Validator Node Specs

OpenEthereum can be supported by a variety of cloud-based providers. If you are already with a provider, we recommend launching a new, clean instance.

Minimum specifications:

• OS: Ubuntu Linux 16.04 LTS with root or sudo-user access over ssh

• CPU: minimum 2 cores

• RAM: minimum 4GB

• Disk: SSD

  • Open network ports: SSH port (default 22 TCP), 30303 UDP. For security purposes, close other ports

• Check that you have git installed git --version

  • if not, install it following instructions here​

Node setup

Login to your node to begin.

For basic instructions, see the github repo at https://github.com/xdaichain/validator-node-dockerized​

1) Install Docker Engine & Docker Compose

Installation instructions will vary based on OS. Follow the instructions here:

• ​https://docs.docker.com/get-docker/

• ​https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/​

2) Sync Clock

Your clock should be synchronized to prevent skipping block sealing.

Entertimedatectl status , you should see similar output:

Local time: Tue 2020-06-30 17:16:19 UTC
Universal time: Tue 2020-06-30 17:16:19 UTC
RTC time: Tue 2020-06-30 17:16:19
Time zone: Etc/UTC (UTC, +0000)
System clock synchronized: yes
systemd-timesyncd.service active: yes
RTC in local TZ: no

If System clock synchronized displays yes you are ready to go, proceed to step 3.

If not, you can either:

• synchronize clock with NTP servers (allow UDP port 123 for both incoming and outgoing traffic) or

• use the following script to sync with google.com:

Create fixtime.sh script and run it with watch -n 60 command in a screen

echo sudo date -s '"$(wget -qSO- --max-redirect=0 google.com 2>&1 | grep Date: | cut -d' ' -f5-8)Z"' > fixtime.sh
chmod +x fixtime.sh
screen -S time
watch -n 60 ./fixtime.sh

Press Ctrl+A+D to leave the screen

3) Clone the Repo

$ git clone https://github.com/xdaichain/validator-node-dockerized
$ cd validator-node-dockerized

4) Save Mining Address JSON Keystore file and Password

Generate an external (0x) address and name your JSON keystore file as key and save it in the validator-node-dockerized directory. Save the keystore password to a password file.

4) Update .env File

Copy .env.example to .env and configure the .env file. Define the following settings.

ETHSTATS_ID=[validator_name]
ETHSTATS_CONTACT=[contact_email]
ETHSTATS_SECRET=[netstat_secret_key]
EXT_IP=[external_server_ip]
ACCOUNT=[mining_address]

• ETHSTATS_ID - The displayed name of your validator in Netstat​

• ETHSTATS_CONTACT - Validator's contact (e.g., e-mail)

• ETHSTATS_SECRET - Secret key to connect to Netstat (Available here - you will need access to the forum to view, please keep it private)

• EXT_IP - External IP address of the current server

• ACCOUNT - Your public mining address (40 characters including the leading 0x)

5) Start the Node & Netstat Service

$ docker-compose up -d

Once docker containers are created, the node will sync with the chain (this may take a while).

To restart, cd into the validator-node-dockerized directory and use docker-compose stop then docker-compose start

6) Check NetStats

Open https://dai-netstat.poa.network and check that your node appears on the list and has >0 peers. Wait until it synchronizes with the rest of the blockchain (block number and block hash should match the rest of the network).

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