What Interactive Jobs Do

Instead of submitting a batch script, interactive jobs give you a live shell on a compute node. This lets you try commands, load modules, and run programs in real time.

Starting an Interactive Job

Use the srun command with --pty bash to open an interactive session:

srun -p queue_name --pty bash

Replace queue_name with the partition you want (e.g., short-40core, gpu).

You can also request resources, for example:

srun -p short-40core -N 1 -n 40 --time=01:00:00 --pty bash

This starts an interactive job on one node with 40 cores and a 1-hour limit.

Tips and Notes

• Always request only the resources you need.
• Interactive jobs are best for testing or short runs. Use batch scripts for long jobs.
• When finished, type exit to leave the interactive session and free resources.