Service role
A node with the service role can run application services. When you enable the service role on a node, the Service Manager supports application services configured to run on that node.
Compute role
A node with the compute role can perform computations requested by remote application services. When you enable the compute role on a node, the Service Manager manages the containers on the node. A container is an allocation of memory and CPU resources. An application service uses the container to remotely perform computations on the node. For example, a Data Integration Service grid includes Node 1 with the service role and Node 2 with the compute role. The Data Integration Service process that runs on Node 1 runs a mapping within a container on Node 2.
Service and compute roles
A node with both roles can run application services and locally perform computations for those services.