Microsoft Windows Compute Clusters

Gigabit Ethernet system interconnect, if present.

Gigabit Ethernet switch for cluster administrative network, if present.

InfiniBand system interconnect, if present.

2.3 Understanding Maximum System Limits

In this release of Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster 2003, supported HP Cluster Platform

configurations are constrained as follows:

• HP Cluster Platform Express is constrained to clusters ranging from 5 to 33 nodes.

• HP Cluster Platform is constrained to clusters ranging from 5 to 512 nodes for CP3000 and

CP4000 models. Models employing blade and c-Class blade servers are constrained to 1024

nodes.

• InfiniBand interconnect single data rate (SDR) and double data rate (DDR).

2.4 Identifying Host Channel Adapters and Firmware

Every cluster node that is part of the high-speed InfiniBand fabric requires a host channel adapter

(HCA) installed in its PCI bus. The HCA is always installed in a specific PCI slot on an unshared

bus of the appropriate speed, ensuring system performance. For this release, the supported HCA

models are specified in Table 2-1. Single-port InfiniBand cards are also supported.

Note:

For instructions on upgrading the HCA firmware on Microsoft Windows Compute Clusters,

refer to the Voltaire HCA 4X0 User Manual for Windows GridStack.

Table 2-1 Supported HCA Cards

DescriptionPCI Bus TypeModel

Dual-port card with 128 MB attached memoryPCI-X380299-B21: InfiniBand 4X

Dual-port with 128 MB attached memoryPCI-Express380298-B21: InfiniBand 4X

HP HPC 4X DDR IB Mezzanine HCA for HP

BladeSystem c-Class

PCI-Express409377-B21: InfiniBand 4X

For information on supported firmware and stack revisions, see the HP Cluster Platform InfiniBand

Fabric Management and Diagnostic Guide. You can download the latest information about supported

firmware revisions from http://www.docs.hp.com/en/highperfcomp.html.

For mor information, see Chapter 4, which describes the GridStack™ InfiniBand stack.

2.5 Identifying the Servers Models Supported as Nodes

HP Cluster Platform hardware utilizes several CPU architectures and supports many models of

HP server. Table Table 2-2 defines the servers that are supported in cluster platform under

Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster 2003.

Table 2-2 Supported Servers

DescriptionCPU TypeModel

1U rack-mount serverIntel XeonProLiant DL140

1U rack-mount serverAMD OpteronProLiant DL145

1U rack-mount serverIntel XeonProLiant DL360

1U rack-mount serverAMD OpteronProLiant DL365

16 Understanding Supported Cluster Configurations