Overview

Login nodes are shared gateways to the clusters, designed for light tasks: editing files, submitting jobs, compiling code, and monitoring job progress. Heavy computation should always run on compute nodes.

Appropriate use

  • Editing scripts, viewing files, and managing data
  • Compiling code and loading modules
  • Submitting and monitoring SLURM jobs (sbatch, squeue)
  • Lightweight testing or small-scale calculations

What to avoid

  • Running long or resource-intensive computations directly on login nodes
  • Starting multi-core or large-memory workloads on login nodes
  • Leaving idle processes consuming memory or CPU

Tips

  • Log out when finished
  • Use srun --pty bash or batch scripts for interactive or large jobs on compute nodes
  • Monitor your login-node usage and respect CPU/memory limits
  • Contact support via iacs.supportsystem.com for job-placement help
Key message: Login nodes are a shared resource. Following these guidelines ensures all users have a stable and responsive environment.
Applies to All clusters