Adding Workstation Nodes to HPC Clusters

Adding Workstation Nodes to HPC Clusters

Table of Contents
Adding Workstation Nodes to HPC Clusters ........................................................................... 1
Exercise 1 Adding Workstation nodes ...........................................................................................................................2

Adding Workstation Nodes to HPC Clusters

Adding Workstation Nodes to HPC Clusters

Objectives
After completing this lab, you will be better able to: Create a node template for workstation nodes. Run an Excel job on a workstation node. Monitor the running job in Cluster Manager.

Scenario

In many large organizations, desktop computers sit idle for prolonged periods of time after hours, during breaks, during holidays. Windows HPC 2008 R2 now provides organizations with the ability to leverage 1 the computing power in these workstations for the benefit of High Performance Computing (HPC) jobs. The end result is that the HPC cluster can grow dynamically to suit business needs without requiring an investment in additional hardware.

Estimated Time to Complete This Lab Computers used in this Lab

45 Minutes

HPC-HN

HPC-CN01

HPC-CN02

HPC-CN03

HPC-Win7 The password for the Administrator account on all computers in this lab is: Pa$$w0rd

Page 1 of 12

Adding Workstation Nodes to HPC Clusters

Exercise 1 Adding Workstation nodes

Scenario
In this exercise you will add workstation nodes. Tasks Complete the following tasks on: HPC-HN 1. Start Cluster Manager. Go to Deployment To-Do List.
c. Browse to Deployment To-do list section in the Configuration tab of Cluster

Detailed Steps
a. To add Windows 7 workstations to the cluster, a new workstation node group

must be created.
b. Launch Cluster Manager from the task bar:

Manager.

d. Note the Deployment To-Do list from the console below. It provides a single

check list of all the activities to prepare the cluster as well as quick links to common tasks.
e. Click on the Create a node template link.

Page 2 of 12

Adding Workstation Nodes to HPC Clusters Tasks Detailed Steps

2.

Node Template Wizard

a. A wizard leads the administrator through steps to create the node group. b. Select the Workstation node template from the first screen of the wizard. Click

the Next button.

c. For simplicity, you can accept the Default Workstation Template name and click

Next.

Page 3 of 12

Adding Workstation Nodes to HPC Clusters Tasks Detailed Steps

d. Unlike compute nodes, workstation nodes are special because they are not

always available for HPC jobs. This wizard provides a number of configurable options that determine the availability of the workstations in this group. The window below allows an administrator to specify this Availability Policy.
e. Choose to bring workstation nodes online and offline automatically. f.

Click Configure the Availability Policy button to show the calendar.

g. The administrator can choose the option that best suits organizational needs or

policies without adversely affecting the workstation user:

Page 4 of 12

Adding Workstation Nodes to HPC Clusters Tasks Detailed Steps

h. Check the box Only use workstation nodes if there has been no user input

detected for [] minutes: when selected, if workstation is in an idle state for this length of time or greater, it will start running jobs. (Any input from user, e.g. mouse movement, will preempt the HPC job and control of the desktop will be returned to workstation user immediately.)
i. j.

Check the box Only use workstation node if CPU . : If workstation CPU usage falls below a threshold, workstation will start running jobs. Another common option is to set a time of day policy. Non-business hours can designated as times to run jobs. Conversely, some hours of the day can be completely blocked out, even if the machine is idle. This setting can be done by dragging the mouse pointer on the grid. may run anytime except business hours: Monday - Friday 7a-7p.

k. The slide below shows the time of day settings configured to specify that jobs

Page 5 of 12

Adding Workstation Nodes to HPC Clusters Tasks Detailed Steps

l.

For the purpose of this lab, we will leave not use the availability policy configuration. dialog.

m. Press the Cancel button to close the Configure Workstation Availability Policy n. Now on the wizard, select Bring workstation nodes online and offline

manually, and press the Next button.

o. Press the Create button on the final slide of the Wizard.

3.

Adding a Workstation node to the cluster.

Note: Behind the scenes, the HPC Pack was installed on a Windows 7 desktop. These workstation nodes are already registered with the head node while installing the pcal on the workstation. They have been placed in an Unapproved state and cannot receive jobs until approved by the administrator. They have not joined the cluster yet. Page 6 of 12

Adding Workstation Nodes to HPC Clusters Tasks Detailed Steps This step guards cluster integrity by preventing against rogue workstations and workstations lacking required configuration from joining the cluster in a disorganized or unauthorized manner.
a. Go to Node Management and you will find an unapproved Workstation node

under the filter By Group>>WorkstationNodes.

b. Assign the node template that we just created to this node by right clicking the

node and selecting the Assign Node Template option.

Page 7 of 12

Adding Workstation Nodes to HPC Clusters Tasks Detailed Steps

c. From the pop up dialog, select the node template that you created and press OK.

d. The node will be in transitional state for a few seconds, before moving to offline

state.

Page 8 of 12

Adding Workstation Nodes to HPC Clusters Tasks Detailed Steps

e. The next step is to bring this node online. Right click the node, from the menu,

select Bring Online. The node state will change to Online.

f.

These steps add the workstation node to the cluster, and available for scheduling jobs. workbook. Its shortcut is visible on the desktop.

4.

Putting workstation nodes to work

a. To create some activity on this node, we will use the Convertible Pricing

b. Close HPC Cluster Manager c. From the desktop, launch the Excel workbook named ConvertibleP and click OK

in the pop up
d. From the ribbon menu, select the HPC Fire/Recollect tab. Click on the Reset

button. Enter the value for Workbook Save Location as \\hpchn\share\temp.xlsm. Enter value for HPC Head Node as hpc-hn. Enter value for Cores Requested as 2.

Page 9 of 12

Adding Workstation Nodes to HPC Clusters Tasks Detailed Steps

e. Scrolling to the right shows this workbook has three options. One of these is a

Run Model on Workstations button. Click this button. At this point were utilizing the new HPC Services for Excel feature to run Excel-based jobs on the cluster. The Excel UI will freeze for a few seconds while creating the SOA session.

5.

Analyzing the job in cluster manager.

a. Lets open Cluster Manager to look at the Excel job. Here we can see that the job

is running.
b. From the task bar, launch HPC Cluster Manager c. Switch to Job Management to show the Job List View

Page 10 of 12

Adding Workstation Nodes to HPC Clusters Tasks Detailed Steps

d. Pivot To nodes for the Jobs to view the nodes for this job. e. This switches over to see which nodes are running the job. We can see that this is

the desktop node that we have just deployed and we can monitor it through the heat map just like for normal compute nodes.
f.

The main take-away should be a realization of how easy it is for an organization to expand the capacity of a HPC cluster by utilizing CPU cycles from its idle desktops. management view.

g. Wait till the job finishes. You can monitor the job progress from the job

6.

The completed workbook: using the Get Cluster Results tab

a. Now the workbook user knows the Excel job is done. Re-launch Excel and click

Get Results. This completes the Fire and Recollect loop by retrieving the queued results from the broker node.

Page 11 of 12

Adding Workstation Nodes to HPC Clusters Tasks Detailed Steps

b. If the Excel workbook is not already open, then from the desktop double click the

Excel Workbook again.

c. Scroll to the right. d. Click the Get Results button e. The workbook will receive the final results from the cluster

You can scroll left and right to give a complete view. Note: Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 Free Trial Download
f.

Certification: Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization

Page 12 of 12