Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003

Microsoft has supported fault-tolerant and high-availability clustering for many years, but with Compute Cluster Server, Microsoft brings the supercomputing power of high-performance computing (HPC) to the personal and workgroup level.

The solution entails a cluster of servers that includes a single head node and one or more compute nodes. The head node controls and mediates all access to the cluster resources and is the single point of management, deployment, and job scheduling for the compute cluster

One of the biggest issues that customers face today in adopting HPC solutions is the management and deployment of clusters and nodes. This problem has traditionally been a departmental or corporate-level problem, with a dedicated information technology (IT) professional staff to manage and deploy nodes, and users submitting batch jobs and competing for limited resources.

The design goals were to:

· Provide an appliance-like setup.

· Give clear, prescriptive guidance.

· Provide authentication and authorization mechanisms.

· Build a scriptable solution.

There are many FANTASTIC features that we could go over here but it is best to go and see for yourself.

https://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/ccs/default.aspx