Compute node
A machine in a cluster that executes tasks. Compute nodes do the work; the head node coordinates it.
The distinction from the head node saves real confusion once clusters are involved: a path that works in your notebook is not necessarily readable from a compute node, which is why shared inputs belong in object storage.
Distributed computeFundamentals
Related terms
- Cluster: A set of machines, one head node and one or more compute nodes, launched together to run distributed work.
- Head node: The machine in a cluster that coordinates work: it schedules tasks onto compute nodes and tracks their results.
- Worker: A process on a compute node that executes tasks. Worker count, not node count, is what determines how many tasks run at once.
- High-performance computing (HPC): Running work across many machines at once so it finishes far sooner. The technique behind weather models, genomics, and large-scale simulation.
- ARM Neoverse: The ARM server processor architecture Eugo’s compute nodes are built on, chosen for performance per watt on numeric workloads.
- GPU: A graphics processing unit. Hardware with many parallel cores, well suited to large array and matrix operations.