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Validator Setup

Requirements

  • TWO unix hosts, one for Validator Node, and one for the Private Fullnode ("VFN"). 0L code targets Ubuntu 20.4
  • Recommended specs:
    • Validator: 300GB SSD harddrive, 8 core CPU, 16G RAM
    • VFN: 100G storage, 8 core CPU, 16G RAM
  • Separate static IP addresses for the machines, or appropriate DNS mapping.

Firewall

Validator

The following ports must be open: 6179, 6180, 3030

  • 6180 should be open on all interfacess 0.0.0.0/0, it's for consensus and uses noise encryption.
  • 6179 is for the private validator fullnode network ("VFN"), the firewall should only allow the IP of the fullnode to access this port.
  • 3030 is for your web-monitor dashboard, so could just be your home IP if it's fixed.

VFN

Note: this node does not serve transactions, and does not participate in consensus, it relays data out of the validator node, and transactions into the validator.

The following ports must be open: 6178, 6179

  • 6178 is for the the PUBLIC fullnode network. This is how the public nodes that will be serving JSON-RPC on the network will receive data and submit transactions to the network.
  • 6179 is for the private validator fullnode network ("VFN"), it should only allow traffic from the Validator node IP address above.

High-level steps

  1. Set up a host - Install binaries.
  2. Generate a public mining/validator key and associated mneumonic.
    2.1 Generate and share your account.json file with someone who has gas and can execute the onboarding transaction for you.
  3. Get the latest snapshot state of the network by running ol restore.
  4. Start your node in fullnode mode.
    4.1. Allow your validator in the fullnode mode to sync up with the network. Depending on how old the snapshot obtained from ol restore is, this may take a while (1 hr or more). To check the state of the sync run db-backup one-shot query node-state.
  5. Start the tower app which will produce and submit VDF proofs to the chain.
    note if your node is not fully synced and if you have not been onboarded yet, you will see errors from the tower app until your node has caught up to the current state and you have been onboarded.
  6. Create VFN configs, and deploy the VFN.
    6.1 Check and update your on-chain configuration
  7. Restart your node in validator mode. You will join in the next epoch if you have been on boarded by an active validator.
  8. View ol explorer to see the state of the network, you should see your validators public key in the list of validators.

TMUX basics

  1. New session: tmux new -s <SESSION_NAME>
  2. Detach from Session: press Ctrl-b and then d
  3. rejoin unnamed session, if only one session exists: tmux a
  4. rejoin unnamed session by id: tmux ls to get the ID and then tmux a -t <SESSION_ID>
  5. rejoin named session: tmux attach -t <SESSION_NAME>
  6. kill session: attach to the session --> press Ctrl-b, then type :kill-session and press ENTER

1. Set up a host

These instructions target Ubuntu.

1.1. Set up an Ubuntu host with ssh access, e.g. in a cloud service provider.

1.2. Associate a static IP with your host, this will be tied to you account. This address will be shared on the chain, so that other nodes will be able to find you through the peer discovery mechanism.

1.3. 0L binaries should be run in a linux user that has very narrow permissions. Before you can create binaries you'll need some tools installed probably by sudo and likely in root. A helpful script to install dependencies exists here: github.com/OLSF/libra/main/ol/util/setup.sh

You can run it with a curl bash:

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OLSF/libra/main/ol/util/setup.sh | bash

1.4. Use tmux to persist the terminal session for build, as well as for running the nodes and tower app. Also this setup requires git and make, which might be installed already on your host. If not, perform the following steps now:

sudo apt install -y git vim zip unzip jq build-essential cmake clang llvm libgmp-dev secure-delete pkg-config libssl-dev lld

1.5. Create the linux user that will run the 0L services.

We will create a user called node which has no password (can only be accessed initially by sudo).

sudo useradd node -m -s /bin/bash

You can then access that account via sudo su node. Or setup ssh keys under /home/node/.ssh/authorized_keys.

1.6. Install Rust on the node user

sudo su node

# you are now in the node user
curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh -s -- --default-toolchain stable -y

# restart your bash instance to pickup the cargo paths
. ~/.bashrc

# install some command-line tools
cargo install toml-cli

Create Binaries

It is recommended to perform the steps from 1.4 onwards inside tmux. Short tmux intruction:

1.7 Start a new tmux session

# start a new tmux session
tmux new -s installation

1.8. Clone this repo:

git clone https://github.com/OLSF/libra.git

For more details: (../devs/OS_dependencies.md)

1.9. Build the source and install binaries: This takes a while, ensure your are still inside the tmux session to avoid your session gets disconnected.

cd </path/to/libra-source/> 
make bins install

1.10. Fetch the web server files

ol serve --update

# alternatively
make web-files

If your session can not resolve the ol binary source either reload the session or cd to the directory where the binaries were build (e.g. for node user /home/node/bin) and use ./ol

2. Generate account keys

Before you start: have the static IP address you wish to associate with your validator, and a fun personal statement to place in your first proof.

2.1. Generate new keys and account: onboard keygen. Run as many times as you like, and choose a mnemonic. Mnemonic and keys are not saved anywhere, write them down now.

2.2. Run the validator onboarding wizard inside a tmux session, and answer the questions:

# start wizard with template
onboard val -u http://<ip-address-of-the-one-who-onboards-you>:3030

# note, this person needs to be already running a validator, ask in the discord for their ip address. If you navigate to <ip-address>:3030, you should be able to see their validator node's health.

OR

# start wizard without template, note: assumes an autopay_batch.json is in the project root.
onboard val

2.3. Send the generated ~/.0L/account.json to someone that has GAS (the one who wants to onboard you) and can execute the account creation transaction for you.

If you are onboaring someone and receive the account.json see onboarder instructions

2.4. Backup your files: cp -r ~/.0L/* ~/.0L/init-backup/

3. Fast forward to the most recent state snapshot

Speed up the sync of your ledger by restoring a backup before starting a fullnode (next step). The following command will fetch the latest epoch archive, usually from within the last 24h.

ol restore

4. Start the validator in fullnode mode

note: temporarily: as of v4.2.8 you'll need to increase your host's file descriptors. Fix is in the works. For now: run this before starting your tmux session.

# increase file descriptors
ulimit -n 100000
# check that they have been increased
ulimit -n
100000

or edit the /etc/security/limits.conf file to make this change persistent across sessions:

sudo vim /etc/security/limits.conf`

append to the end of the limits.conf. replace yourusername with the output from whoami.

yourusername soft    nproc          100000 
yourusername soft    nproc          100000
yourusername hard    nproc          100000
yourusername soft    nofile         100000

4.1 To enable the node to run after you detach from your terminal session, start within a tmux session.

tmux new -s fullnode

# verify your file handlers have been increased
ulimit -n
100000

inside the tmux session start the node in fullnode mode.

Consider using log rotation to start the diem-node.

# create log directory 
mkdir ~/.0L/logs

# start node
diem-node --config ~/.0L/fullnode.node.yaml  >> ~/.0L/logs/node.log 2>&1

4.2. Check your logs. tail -f ~/.0L/logs/node.log

When the sync is ongoing, you'd see something like this:

======================================  round is 17897
======================================  round is 17898
======================================  round is 17899

You might see some network errors due to drops, but should again see round numbers.

This command will tell you the sync state of a RUNNING local node: db-backup one-shot query node-state. You can compare the block height with the one on the block explorer.

While waiting for the sync to complete, it is a good opportunity, to set up the web monitor (but you can also do it any time later). Please follow the instructions here:

Set up web monitor

5. Start producing delay proofs on validator ("delay mining")

Before you start: You will need your mnemonic.

5.1. Run the tower app within its own tmux session:

tmux new -s tower

5.2. From inside the tmux session, start the tower app:

(Consider using log rotation to start the tower app.)

tower -o start >> ~/.0L/logs/tower.log 2>&1

If you get an error like:

Caused by:
    Connection Failed: Connection refused (os error 111)
ERROR: could not create client connection, message: Cannot connect to any JSON RPC peers in the list of upstream_nodes in 0L.toml

Change the upstream_nodes in your ~/.0L/0L.toml to upstream_nodes = ["http://localhost:8080/"]

6. Create VFN config and deploy the VFN

6.1 Follow step 1 to set up a new host and install binaries

6.2 Fast Forward to the latest snapshot by following step 3

Return to validator machine

6.2 Update validator 0L.toml file

Under profile include a vfn_ip field, with the IP address. This will simplify and correctly display networking addresses for the info helpers.

[profile]
account = "foo"
auth_key = "bar"
statement = "baz"
ip = "127.0.0.1"
# NEW FIELD HERE:
vfn_ip = "x.y.z.0"

6.3 Create your VFN configs on validator, and deploy on VFN.

# On your validator (or wherever your key_store.json lives)
# create settings for the VFN, private fullnode
ol init --vfn

# now copy the vfn.node.yaml file to your VFN machine

6.4 Check and update your on-chain configuration on validator node

More details here: Check and change your on-chain config

# what are your keys
ol whoami

# do your keys match what your node is using
ol whoami --check-yaml <path/to/node.yaml>

# what are your current on-chain configs
ol query --val-config

# Update your configs based on what your mnemonic uses
# Note the `-o` which means you are sending this from the "operator" account.
txs -o val-config --val-ip <IP> --vfn-ip <OTHER IP>


# check if those changes persisted and if they are able to be read.
ol query --val-config
4.1 To enable the node to run after you detach from your terminal session, start within a 
`tmux` session.

**note**: temporarily: as of v4.2.8 you'll need to increase your host's file descriptors. Fix is in the works. For now:
run this before starting your `tmux` session.

Return to VFN

6.5 Configure and start VFN

# increase file d
escriptors
ulimit -n 100000
#### check that they have been increased
ulimit -n
100000

or edit the /etc/security/limits.conf file to make this change persistent across sessions:

sudo vim /etc/security/limits.conf`

append to the end of the limits.conf. replace yourusername with the output from whoami.

yourusername soft    nproc          100000 
yourusername soft    nproc          100000
yourusername hard    nproc          100000
yourusername soft    nofile         100000

start your VFN in a tmux session.

tmux new -s vfn

# verify your file handlers have been increased
ulimit -n
100000

inside the tmux session start the VFN in VFN mode.

Consider using log rotation to start the diem-node.

# create log directory 
mkdir ~/.0L/logs

# start node 
diem-node --config ~/.0L/vfn.node.yaml  >> ~/.0L/logs/node.log 2>&1

6.6 Check your logs. tail -f ~/.0L/logs/node.log

When the sync is ongoing, you'd see something like this:

======================================  round is 17897
======================================  round is 17898
======================================  round is 17899

You might see some network errors due to drops, but should again see round numbers.

This command will tell you the sync state of a RUNNING local node: db-backup one-shot query node-state

‼️ You must be onboarded by an existing validator to continue

To become a validator a user must display an intention to contribute to the ecosystem. This can be done by many different ways like building tools, helping out the ecosystem and more. If you would like to contribute reach out the the Hustle Karma channel in Discord. When a validator is ready to onboard you they can do it by the following command:

txs create-validator -u http://[your-ip-address]

Currently you need 4 validators to vote for you (your onboading partner included), you can kindly ask in the validator-onboarding discord channel.

7. Restart validator node in validator mode

Once the network is in sync, sufficient mining has been done (8 proofs per epoch/day) and you received the 4 vouches, you are eligible to enter the validator set.

Once in the validator set, the node can connect to other validators and sign blocks.

7.1. On the next epoch, start node in validator mode.

Restarting your node in validator mode inside a tmux session.

Again, there may be an issue with file descriptors, increase with ulimit -n 100000 before starting node

# stop diem node daemon
make stop
# and just in case, stop all processes
killall diem-node

start a tmux session

tmux new -s validator

optionally increase file descriptors limit, temporary fix for v4.2.8

ulimit -n 100000

then restart node with (consider using log rotation to start the diem-node)

diem-node --config  ~/.0L/validator.node.yaml >> ~/.0L/logs/validator.log 2>&1

7.2 Restart the tower app after your validator is running, refer to Step 5 - Ctrl + C and restart it.

Once you have been on boarded you should see you public key in the list of validators. Run the web monitor to view:

ol serve -c

Log Rotation

The size of the log files from the diem-node and the tower app can increase very fast. Please consider using log rotation. You can establish this for example with logrotate or multilog.

Here is an example how you can establish log rotation with multilog for the diem-node and the tower app. Note: This only works on debian based systems, but ubuntu is recommended for this setup anyways.

  1. Install daemontools (multilog is a part of daemontools): apt-get install daemontools

  2. Example on how to start the diem-node in fullnode mode with log rotation:

    diem-node --config ~/.0L/fullnode.node.yaml 2>&1 | multilog s104857600 n10 ~/.0L/logs/node

    This means the logs will be written to a folder ~/.0L/logs/node. Everytime the current log file reaches the max size of 100MB (s104857600 => 104857600 Bytes) it will be rotated. After 10 rotations n10 it will be deleted. This means only the latest 1GB of log entries are constantly available on the server. Of course you can vary this settings to fit your specific needs.

  3. Example on how to start the tower app with log rotation:

    tower -o start 2>&1 | multilog s104857600 n10 ~/.0L/logs/tower

[Optional] Establish metric exporter for centralized monitoring

There is a centralized prometheus-grafana based monitoring stack you can connect with as a validator. To set it up follow the instructions on this page.

Note: For the monitoring the ports 9100, 9101 and 9102 should be open for the static IP address of the central prometheus node. You can find this IP also in the [set up instructions](on this page).

Onboarder Troubleshooting

If you are having troubles onboarding, please see whether they match any of the issues here: troubleshooting onboarding

Onboarder instructions

If you are onboarding someone and have received their account.json file

  1. Copy the account.json to your local node.
  2. Submit a tx with txs app: `txs create-validator --account-file <path/to/account.json>

Troubleshooting: If there is an issue with sequence_number out of sync. Retry the transaction.

Troubleshooting

cargo or rust are not installed

After rust and cargo are installed you are prompted to set a PATH environment variable. Follow those instructions or reset your terminal.

rust config instructions

To configure your current shell, run:

source $HOME/.cargo/env