Welcome and Introduction to HTCondor
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:index:`user manual<single: user manual; HTCondor>` :index:`user manual`

HTCondor is developed by the Center for High Throughput Computing at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), and was first installed as
a production system in the UW-Madison Computer Sciences department in
the 1990s. HTCondor pools have since served as a major source of
computing cycles to thousands of campuses, labs, organizations and
commercial entities. For many, it has revolutionized the role computing
plays in their research. Increasing computing throughput by several orders
of magnitude may not merely deliver the same results faster, but may
enable qualitatively different avenues of research.

HTCondor is a specialized batch system :index:`batch system` for managing
compute-intensive jobs. HTCondor provides a queuing mechanism, scheduling
policy, priority scheme, and resource classifications. Users submit
their compute jobs to HTCondor, HTCondor puts the jobs in a queue, runs
them, and then informs the user as to the result.

Batch systems normally operate only with dedicated machines. Often
termed worker nodes, these dedicated machines are typically owned by
one group and dedicated to the sole purpose of running compute
jobs. HTCondor can schedule jobs on dedicated machines. But unlike
traditional batch systems, HTCondor is also designed to run jobs
on machines shared and used by other systems or people. By
running on these shared resources, HTCondor can effectively harness
all machines throughout a campus. This is important
because often an organization has more latent, idle computers
than any single department or group otherwise has access to.
