Understanding Node Template Images
Applies To: Windows HPC Server 2008
You can use an operating system image to install the Windows Server 2008 operating system on the compute nodes that you deploy on your HPC cluster. You must install the Windows Server 2008 operating system when deploying nodes from bare metal and when reimaging a compute node.
To use an operating system image, you must first add it to the image store on the head node. Operating system images are Windows Image Media (WIM) files. These image files can be created from Windows Server 2008 installation media, or from an installation folder available on the head node or on the network. You can also add an existing image file to the image store, if it is available in the WIM file format.
After an operating system image is available in the image store, you can deploy it using a node template. You can create a new node template that deploys that operating system image, or you can edit an existing node template to add a task to install the Windows Server 2008 operating system using that image. For more information about creating and editing node templates, see Node Templates.