HPC Service Pack Beta Program

A second service pack for Microsoft’s high-performance computing (HPC) platform is now available for preview. With HPC technology computers work in parallel to solve compute-intensive problems, such as simulating investment strategies and analyzing seismic data. HPC Pack 2008 R2 SP2, which installs on compute nodes, allows more flexibility in allocating and using compute nodes, including Windows Azure resources. It will also distribute and query very large datasets more efficiently and improve cluster management. SP2 was released in beta form in Apr. 2011.

Azure, Dryad, and MPI

Windows HPC Server is a special x64 edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 that runs HPC applications on arrays of computers (called compute nodes) under the control of one or more management servers (the head nodes). A Windows HPC Server installation requires a Windows Server HPC edition OS for each head node and an HPC Pack for each compute node. Compute nodes can include Windows servers (typically configured in a cluster), Windows 7 workstations (called workstation nodes), or Windows Azure nodes.