Head Node

Head nodes (also known as control nodes) are the nodes on an HPC cluster reserved for user interaction. Head nodes are usually the only nodes accessible from the outside via SSH, and are the destination of any DNS routing for the cluster. Users typically perform coding, compiling, and other simple operations on the head nodes. Processes that require a lot of CPU time or memory are run on the compute nodes instead, to avoid bogging down the system. IT IS EXTREMELY BAD FORM TO START A MULTIPROCESSOR JOB OR LARGE VISUALIZATION JOB ON THE HEAD NODE. DON'T DO IT.