Windows HPC Server 2008, released by
Microsoft on 22 September 2008, is the successor product to
Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003. Like WCCS, Windows HPC Server 2008 is designed for high-end applications that require high performance computing clusters (HPC stands for High Performance Computing). This version of the server software is claimed to efficiently scale to thousands of cores. It includes features unique to HPC workloads: a new high-speed NetworkDirect RDMA, highly efficient and scalable cluster management tools, a
service-oriented architecture (SOA) job scheduler, an
MPI
MPI or Mpi may refer to:
Science and technology Biology and medicine
* Magnetic particle imaging, an emerging non-invasive tomographic technique
* Myocardial perfusion imaging, a nuclear medicine procedure that illustrates the function of the hear ...
library based on open-source
MPICH2, and cluster interoperability through standards such as the High Performance Computing Basic Profile (HPCBP) specification produced by the
Open Grid Forum (OGF).
In June 2008, a system built collaboratively with the
National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and Microsoft ranked #23 on the
TOP500 list, a ranking of the world's fastest supercomputers, with a
LINPACK score of 68.5
teraflops
In computing, floating point operations per second (FLOPS, flops or flop/s) is a measure of computer performance, useful in fields of scientific computations that require floating-point calculations. For such cases, it is a more accurate meas ...
. The NCSA supercomputer uses both Windows Server HPC and
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4. By November 2011, that ranking had dropped to #253. Since then, all Windows computers have dropped off the TOP500 list, and Linux has replaced all other operating systems on the list.
In the November 2008 rankings, published by TOP500, a Windows HPC system built by the
Shanghai Supercomputer Center
Shanghai Supercomputer Center (SSC; ) offers high performance computing (HPC), technical support and technical consulting services to customers from scientific research, public utilities services, and industrials and engineering. It was founded in ...
achieved a peak performance of 180.6
teraflops
In computing, floating point operations per second (FLOPS, flops or flop/s) is a measure of computer performance, useful in fields of scientific computations that require floating-point calculations. For such cases, it is a more accurate meas ...
and was ranked #11 on the list. In June 2015, that was the last Windows machine left on the list (dropped off later) then ranked 436, just barely made the TOP500 (with
Windows Azure
Microsoft Azure, often referred to as Azure ( , ), is a cloud computing platform operated by Microsoft for application management via around the world-distributed data centers. Microsoft Azure has multiple capabilities such as software as a ...
dropping off earlier).
Windows HPC Server 2008 R2
Windows HPC Server 2008 R2, also known as ''Windows Server 2008 R2 HPC Edition'' (codenamed Windows 7 Server) based on
Windows Server 2008 R2, was released on 20 September 2010.
Windows HPC Pack
After Windows HPC Server 2008 R2, Microsoft released HPC Pack 2008 R2 in four flavors: Express, Enterprise, Workstation and Cycle Harvesting. Later it simplified the offer by releasing HPC Pack 2012 that combined capabilities of all four versions of HPC Pack 2008 R2. HPC Pack 2012 can be installed on top of any
Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter.
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The head node for the HPC-Pack requires Windows Server, however the node computers can be Windows 10 or Windows 11.
References
External links
*
Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Technical Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Windows Hpc Server 2008
Windows Server 2008
Job scheduling
Grid computing