A login node is a waiting room with a compiler. It is not a 128-core workstation that happens to have SSH.
What belongs on login#
- Editing job scripts
sbatch,squeue,module spider- A tiny configure test, if the site asks for it
What does not#
make -jon a full application- Python that reads the whole mesh into RAM
mpirun"just to see"
Move the work#
salloc for an interactive compile. A short serial job for a configure. Scratch, not $HOME, for anything that will be written again in ten minutes.If you need a rule you can shout across the office: if it would make your laptop fan spin, it does not belong on login.
The gif of that mistake lives in What a note can carry.