Editing Windows Server 2003 (section)

===Windows Compute Cluster Server===
Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 (CCS), released in June 2006, is designed for high-end applications that require [[High-performance computing|high performance computing]] [[Computer cluster|clusters]]. It is designed to be deployed on numerous computers to be clustered together to achieve [[supercomputer|supercomputing]] speeds. Each Compute Cluster Server network comprises at least one controlling head node and subordinate processing nodes that carry out most of the work.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2006-06-09 |title=Microsoft Releases Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, Bringing High-Performance Computing to the Mainstream |url=https://news.microsoft.com/2006/06/09/microsoft-releases-windows-compute-cluster-server-2003-bringing-high-performance-computing-to-the-mainstream/ |access-date=2023-01-14 |website=Stories |language=en-US}}</ref>

Compute Cluster Server has a built-in [[Message Passing Interface]],  the [[Microsoft Messaging Passing Interface]] v2 (MS-MPI) which is used to communicate between the processing nodes on the cluster network. Alternative MPI Stacks can also be used with the OS.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 15, 2008 |title=Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 and Windows Compute Cluster Edition Operating Systems for IBM System x and BladeCenter blade servers |website=[[IBM]] |url=https://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/rep_ca/2/897/ENUS208-002/ENUS208002.PDF |access-date=14 January 2023}}</ref> It ties nodes together with a powerful [[inter-process communication]] mechanism which can be complex because of communications between hundreds or even thousands of processors working in parallel.

The [[application programming interface]] consists of over 160 functions. A job launcher enables users to execute jobs to be executed in the computing cluster. MS MPI was designed to be compatible with the reference open source [[Message Passing Interface|MPI2]] specification which is widely used in [[High-performance computing]] (HPC). With some exceptions because of security considerations, MS MPI covers the complete set of MPI2 functionality as implemented in MPICH2, except for the planned future features of dynamic process spawn and publishing.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 2005 |title=Using Microsoft Message Passing Interface – whitepaper |url=http://mups.etf.rs/vezbe/mpi/implementations/MS%20MPI/Using%20MSMPI.doc |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170604152408/http://mups.etf.rs/vezbe/mpi/implementations/MS%20MPI/Using%20MSMPI.doc |archive-date=4 June 2017 |access-date=14 January 2023}}</ref>