How to run a Validator node
Registering and running a validator node requires a few steps to be followed.
- Setup the node and wait for it to fully sync up. This node will be setup with a node wallet (not the same as validator wallet for security reasons) that will be used to sign blocks and consensus.
- Create a wallet for the validator and register it on the chain as a validator by paying the registration fee.
- Register the node with the validator public key on the chain by calling
setPRepNodePublicKey
method.
This guide will help you set up a validator node using Docker.
Prerequisites
-
Install Docker (opens in a new tab)
-
Install docker-compose (opens in a new tab) as well if it is not installed with Docker by default
Get the official Docker Image: iconloop/icon2-node
System Requirements
CPU: minimum 4core, recommend 8core +
RAM: minimum 16GB, recommend 32GB +
DISK : minimum SSD 2.5TB, recommend SSD 3TB +
Network: minimum 1Gbps, recommend 2Gbps +
External Communications
TCP 7100: TCP port used for peer-to-peer connection between peer nodes.
TCP 9000: JSON-RPC or RESTful API port serving application requests.P-Rep must allow TCP connections to port 7100 and 9000 of an external host. ( Use 0.0.0.0/0 for a source from any network )
Creating a wallet for the validator and the node
The first step is to create a wallet and keystore file. You can follow the instructions in this guide to create a wallet.
This wallet you define as the one to manage the validator, needs to be funded with enough ICX to be able to register as a validator, the registration fee is 2,000 ICX and you will also need a small amount of ICX to pay for the transaction fees.
Setting up the node
Following the instructions for creating a wallet, you will need to create a new wallet that will be used to operate the node.
Once you have the new wallet (node wallet) create a working folder in your server on a disk with enough space as detailed in the system requirements previously mentioned.
For this tutorial we will use the following folder structure:
mkdir ~/icon-node
Change to the newly created directory
cd ~/icon-node
Create inside the folder the following directories and files:
mkdir config
touch docker-compose.yml
Save the node keystore file (the node wallet) that was previously created in the config
directory.
At this point your folder structure should look like this:
.
āāā config
ā āāā keystore.json
āāā docker-compose.yml
Open docker-compose.yml in a text editor and add the following content:
version: "3"
services:
prep:
image: iconloop/icon2-node
container_name: "icon2-node"
network_mode: host
restart: "always"
environment:
SERVICE: "MainNet" # MainNet, SejongNet ## network type
GOLOOP_LOG_LEVEL: "debug" # trace, debug, info, warn, error, fatal, panic
KEY_STORE_FILENAME: "keystore.json"
KEY_PASSWORD: "INPUT_YOUR_KEY_PASSWORD"
FASTEST_START: "true" # It can be restored from latest Snapshot DB.
ROLE: 3 # Validator = 3, API Endpoint = 0
cap_add:
- SYS_TIME
volumes:
- ./data:/goloop/data # mount a data volumes
- ./config:/goloop/config # mount a config volumes ,Put your used keystore file here.
- ./logs:/goloop/logs
ports:
- 9000:9000
- 7100:7100
Run the following command to start the ICON2 node and wait for the entire ledger to locally sync up.
$ docker-compose pull && docker-compose up -d
you can monitor the process by checking the logs file that are created in the logs
directory.
$ tail -f logs/booting.log
$ tail -f logs/goloop.log
The following folder structure will be created:
.
āāā docker-compose.yml
āāā config # configuration files
ā āāā keystore.json # Import your keystore file
āāā data # block data
ā āāā 1
ā āāā auth.json
ā āāā cli.sock
ā āāā ee.sock
ā āāā rconfig.json
āāā logs # log files
ā āāā booting.log
ā āāā health.log # health check log
ā āāā chain.log # goloop chain action logs
ā āāā dowload.log
ā āāā dowload_error.log
ā āāā goloop.log
Docker environments settings
Name | default | type | required | description |
---|---|---|---|---|
SERVICE | MainNet | str | false | Service Name - (MainNet, SejongNet) |
ROLE | 3 | int | true | Role of running node. 0: Citizen, 3: P-Rep |
CONFIG_URL | str | false | ||
CONFIG_URL_FILE | default_configure.json | str | false | |
CONFIG_LOCAL_FILE | configure.json | str | false | |
IS_AUTOGEN_CERT | false | bool | false | Automatically generate certificates |
FASTEST_START | false | bool | false | Download snapshot DB |
KEY_STORE_FILENAME | keystore.json | str | true | keystore.json file name |
KEY_PASSWORD | str | true | password of keystore.json file | |
USE_NTP_SYNC | True | bool | false | Whether to use NTP in container |
NTP_SERVER | str | false | NTP Server | |
NTP_REFRESH_TIME | int | false | ntp refresh time | |
SLACK_WH_URL | str | false | slack web hook url - If a problem occurs, you can receive an alarm with a slack. | |
USE_HEALTH_CHECK | True | bool | false | Whether to use health check |
CHECK_TIMEOUT | 10 | int | false | sec - TIMEOUT when calling REST API for monitoring |
CHECK_PEER_STACK | 6 | int | false | sec - Stack value to check the peer for monitoring. |
CHECK_BLOCK_STACK | 10 | int | false | sec - Stack value to check the block for monitoring. |
CHECK_INTERVAL | 10 | int | false | sec - check interval for monitoring |
CHECK_STACK_LIMIT | 360 | int | false | count - count- Restart container when stack value is reached |
GOLOOP_LOG_LEVEL | debug | str | false | Log Level - (trace,debug,info,warn,error,fatal,panic |
LOG_OUTPUT_TYPE | file | str | false | sec - check interval for monitoring |
Registering a validator on chain
Registering a validator node by calling the registerPrep function
Once the wallet is funded you can register as a validator node using the registerPrep (opens in a new tab) function from the JSON-RPC API.
This can be done directly from the tracker, using goloop or calling the RPC method directly.
Using the tracker
The easiest way to sign this transaction is to load up the keystore in a browser wallet (Hana Wallet (opens in a new tab)) and sign the transaction directly from the tracker by login in first with your wallet and then going to the contract page and calling the registerPrep
function.
Using goloop cli or preptools
Goloop CLI and the preptools are 2 command line utilities that can be used to interact with the ICON blockchain.
These can be used to sign the transaction and call the registerPrep
function.
https://github.com/icon-project/preptools/blob/master/README.md#registerprep (opens in a new tab)
The docker container for the node has goloop CLI installed internally, if you dont want to install goloop CLI in your system you can run the following command to call the registerPRep
method inside the docker container:
docker exec -it icon2-node goloop rpc sendtx call --to cx0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 --method registerPRep --param city=seoul --param country=KOR --param details=https://yourdomain.com/path/to/logo256.png --param [email protected] --param name=testPRep --param nodeAddress=hx123...4566 --param p2pEndpoint=127.0.0.1:9000 --param website=https://yourdomain.com/path/to/logo256.png --key_store config/keystore.json --key_password "KEYSTORE_PASSWORD" --uri https://ctz.solidwallet.io/api/v3 --nid 1 --value 0x6c6b935b8bbd400000 --step_limit 0x30000
The following is an example using preptools
:
(venv) $ cat registerPRep.json
{
"name": "banana node",
"country": "USA",
"city": "New York",
"email": "[email protected]",
"website": "https://icon.banana.com",
"details": "https://icon.banana.com/json",
"p2pEndpoint": "node.example.com:7100",
"nodeAddress": "hxef73db5d0ad02eb1fadb37d0041be96bfa56d4e6"
}
(venv) $ preptools registerPRep -k test_keystore --prep-json registerPRep.json
> Password:
[Request] ======================================================================
{
"from_": "hxef73db5d0ad02eb1fadb37d0041be96bfa56d4e6",
"to": "cx0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
"value": 2000000000000000000000,
"step_limit": 268435456,
"nid": 3,
"nonce": null,
"version": 3,
"timestamp": null,
"method": "registerPRep",
"data_type": "call",
"params": {
"name": "banana node",
"country": "USA",
"city": "New York",
"email": "[email protected]",
"website": "https://icon.banana.com",
"details": "https://icon.banana.com/json",
"p2pEndpoint": "node.example.com:7100",
"nodeAddress": "hxef73db5d0ad02eb1fadb37d0041be96bfa56d400"
}
}
> Continue? [Y/n]
request success.
[Response] =====================================================================
{
"jsonrpc": "2.0",
"result": "0xe667b8de967e4c5e2cc5f4fc2775766f87517935e0875a8c4d0b9c8c2ce01846",
"id": 1234
}
Using the JSON-RPC API
Calling the method from the JSON-RPC API directly requires sending a signed transaction with the following parameters:
Request
{
"jsonrpc": "2.0",
"id": 1234,
"method": "icx_sendTransaction",
"params": {
"value": "0x6c6b935b8bbd400000",
"data": {
"method": "registerPRep",
"params": {
"name": "ABC Node",
"country": "KOR",
"city": "Seoul",
"email": "[email protected]",
"website": "https://abc.example.com/",
"details": "https://abc.example.com/details/",
"p2pEndpoint": "abc.example.com:7100",
"nodeAddress": "hxe7af5fcfd8dfc67530a01a0e403882687528dfcb"
}
},
...
}
}
Parameters
Key | VALUE Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
name | T_STRING | true | P-Rep name "ABC Node" |
T_STRING | true | P-Rep email "[email protected]" | |
country | T_STRING | true | ISO 3166-1 ALPHA-3 (opens in a new tab) "KOR", "USA", "CHN" |
city | T_STRING | true | "Seoul", "New York", "Paris" |
website | T_STRING | true | P-Rep homepage url "https://abc.example.com (opens in a new tab)" |
detailes | T_STRING | true | Url including P-Rep detail information "https://abc.example.com/details/ (opens in a new tab)" |
p2pEndpoint | T_STRING | true | Network info used for connecting among P-Rep nodes "123.45.67.89:7100", "node.example.com:7100" |
nodeAddress | T_STRING | False | Node Key for only consensus "hxe7af5fcfd8dfc67530a01a0e403882687528dfcb" |
The following guide explains how to interact with the ICON JSON-RPC API: ICON JSON-RPC API
Node Grades
Node grades are another term for node levels.
After successfully registering as a validator node using registerPrep (opens in a new tab) the grade of the node will be set to "0x2".
There are 3 node grades, detailed below. You can also check the grade
return parameter from getPrep (opens in a new tab) function from the JSON-RPC API for more info
Grade number | Usage | Description |
---|---|---|
0x2 | Validator Candidate | Register your node as a candidate to become a block validator and network governance delegate |
0x1 | Sub-Validator | Register your node as a sub-validator for block production and validation and network governance delegate |
0x0 | Main Validator | Register your node as a validator for block production and validation and network governance delegate |
Registering a validator node public key
After the node is up and running, you can register the public key of the node by following the instructions in this guide.
Final steps
After completing the above steps your validator node should become an active validator on the ICON network after 48 hours of being registered.
If you need any help or assistance during the process you can reach out to the ICON community in our discord channel: ICON Discord