Mount an Application VHD on Windows Azure Worker Nodes

Applies To: Microsoft HPC Pack 2012, Microsoft HPC Pack 2012 R2

Starting with HPC PackĀ 2012, you can optionally mount a durable application VHD file (a Windows Azure drive) on each Windows Azure worker node. To do this, you must first create a VHD containing your application or data and then upload it as a page blob to the Windows Azure storage account for the deployment by using the hpcpack upload command. The page blob must have the .vhd extension. Then, specify a VHD that is suitable for mounting as a Windows Azure drive when you create or edit a node template for Windows Azure worker nodes. The application VHD file is automatically mounted when each Windows Azure node is provisioned.

Additional considerations

  • It can take some time to upload a large page blob to Windows Azure storage. Ensure that the VHD is fully uploaded before you provision the Windows Azure worker nodes that mount the VHD.

  • A snapshot of the application VHD is automatically created in the Windows Azure storage account when you provision the nodes, and this snapshot is deleted automatically when you stop the deployment with HPC Cluster Manager. If you use the Windows Azure Portal to stop the deployment, the snapshot remains in Windows Azure storage and should be deleted manually.

  • For general information on using a Windows Azure drive, see Windows Azure Drive.

See Also

Concepts

Configuring a Windows Azure Node Template for Microsoft HPC Pack