An Introduction to Windows HPC Server 2008

Article
02/02/2009

1. Components of Windows HPC
Server

1.1 X64 Windows OS
(Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise or Hpc Edition)

1.2 Hpc Subsystem (Hpc Pack 2008)
- scalable
Job Scheduler for creation, execution and
monitoring Hpc jobs
- MS-MPI
programming infrastructure, which is based on MPICH2
- HPC-WCF(HPC-SOA) programming
infrastructure
- utilities for Cluster
Managing (Configuring, Provisioning, Monitoring, Reporting and
Diagnosing)

Note: Hpc Pack 2008 has three major installation types
-
Head Node (Hpc Head Core + Management/Job
Consoles)
- Compute Node (Hpc Compute
Core)
- Client Node (optional,
Management/Job Consoles)

2. Architecture
of Windows HPC Server

Windows
Hpc Server Typical Topology (from Microsoft)

2.1 Nodes
- Head Node
(needs Hpc Pack)
- Compute Node (needs Hpc Pack)
- WCF Broker Node
(optional, needs Hpc Pack)
- Client Node (optional, needs Hpc Pack Client
Utilities)
- Dev Node (optional, needs Hpc Pack SDK + Hpc Pack Client
Utilities)

2.2
Networks
- Interface
a. Winsock Direct
b. NetworkDirect
c.
TCP/IP interface
- Physical
a. Ethernet
b. InfiniBand
c.
Myrinet

Windows
Hpc Server Network Stack (form Microsoft)

3. What can we do with it?

3.1 Application
Developing

- Batch/Parallel: MPI
- Interactive/SOA:
HPC-WCF

3.2 Job
Management

A. Job Types
- Parallel Job: same bin, communicating
among tasks
- Parametric Sweep Job: same bin, no communication among
tasks
- Task Flow Job: different bin, dependencies(DAG) among
tasks

B. Job
Operations
- Job Scheduler Configuration
- Job Creation and
Definition
- Job Execution and Monitoring

C. Interfaces
- Command
line (CmdShell & PowerShell)
- COM and .NET Interface
- HPC Basic
Profile Interface by Open Grid
Forum

3.3 System
Management

- Configuration
- Provisioning
- Monitoring,
Reporting & Auditing
- Diagnostics

Windows
Hpc Server Ecosystem (form Microsoft)

[Reference]

Introduction
on Windows Hpc Server 2008

Windows Hpc Server
Product Home
Windows Hpc Server
Technet Home
Windows
Hpc Server 2008 Docs
Windows Hpc Server Team
Blog

- Management
HPCS Command
Tools
HPCS PowerShell
Cmdlets

- App Developing
Job
Scheduling on WCCS2003
Job
Management on HPCS
SOA
Programming on HPCS
MPI
Programming on HPCS
MPI Doc
@ MSDN
Hpc Pack
@ MSDN
Hpc Dev
Resources @ MsHpcHome