# Host

> For AI agents: the complete glossary index is at [llms.txt](https://glossary.cncf.io/llms.txt).
> Markdown versions of every glossary page are available by appending `index.md` to the page URL.

"Host" is a widely used term in network computing. For the purposes of this glossary, 
the term very closely aligns with "node". A host is a network-accessible computer that 
"hosts" a service, application, or other infrastructure component, with the ability to send
and/or receive data from other computers attached to the same network. Just like a node, 
in [cloud computing](https://glossary.cncf.io/cloud-computing/), a host can be a physical computer, a virtual 
computer, referred to as a [VM](https://glossary.cncf.io/virtual-machine/), or even a [container](https://glossary.cncf.io/container/). 
Hosts typically have a "hostname" value as well as an IP address so they can be found 
on the network. 

How or even if hosts substantially differ from nodes is nuanced and different people may 
have different opinions. For this high-level definition, we'll treat them as the same. 
Please refer to [the nodes definition](https://glossary.cncf.io/nodes/).

---

- Canonical URL: https://glossary.cncf.io/host/
- Status: Completed
- Last modified August 20, 2025: ` Merge pull request #3524 from jasonrhodes/patch-1 ` ([3f1684a](https://github.com/cncf/glossary/commit/3f1684aebe8ea40a5725bf3e69f325e874068648))
- Source: https://github.com/cncf/glossary/blob/main/content/en/host.md
- License: [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)