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What is Windows HPC Server 2008?

Microsoft® Windows® HPC Server 2008 (HPCS), the next generation of high performance computing (HPC), provides enterprise-class tools, performance, and scalability for a highly productive HPC environment. HPCS provides a complete and integrated cluster environment including the operating system, a Job Scheduler, Message Passing Interface v2 (MPI2) support, and cluster management and monitoring components. Built on Windows Server® 2008 64-bit technology, HPCS can efficiently scale to thousands of processing cores and includes a management console that helps proactively monitor and maintain system health and stability. Job scheduling interoperability and flexibility enables integration between Windows and Linux-based HPC platforms, and supports batch and service-oriented architecture (SOA) workloads. Enhanced productivity, scalable performance, and ease of use are some of the features that make Windows HPC Server 2008 best-of-breed for Windows environments.

Windows HPC Server 2008 can help shorten user time-to-insight for HPC workloads through easier deployment and management. By using the existing Windows-based information technology (IT) infrastructure, HPCS simplifies management, security, and storage for the cluster, and provides seamless access from the desktop. HPCS includes improved provisioning based on the Windows Server 2008 Windows Deployment Services technology, a faster Microsoft Message Passing Interface (MS-MPI) that includes new NetworkDirect support, an advanced Job Scheduler, and a new management interface built on the Microsoft® System Center 2007 user interface (UI), which has support for Windows PowerShell™ as a preferred scripting interface.

Windows HPC Server 2008 integrates with other Microsoft products to help increase HPC productivity and improve the overall end-user experience. This includes collaboration through Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 and the Windows Workflow Foundation, as well as improved management and efficiency by integrating with System Center 2007. Through integration with the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows HPC Server 2008 allows developers working with SOA applications to harness the power of parallel computing offered by HPC solutions. HPCS uses the failover clustering capabilities of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise and of Microsoft® SQL Server® to provide high availability and redundancy of the head node in your HPC cluster.

What Is Windows HPC Server 2008?

When developing Windows HPC Server 2008, Microsoft focused on four key areas: systems management, job scheduling, networking and MPI, and storage.
The new features include:

Systems Management

The new Administration Console based on System Center UI framework integrates every aspect of cluster management.
Node grouping allows administrators to categorize and batch operations on compute nodes
Monitoring heat map allows viewing cluster status at-a-glance
Scriptable control of cluster using Windows PowerShell and other command-line tools
High availability for multiple head nodes
Improved compute node provisioning using Windows Deployment Services
Built-in support for cluster-wide updating
Built-in system diagnostics
Built-in cluster reporting
Extensible reporting, allowing for job scheduling analysis using external database tools like SQL Server Analysis Services
Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 Management Pack

Job Scheduling

Integration with WCF, allowing SOA application developers to harness the power of parallel computing offered by HPC solutions
Job scheduling granularity at processor core, processor socket, and compute node levels
Performance improvements for large clusters
Support for external databases for Job Scheduling
New job scheduling policies
Support for Open Grid Forum’s HPC Basic Profile interface for Job Scheduler interoperability

Networking and MPI

NetworkDirect, a new Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) network interface providing dramatic performance improvements for MPI applications running over high-speed fabrics
Improved Network Configuration Wizard
New shared memory MS-MPI implementation for multicore servers
MS-MPI integrated with Event Tracing for Windows

Storage

Improved iSCSI storage area network (SAN) support in Windows Server 2008
Improved Server Message Block v2 (SMB v2) in Windows Server 2008
New parallel file system support and vendor partnerships for clusters with high performance storage needs

For more product information go to: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/ccs/default.aspx

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT VIGLEN
ON 01727 201 860 OR hpc@viglen.co.uk.