Manage the number and availability of compute nodes in an HPC Pack cluster in Azure

If you created an HPC Pack 2012 R2 cluster in Azure VMs, you might want ways to easily add, remove, start (provision), or stop (deprovision) some compute node VMs in the cluster. To do these tasks, run Azure PowerShell scripts that are installed on the head node VM. These scripts help you control the number and availability of your HPC Pack cluster resources so you can control costs.

Prerequisites

• HPC Pack 2012 R2 cluster in Azure VMs: Create an HPC Pack 2012 R2 cluster in the classic deployment model. For example, you can automate the deployment by using the HPC Pack 2012 R2 VM image in the Azure Marketplace and an Azure PowerShell script. For information and prerequisites, see Create an HPC Cluster with the HPC Pack IaaS deployment script.

  After deployment, find the node management scripts in the %CCP_HOME%bin folder on the head node. Run each of the scripts as an administrator.

• Azure publish settings file or management certificate: You need to do one of the following on the head node:

  • Import the Azure publish settings file. To do this, run the following Azure PowerShell cmdlets on the head node:

    Get-AzurePublishSettingsFile
    
    Import-AzurePublishSettingsFile –PublishSettingsFile <publish settings file>
    

  • Configure the Azure management certificate on the head node. If you have the .cer file, import it in the CurrentUser\My certificate store and then run the following Azure PowerShell cmdlet for your Azure environment (either AzureCloud or AzureChinaCloud):

    Set-AzureSubscription -SubscriptionName <Sub Name> -SubscriptionId <Sub ID> -Certificate (Get-Item Cert:\CurrentUser\My\<Cert Thrumbprint>) -Environment <AzureCloud | AzureChinaCloud>
    

Add compute node VMs

Add compute nodes with the Add-HpcIaaSNode.ps1 script.

Syntax

Add-HPCIaaSNode.ps1 [-ServiceName] <String> [-ImageName] <String>
 [-Quantity] <Int32> [-InstanceSize] <String> [-DomainUserName] <String> [[-DomainUserPassword] <String>]
 [[-NodeNameSeries] <String>] [<CommonParameters>]

Parameters

• ServiceName: Name of the cloud service that new compute node VMs are added to.

• ImageName: Azure VM image name, which can be obtained through the Azure portal or Azure PowerShell cmdlet Get-AzureVMImage. The image must meet the following requirements:

  1. A Windows operating system must be installed.
  2. HPC Pack must be installed in the compute node role.
  3. The image must be a private image in the User category, not a public Azure VM image.

• Quantity: Number of compute node VMs to be added.

• InstanceSize: Size of the compute node VMs.

• DomainUserName: Domain user name, which is used to join the new VMs to the domain.

• DomainUserPassword: Password of the domain user.

• NodeNameSeries (optional): Naming pattern for the compute nodes. The format must be <Root_Name><Start_Number>%. For example, MyCN%10% means a series of the compute node names starting from MyCN11. If not specified, the script uses the configured node naming series in the HPC cluster.

Example

The following example adds 20 size Large compute node VMs in the cloud service hpcservice1, based on the VM image hpccnimage1.

Add-HPCIaaSNode.ps1 –ServiceName hpcservice1 –ImageName hpccniamge1
–Quantity 20 –InstanceSize Large –DomainUserName <username>
-DomainUserPassword <password>

Remove compute node VMs

Remove compute nodes with the Remove-HpcIaaSNode.ps1 script.

Syntax

Remove-HPCIaaSNode.ps1 -Name <String[]> [-DeleteVHD] [-Force] [-WhatIf] [-Confirm] [<CommonParameters>]

Remove-HPCIaaSNode.ps1 -Node <Object> [-DeleteVHD] [-Force] [-Confirm] [<CommonParameters>]

Parameters

• Name: Names of cluster nodes to be removed. Wildcards are supported. The parameter set name is Name. You can't specify both the Name and Node parameters.
• Node: The HpcNode object for the nodes to be removed, which can be obtained through the HPC PowerShell cmdlet Get-HpcNode. The parameter set name is Node. You can't specify both the Name and Node parameters.
• DeleteVHD (optional): Setting to delete the associated disks for the VMs that are removed.
• Force (optional): Setting to force HPC nodes offline before removing them.
• Confirm (optional): Prompt for confirmation before executing the command.
• WhatIf: Setting to describe what would happen if you executed the command without actually executing the command.

Example

The following example forces offline the nodes with names beginning HPCNode-CN- and them removes the nodes and their associated disks.

Remove-HPCIaaSNode.ps1 –Name HPCNodeCN-* –DeleteVHD -Force

Start compute node VMs

Start compute nodes with the Start-HpcIaaSNode.ps1 script.

Syntax

Start-HPCIaaSNode.ps1 -Name <String[]> [<CommonParameters>]

Start-HPCIaaSNode.ps1 -Node <Object> [<CommonParameters>]

Parameters

• Name: Names of the cluster nodes to be started. Wildcards are supported. The parameter set name is Name. You cannot specify both the Name and Node parameters.
• Node- The HpcNode object for the nodes to be started, which can be obtained through the HPC PowerShell cmdlet Get-HpcNode. The parameter set name is Node. You cannot specify both the Name and Node parameters.

Example

The following example starts nodes with names beginning HPCNode-CN-.

Start-HPCIaaSNode.ps1 –Name HPCNodeCN-*

Stop compute node VMs

Stop compute nodes with the Stop-HpcIaaSNode.ps1 script.

Syntax

Stop-HPCIaaSNode.ps1 -Name <String[]> [-Force] [<CommonParameters>]

Stop-HPCIaaSNode.ps1 -Node <Object> [-Force] [<CommonParameters>]

Parameters

• Name- Names of the cluster nodes to be stopped. Wildcards are supported. The parameter set name is Name. You cannot specify both the Name and Node parameters.
• Node: The HpcNode object for the nodes to be stopped, which can be obtained through the HPC PowerShell cmdlet Get-HpcNode. The parameter set name is Node. You cannot specify both the Name and Node parameters.
• Force (optional): Setting to force HPC nodes offline before stopping them.

Example

The following example forces offline nodes with names beginning HPCNode-CN- and then stops the nodes.

Stop-HPCIaaSNode.ps1 –Name HPCNodeCN-* -Force

Next steps

• To automatically grow or shrink the cluster nodes according to the current workload of jobs and tasks on the cluster, see Automatically grow and shrink the HPC Pack cluster resources in Azure according to the cluster workload.