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    Hello Everybody!

    We have been asked to deploy a Supercomputing Cluster in our college. After have done some research we know that when talking about Supercomputing Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 makes it easier.

    In contrast, we are confused in some other things

    Actually, we are experimenting with 3 nodes but our final goal is to deploy Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 and achieve "basic" Supercomputing stuff with more than 30 nodes (if possible).  We are using 32 and 64 bits architecture in our Dell machines.

    Our confusion is based on following...

    1) We can use Excel as a Supercomputing example?

    2) What kind of steps we need to follow in order to make it?
     
    3) Where we can find more resources, tutorials or explanation on this topic?

    Thank you.

    Friday, March 25, 2011 12:02 AM

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    Yes, certain types of Excel workflows can be distributed across an HPC Pack-based cluster.

     

    http://www.microsoft.com/hpc/en/us/default.aspx is the main product site for the HPC software.

    http://www.microsoft.com/hpc/en/us/product/high-performance-computing-faqs.aspx is a set of answers to high-level questions, for example

     

    Q.  What are the HPC Services for Excel 2010?

    A.  

    There are two new features in Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Suite and Microsoft Office 2010 to accelerate Excel 2010 using a Windows-based HPC Cluster:

    • Running Excel Workbooks on a Windows HPC Cluster – Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Suite enables running multiple instances of Excel 2010 on a Windows-based HPC cluster, where each instance is running an independent calculation or iteration of the same workbook with a different dataset and parameters. This allows near linear performance increases for iterative spreadsheets, such as those running a Monte Carlo algorithm.

    • Running Excel User-Defined Functions on an Windows-based HPC Cluster - Cluster-Safe User Defined Functions are a new feature of Microsoft Excel 2010, which provides the ability to run complex, or time consuming User Defined Functions—functions contained in Excel extension libraries (XLLs)—on a Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 based Cluster. If a long-running workbook includes a large number of independent User Defined Function calls, and these functions contribute to the majority of overall processing time, offloading these functions to a cluster can result in significant speedup of the overall execution time.

    The full set of documentation is available on TechNet at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee783547(WS.10).aspx and there is even a whole section on Excel on that site.

    • Proposed as answer by Don Pattee Friday, March 25, 2011 10:35 PM
    • Marked as answer by Gurudiel Friday, April 8, 2011 1:34 PM
    Friday, March 25, 2011 10:35 PM
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    To run Excel on a cluster, you need to define what parts of the spreadsheet can run in parallel, and then you can use a WCF client/service to send those calculations out to the cluster and bring results back. HPC Services for Excel (which comes with the Enterprise edition of HCP 2008 R2) include some built-in WCF clients and services that can be used with Excel 2010 (you still need to do some degree of work on the spreadsheets themselves to help integrate them with the services). For Excel 2007, you'd probably have to write your own client and service. There is a sample custom client/service for Excel in the HPC 2008 R2 SDK sample download, and this paper/sample in particular may be helpful for you:

    Accelerating Excel 2010 with Windows HPC Server 2008 R2: Building Custom Clients and Services (White paper and additional code and workbook samples)

    For Excel and HPC development resources, see:

    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee815854(WS.10).aspx#BKMK_Excel

    http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/windows-hpc-and-microsoft-excel-resources-for-building-cluster-ready-workbooks.aspx

    • Proposed as answer by AliceLaura Tuesday, March 29, 2011 4:31 PM
    • Marked as answer by Gurudiel Friday, April 8, 2011 1:34 PM
    Monday, March 28, 2011 4:08 PM

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    Yes, certain types of Excel workflows can be distributed across an HPC Pack-based cluster.

     

    http://www.microsoft.com/hpc/en/us/default.aspx is the main product site for the HPC software.

    http://www.microsoft.com/hpc/en/us/product/high-performance-computing-faqs.aspx is a set of answers to high-level questions, for example

     

    Q.  What are the HPC Services for Excel 2010?

    A.  

    There are two new features in Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Suite and Microsoft Office 2010 to accelerate Excel 2010 using a Windows-based HPC Cluster:

    • Running Excel Workbooks on a Windows HPC Cluster – Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Suite enables running multiple instances of Excel 2010 on a Windows-based HPC cluster, where each instance is running an independent calculation or iteration of the same workbook with a different dataset and parameters. This allows near linear performance increases for iterative spreadsheets, such as those running a Monte Carlo algorithm.

    • Running Excel User-Defined Functions on an Windows-based HPC Cluster - Cluster-Safe User Defined Functions are a new feature of Microsoft Excel 2010, which provides the ability to run complex, or time consuming User Defined Functions—functions contained in Excel extension libraries (XLLs)—on a Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 based Cluster. If a long-running workbook includes a large number of independent User Defined Function calls, and these functions contribute to the majority of overall processing time, offloading these functions to a cluster can result in significant speedup of the overall execution time.

    The full set of documentation is available on TechNet at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee783547(WS.10).aspx and there is even a whole section on Excel on that site.

    • Proposed as answer by Don Pattee Friday, March 25, 2011 10:35 PM
    • Marked as answer by Gurudiel Friday, April 8, 2011 1:34 PM
    Friday, March 25, 2011 10:35 PM
  • Question
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    To run Excel on a cluster, you need to define what parts of the spreadsheet can run in parallel, and then you can use a WCF client/service to send those calculations out to the cluster and bring results back. HPC Services for Excel (which comes with the Enterprise edition of HCP 2008 R2) include some built-in WCF clients and services that can be used with Excel 2010 (you still need to do some degree of work on the spreadsheets themselves to help integrate them with the services). For Excel 2007, you'd probably have to write your own client and service. There is a sample custom client/service for Excel in the HPC 2008 R2 SDK sample download, and this paper/sample in particular may be helpful for you:

    Accelerating Excel 2010 with Windows HPC Server 2008 R2: Building Custom Clients and Services (White paper and additional code and workbook samples)

    For Excel and HPC development resources, see:

    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee815854(WS.10).aspx#BKMK_Excel

    http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/windows-hpc-and-microsoft-excel-resources-for-building-cluster-ready-workbooks.aspx

    • Proposed as answer by AliceLaura Tuesday, March 29, 2011 4:31 PM
    • Marked as answer by Gurudiel Friday, April 8, 2011 1:34 PM
    Monday, March 28, 2011 4:08 PM
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    Thank you all!

    Your answers were very helpful.

    Have a nice day.
    Friday, April 8, 2011 1:36 PM