General questions to get started with virtualization server cluster.

Question

Hello all, this is my first time posting here in the tech net forums. I am a software development student and have been spending most of my time lately in Linux.  First I would like to apologize if I am at all not complying with the forum ethics or
protocol based on the fact that I am rushing to get this post in and wasn't able to do as much reading as I would normally like before posting. If my questions seem to be to noobish feel free to just tell me so.  That being said, I would appreciate some
help. My systems have been down now for the better part of a month with trying to figure out, not how to configure the system I want, but rather to find a system to configure and be able to stick with it without running into issues that make me start researching
a whole new system.
So for a quick explanation of what I am trying to accomplish:
I am looking to utilize the equipment I have, and put together a small virtual machine host.  The last few weeks I was working on building a Proxmox cluster which overall seemed to be pretty close to what I want, however the compatibility just isn't
there yet in my eyes for a home use server.  I am trying to take basically the 5 or 6 PCs that I have already built, and configure them into a cluster that will be able to hopefully utilize as much system resource as possible.  From what I have learned
in recent, this is referred to as a Beowulf cluster, or just a virtualization cluster.  So ideally I want to combine the 5-6 processors to form one "super computer" that will serve as nothing but a virtual machine host.  I am sorry if I
am using the wrong terms for any of this but like I said, I am just trying to figure it all out still.  What is the best Microsoft OS to use to do this?  I am currently looking at either Server 2012 R2, but I have also looked briefly into Systems
Center 2012 R2 and really like the look of this.  This is just for my personal use.  The reason I am looking to do this is that I currently use many different OSs and have many different tasks that require different configurations.  The bulk
of the work I am doing, coding, 3D rendering, video editing, a lot of Autodesk and Adobe work.  Then of course I would like to be able to do some gaming still but haven't even begun to research to feasibility of gaming on a VM because of course my main
priority is the work.  So is there a way that I can pull this off?  I am planning to start purchasing some server racks, like a 9 or 12U wall mount rack that I was planning on putting about 4 or 5 2U atx cases in.  Right now in my small office
I have 5 fully built atx towers and then multiple laptops and tablets and chrome books and bla blah!  It is just too much so I am looking for a way to consolidate.  Also, regarding the 3D rendering, if there is a way to utilize multiple processors
at once in this same config, that would be great.  I have again done some research on "render farms" which sounds similar to a Beowulf but I just need to focus in an area that I can research more thoroughly because right now I just keep jumping
around every time I think I have found a better solution.  Please help!  Thank you very much to anyone who takes the time to help me with this task.  It is very much appreciated!

Answer 1

Hello bda714,
As I understand very little about this big computing themes I only could provide you with this interesting links:
I think you are looking for something like this Windows High Performance Computing (HPC) regarding the OS to be used:
Getting Started Guide for Microsoft HPC Pack 2012 R2 and HPC Pack 2012
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj884144.aspx
Microsoft HPC Pack 2012 R2 and HPC Pack 2012
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj899572.aspx
And I could think that maybe you could find more help on this blog:
The Microsoft HPC & Azure Batch Team 
http://blogs.technet.com/b/windowshpc/
Hope this info help you to reach your goal. :D
5ALU2 !