Suite Evaluation.

C# project requirements

To work with the Cluster-SOA debugger, the client application needs to be converted to the supported project type or developed using one of the following templates:

To convert an existing client project, see Converting an Existing C# Project to an HPC Cluster-SOA Client Project.

Firewall considerations when debugging from a client computer

If you are running the C# Cluster-SOA debugger from a client computer, you must add the devenv.exe program to the list of firewall exceptions on the client computer.

The C# Cluster-SOA Debugger for Windows HPC 2008 R2 is not recommended for use in a production cluster. There is a known issue in which the firewall can block the remote debugger when you attempt to initiate debugging from a client computer that connects to the cluster through the Enterprise network. It is not possible to create a specific firewall exception, because the debugger cannot determine in advance the location where the msvsmon files are deployed. This issue is resolved with Microsoft HPC Pack 2008 R2 Service Pack 1.

The possible workarounds are:

  • Run the Cluster-SOA debugger from the head node.

  • Install Microsoft HPC Pack 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 on the cluster and open a firewall exception on the head node and compute nodes for msvsmon. For example, you can run the following commands, where <headNodeName.primaryDNSsuffix> is the fully qualified domain name of the head node (for example, headNode.contoso.com):

    netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="MSVSMon in" dir=in program="<headNodeName.primaryDNSsuffix>CcpSpoolDirHPCSOADebuggerx64msvsmon.exe" action=allow

    netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="MSVSMon out" dir=out program="<headNodeName.primaryDNSsuffix>CcpSpoolDirHPCSOADebuggerx64msvsmon.exe" action=allow

  • Isolate the development cluster and turn off the firewall.

    Important: Windows Firewall helps provide protection from malicious users and programs that rely on unsolicited incoming traffic to attack computers. Disabling the firewall can compromise the security of your computer. If you turn off the firewall, ensure that the cluster is isolated.