Step 6: Install HPC Pack on a Server that Will Run Head Node Services
Applies To: Microsoft HPC Pack 2012, Microsoft HPC Pack 2012 R2
After you have set up a file server failover cluster, you can install HPC Pack in the failover cluster. Here is a summary of how this differs from installing HPC Pack when there is no failover cluster. Later sections describe these differences in more detail:
The HPC Pack Installation Wizard will detect that the server is part of a failover cluster and automatically guide you through the installation of the head node in the context of the failover cluster.
The Installation Wizard will prompt you to provide the names of your SQL Server instance and SQL Server databases.
You must run the Installation Wizard on each server in the failover cluster.
Before HPC Pack is installed on an additional server in the failover cluster, HPC Cluster Manager displays the additional server or servers as “Unknown” in the Node Management navigation pane.
After the Installation Wizard is complete on one server, the Network Configuration Wizard runs, detects that this head node is a part of a failover cluster, and automatically changes the available settings to support high availability.
A head node server in the failover cluster cannot serve in an additional HPC role – that is, as a compute node or a Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) broker node.
This section describes how to install and configure HPC Pack on a server in the failover cluster:
Prepare to install HPC Pack on a server in the failover cluster
Install HPC Pack on a server in the failover cluster
Prepare to install HPC Pack on a server in the failover cluster
Before you install HPC Pack, do the following:
Use Failover Cluster Manager to view the clustered file server that you configured for the HPC cluster. Ensure that this clustered file server is online on the server on which you will begin installing HPC Pack.
In Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), make sure that you have at least two designated security groups, one for HPC users and one for HPC administrators. Then, on each of the servers that are in the failover cluster, make sure that the local Administrators group contains only the designated group for HPC administrators. Remove all individual user accounts (other than the local Administrator account) from the local Administrators group.
Important
When HPC Pack is installed on the first server in the failover cluster, the members of the local Administrators group will become members of the HPC cluster Administrator role on all additional servers in the failover cluster. If you later need to remove members from HPC cluster Administrator role, you can use HPC Pack cluster management tools. As a best practice, control the membership of this role on the servers in the failover cluster by allowing only Active Directory group accounts in it, and control the membership of those groups through AD DS.
After the HPC cluster has been created, you should use the HPC Pack cluster management tools to add only groups to the HPC cluster User role, and to other cluster roles if they are supported in your version of HPC Pack. (There is an exception to this guideline, the designated “installation credentials” account that you must specify when you first configure the head node. This account is described in the “Domain account and SQL Server account requirements” section of Requirements for HPC Pack in Failover Clusters.)
If you manage multiple failover clusters that run the head nodes for multiple HPC clusters, and you do not want the same set of administrators and users for all the clusters, you must create separate sets of security groups for each cluster.
Install HPC Pack on a server in the failover cluster
When you run the HPC Pack Installation Wizard on a server in the failover cluster, it detects that the server is configured for failover clustering and presents options as described in the following procedure.
Important
Be sure to complete the actions in the previous section, Prepare to install HPC Pack on a server in the failover cluster, before you begin the following procedure.
To install HPC Pack for the first time on a server in the failover cluster
Run HPC Pack Setup on the server from distribution media or from a network location.
If you are installing at least HPC Pack 2012, the HPC Pack Setup screen appears. (This screen does not appear when you install HPC Pack 2008 R2.) Click New installation or add new features to an existing installation.
In the HPC Pack Installation Wizard, when you reach the Select Installation Type page, click Create a new HPC cluster by creating a head node, and then click Next.
You might see one or several pop-up windows. If so, use the following instructions to respond:
You might see a message similar to: “HPC Setup has detected that this node is a member of a Microsoft® Windows Server Failover Cluster. Please configure an online file server resource with the Failover Cluster and make current node owner of the clustered instance to continue HPC setup.” If you see this message, first make sure that you have performed the steps in Prepare to install HPC Pack on a server in the failover cluster, earlier in this topic. If this does not correct the situation, make sure that you configured a clustered file server within the failover cluster and you added a shared folder to it, as described in Step 4: Configure a Clustered File Server for the HPC Pack Head Node.
If you see a message similar to “This node is not an active member of a Microsoft® Windows Server failover cluster…,” the wizard has detected that Failover Clustering has been installed, but the service is not running on this server (node). Go to Failover Cluster Manager and start the Cluster service on that node.
If you see the message “The SQL Server database is not available/online…,” ensure that the database service is started, and if your SQL Server is remote, ensure that the remote SQL Server instance is available on the network.
On the High Availability page (Head Node Installation in a Failover Cluster page in earlier versions of HPC Pack), for Name of clustered instance in the failover cluster, select the clustered file server that you created in a previous procedure. Then click Next.
If you do not see this page, the Installation Wizard has not detected that the server on which you are installing HPC Pack is a part of a failover cluster. Cancel the installation and confirm that the process of creating the failover cluster succeeded.
If you see the Specify SQL Connection String for Remote HPC Database page, specify the name of the remote database server, and if you are using a named instance, specify the instance name (for example, SQLSERVER\HPCDB). Also specify the database name and the type of authentication required by the databases.
Important
If you have a remote database on a SQL Server failover cluster, when you specify the database server, be sure to specify the clustered name (not the name of an individual physical server).
If you are familiar with SQL connection strings, and you would prefer to specify the SQL connection string directly, click Use advanced database connection options, and then type or modify the suggested SQL connection string according to the following syntax:
For Windows authentication:
Data Source=<computer_name>\<instance_name>;Initial Catalog=<database_name>;Integrated Security=TrueFor SQL Server authentication:
Data Source=<computer_name>\<instance_name>;Initial Catalog=<database_name>;User ID=<user_name>;Password=<password>
where:
<computer_name> is the name of the remote database server where you want to install the HPC database.
<instance_name> is the name of the instance of SQL Server that you configured for the HPC database. If you are using the default instance, the instance name is not needed.
<database_name> is the name of the database that you created in the instance.
<user_name>, when you use SQL Server authentication, is the login name of the user that you want to use to connect to the HPC database.
<password>, when you use SQL Server authentication, is the password for the user.
To test the connection to the database, click Next.
Important
If an error message appears that states the remote database could not be accessed, review the information that you specified and try again. If you continue to see the error message, security might not be properly configured for the database, or the Windows Firewall on the remote database server might not be permitting the head node computer to connect. Review Step 1: Prepare the Remote Database Servers, and ensure that the remote database server meets the requirements listed there.
Repeat the two previous steps for all the databases that you will use for the head node in the HPC cluster.
Follow the remaining steps in the installation wizard to complete the installation of HPC Pack.
When the Installation Complete page appears, select Start HPC Cluster Manager, and then click Finish. If the installation was not successful, review your configuration.
If the setup was successful, when you open Failover Cluster Manager, in the clustered file server, new resources and shared folders will be visible. The resources represent services that are needed by the HPC cluster, and the shared folders provide access to the spooler directory, and support for remote installations. One example of a shared folder that should appear in your clustered instance is REMINST, which is shown near the bottom of the following illustration. (Depending on your version of HPC Pack, the Windows Server operating system, and your installation choices, the appearance of your settings may differ.)
.jpeg "Failover cluster with HPC Pack 2008 R2")