“Windows® HPC Server 2008 is a cost-effective, high-performance computing (HPC) solution. One of its primary advantages is that Windows HPC Server 2008 can be deployed, managed, and extended using familiar Windows tools and technologies. This also means that the foundation for securing Windows HPC Server 2008 is the same as that for securing Windows Server® 2008, and can be executed by taking advantage of resources such as the Windows Server 2008 Security Guide.

In addition to the broad guidance offered by the Windows Server 2008 Security Guide, there are elements of security unique to HPC, and the cluster architecture can be a significant contributor to its overall security. Consider the two types of computers in a compute cluster. The head node is the controlling node, which is represented by the server that will perform all security checks and orchestrate the operation of the rest of the compute nodes. The second type of server is the compute node; this is where work is actually performed. The head node can also be a compute node, but this is usually only the case for small clusters of less than 10 nodes…”

for more information, check out the rest of the article at:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd339638.aspx

HTH,

Tom

Thomas W Shinder, M.D., MCSE
Sr. Consultant / Technical Writer

Prowess Consulting www.prowessconsulting.com
PROWESS CONSULTING | Microsoft Forefront Security Specialist
Email: tshinder@isaserver.org
MVP — Forefront Edge Security (ISA/TMG/IAG)