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Validator Node Deployment

System requirements​

This document lists the minimum system requirements and recommended system requirements for running the Sentry Node and the Validator Node, which must be run on different machines.

Minimum system requirements for Sentinel Node and Validator Node：

  • RAM: 32 GB
  • CPU: 8-core
  • Storage: 1 TB SSD

For Amazon Web Services (AWS), the equivalent of the minimum requirements instances are m5d.2xlarge or t3.2xlarge with unlimited credits selected.

Recommended system requirements for Sentinel Node and Validator Node：

  • RAM：64GB
  • CPU: 16-core
  • Storage: 1TB SSD
  • Bandwidth: 1 Gbit/s

For Amazon Web Services (AWS), the equivalent of the recommended requirements instance is m5d.4xlarge.

Prerequisites​

  • Two machines — one sentry node and one validator node.

  • build-essential installed on both the sentry and the validator machines(optional). To install(only required in ubuntu):

    sudo apt-get install build-essential

  • Go 1.21.9 installed on both the sentry and the validator machines. To install:

    wget https://gist.githubusercontent.com/ssandeep/a6c7197811c83c71e5fead841bab396c/raw/go-install.sh
    bash go-install.sh
    sudo ln -nfs ~/.go/bin/go /usr/bin/go

  • RabbitMQ installed on both the sentry and the validator machines. See Downloading and Installing RabbitMQ.

Overview​

To get to a running validator node, do the following:

1. Have the two machines prepared.
2. Install the Delivery and Bttc binaries on the sentry and the validator machines.
3. Set up the Delivery and Bttc service files on the sentry and the validator machines.
4. Set up the Delivery and Bttc services on the sentry and the validator machines.
5. Configure the sentry node.
6. Start the sentry node.
7. Configure the validator node.
8. Set the owner and signer keys.
9. Start the validator node.

Note： You must follow the exact outlined sequence of actions, otherwise you will run into issues.For example, a sentry node must always be set up before the validator node.

Install Delivery and Bttc binaries​

Install Delivery​

Clone Delivery repository:

git clone https://github.com/bttcprotocol/delivery

Check out the correct release version:

git checkout RELEASE_TAG

where

  • RELEASE_TAG — the tag of the release version that you install.
make install

Check the installation:

deliveryd version --long

Install Bttc​

Clone the Bttc repository:

git clone https://github.com/bttcprotocol/bttc

Check out the correct release version:

git checkout RELEASE_TAG
  • RELEASE_TAG — the tag of the release version that you install. Example:
git checkout v1.0.1

Install Bttc:

make bttc-all

Create symlinks::

sudo ln -nfs ~/bttc/build/bin/bttc /usr/bin/bttc
sudo ln -nfs ~/bttc/build/bin/bootnode /usr/bin/bootnode

Check the installation:

bttc version

Set up node files​

Fetch the launch repository​

git clone https://github.com/bttcprotocol/launch

Set up the launch directory​

1.Set up a startup directory on the Sentinel node Create node directory:

mkdir -p node

Copy the files and scripts from the launch directory to the node directory, selecting the correct folder. For access to the mainnet, select mainnet-v1; for access to the test network, select testnet-1029.

cp -rf launch/mainnet-v1/sentry/sentry/* ~/node

2.Set up the activation menu on the verifier node

Create a node directory::

mkdir -p node

Copy files and scripts from the launch directory to the node directory:

cp -rf launch/mainnet-v1/sentry/validator/* ~/node

Set up the network directories​

Run this section on the Sentinel node and the Verifier node respectively.

1.Set up Delivery

Switch to the delivery directory and run the setup script::

cd ~/node/delivery
bash setup.sh

2.Set up Bttc

Switch to the bttc directory and run the setup script:

bash setup.sh

Configure the sentry Nodes​

Configure the Delivery services​

openvim ~/.deliveryd/config/config.toml，In config.toml, change the following:

  • moniker — any name. Example: moniker = "my-sentry-node".

  • seeds — the seed node addresses consisting of a node ID, an IP address, and a port. Use the following values from ~/node/delivery/delivery-seeds.txt: Example(mainnet):

    seeds="161c2cbe07fccc8c8a3b10ccdea608569a202c06@54.157.35.210:26656,f3f21c82c04003e3c6ee14eb4d11d5dd0b1f201e@107.20.250.182:26656,ed080edbac1a1a285d265e3e87269aea9f6693b7@54.219.27.155:26656,3114d9ebc7254a27de7092b071bd698d250748aa@54.241.235.101:26656"

    Example(testnet-1029):

    seeds="3f562eed0fcfabc848db5ebed81633e340352c0c@52.53.72.234:26656,65f774fece098327b595c971b507db24356000fd@54.176.105.93:26656,8a8944fcaddb46ff18ec59a3197af1c5763eb824@50.18.50.100:26656,7ece43f437d4dc419bdf9c09604ebed084699779@54.215.2.221:26656"

  • pex — set the value to true to enable the peer exchange. Example: pex = true.

  • private_peer_ids — the node ID of Delivery set up on the validator machine. To get the node ID of Delivery on the validator machine:

    1. Login to the valdator machine.
    2. Run deliveryd tendermint show-node-id.

    Example: private_peer_ids = "e2c6a611e449b61f2266f0054a315fad6ce607ba".

  • prometheus — set the value to true to enable the Prometheus metrics. Example: prometheus = true.

  • max_open_connections — set the value to 100. Example: max_open_connections = 100.

Save the changes in config.toml.

Open vim ~/.deliveryd/config/delivery-config.toml，In delivery-config.toml, change the following:

  • eth_rpc_url: Ethereum network rpc address. You need to generate INFURA_KEY yourself in order to communicate with Ethereum. API_KEY Application Tutorial
  • tron_rpc_url: RPC address of TRON network node. choose from official-public-node
  • tron_grid_url: TRON Network event service query url.
  • tron_grid_api_key: Tron Grid Api Key . You need to generate tron_grid_api_key yourself in order to communicate with Trongrid. Tron_grid_api_key Tutorial. Specially, in testnet-1029 you needn't tron_grid_api_key.
  • bsc_rpc_url: RPC address of BSC network node.official-rpc-node
  • checkpoint_poll_interval: checkpoint poll interval.please set this param to 30m0s.

Example(mainnet):

vim ~/.deliveryd/config/delivery-config.toml
  
eth_rpc_url = "https://mainnet.infura.io/v3/<YOUR_INFURA_KEY>" 
bsc_rpc_url = "https://bsc-dataseed.binance.org/" 
tron_rpc_url = "grpc.trongrid.io:50051" 
tron_grid_url = "https://api.trongrid.io"
tron_grid_api_key = "<YOUR_TRON_GRID_API_KEY>"

Example(testnet-1029):

vim ~/.deliveryd/config/delivery-config.toml
  
eth_rpc_url = "https://goerli.infura.io/v3/<YOUR_INFURA_KEY>" 
bsc_rpc_url = "https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.binance.org:8545/"
tron_rpc_url = "grpc.nile.trongrid.io:50051" 
tron_grid_url = "https://nile.trongrid.io"
tron_grid_api_key = "xxxxxxxx"

Configure the Bttc Service​

Open vi ~/node/bttc/start.sh.

In start.sh, add the boot node addresses consisting of a node ID, an IP address, and a port by adding the following line at the end:

Mainnet Configure:

--bootnodes 
"enode://8ef920be1d44ad7c41a517a6420e43511f2e30d1c35a4bb05954c9f413b1712dae6e9e05f56595966470506891ff05d203e233c2e8f6df8c72621537a3d783e9@54.157.35.210:30303,enode://f3a2534ac30db7387f84c1262bce9a0737c46a8b5627f8193d412a4bde415c191191bbf984f51e04e5d974e62b70fab148f38522c5e2917ca1f1860361f14cc9@107.20.250.182:30303,enode://268cc5c4062b4c30f7ae972322ec119465655d9b3f7220df4614f2890b5cef6ac350d65890f8ecebfe6c5ce0af635f7ae420db84de7677c54b35ed1ce6bb4fbd@54.219.27.155:30303,enode://a9aa7a7ec5b34485c73436d311d86c55f900db4008058231a2fd2fb8ee7ad1b68d7d5a64acbf1f62b8d5f25388b492d16befb686d6146b374a85a6ea7d5a95c9@54.241.235.101:30303"

Testnet-1029 Configure

--bootnodes "enode://2e6a732ba9d0fcf102a4f4bda7d76f28095c9f03ee56bc89dc5c2235cd527c914b6063b0c76598cc37287f0594ae4022df550c592b3ba2a56a9f02810edbeee1@52.53.72.234:30303,enode://3d7da6d583072fbbe733135047010698e8b6a24c9315ce953b09dddbfabb2476c8b720b2ff2beb2ec73ef111b691c7dcd87f5e42bcba4a7bc385b7f728b2ab44@54.176.105.93:30303"

Save the changes in start.sh.

Configure firewall​

The sentry machine must have the following ports open to the world 0.0.0.0/0:

  • 26656- Your Delivery service will connect your node to other nodes Delivery service.
  • 30303- Your Bttc service will connect your node to other nodes Bttc service.
  • 22- For the validator to be able to ssh from wherever he/she is.

Start the sentry node​

You will first start the Delivery service. Once the Delivery service syncs, you will start the Bttc service.

Note：The Delivery service takes several hours to fully sync from scratch.。

Start the Delivery service​

Change to the ~/node/delivery directory:

cd ~/node/delivery
bash delivery-start.sh

Start the Delivery rest-server:

bash delivery-server-start.sh

Note：

In the logs, you may see the following errors:

  • Stopping peer for error
  • MConnection flush failed
  • use of closed network connection

These mean that one of the nodes on the network refused a connection to your node. You do not need to do anything with these errors. Wait for your node to crawl more nodes on the network.

Check the sync status of Delivery:

curl localhost:26657/status

In the output, the catching_up value is:

  • true — Delivery service is syncing.
  • false — Deliveryservice is fully synced.

Wait for the Delivery service to fully sync.

Start the Bttc service​

Once the Delivery service is fully synced, start the Bttc service.

Change to the ~/node/bttc directory:

cd ~/node/bttc
bash start.sh

Configure the validator node​

Note:

To complete this section, you must have an RPC endpoint of your fully synced Ethereum mainnet node ready.

Configure the Delivery service​

Login to the remote validator machine.

Open for editing vi ~/.deliveryd/config/config.toml.

In config.toml, change the following:

  • moniker — any name. Example: moniker = "my-validator-node".
  • pex — set the value to false to disable the peer exchange. Example: pex = false.
  • private_peer_ids — comment out the value to disable it. Example: # private_peer_ids = "". To get the node ID of Delivery on the sentry machine:
    1. Login to the sentry machine.
    2. Run deliveryd tendermint show-node-id.

Example: persistent_peers = "sentry_machineNodeID@sentry_instance_ip:26656"

  • prometheus — set the value to true to enable the Prometheus metrics. Example: prometheus = true. Save the changes in config.toml. Open for editing vim ~/.deliveryd/config/delivery-config.toml.

In delivery-config.toml, change the following:

  • eth_rpc_url: Ethereum network rpc address. You need to generate INFURA_KEY yourself in order to communicate with Ethereum. API_KEY Application Tutorial
  • tron_rpc_url: RPC address of TRON network node. choose from official-public-node
  • tron_grid_url: TRON Network event service query url.
  • tron_grid_api_key: Tron Grid Api Key . You need to generate tron_grid_api_key yourself in order to communicate with Trongrid. Tron_grid_api_key Tutorial. Specially, in testnet-1029 you needn't tron_grid_api_key.
  • bsc_rpc_url: RPC address of BSC network node.official-rpc-node

Example(mainnet):

vim ~/.deliveryd/config/delivery-config.toml
  
eth_rpc_url = "https://mainnet.infura.io/v3/<YOUR_INFURA_KEY>" 
bsc_rpc_url = "https://bsc-dataseed.binance.org/" 
tron_rpc_url = "grpc.trongrid.io:50051" 
tron_grid_url = "https://api.trongrid.io"
tron_grid_api_key = "<YOUR_TRON_GRID_API_KEY>"

Example(testnet-1029):

vim ~/.deliveryd/config/delivery-config.toml
  
eth_rpc_url = "https://goerli.infura.io/v3/<YOUR_INFURA_KEY>" 
bsc_rpc_url = "https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.binance.org:8545/"
tron_rpc_url = "grpc.nile.trongrid.io:50051" 
tron_grid_url = "https://nile.trongrid.io"
tron_grid_api_key = "xxxxxxxx"

Configure the Bttc service​

Open for editing vi ~/.bttc/data/bor/static-nodes.json.

In static-nodes.json, change the following:

  • "<replace with enode://sentry_machine_enodeID@sentry_machine_ip:30303>" — the node ID and IP address of Bttc set up on the sentry machine.

    To get the node ID of Bttc on the sentry machine:

    1. Login to the sentry machine.
    2. Run bootnode -nodekey ~/.bttc/data/bor/nodekey -writeaddress.

    Example: "enode://8ef920be1d44ad7c41a517a6420e43511f2e30d1c35a4bb05954c9f413b1712dae6e9e05f56595966470506891ff05d203e233c2e8f6df8c72621537a3d783e9@54.157.35.210:30303".

Save the changes in static-nodes.json.

Set the signer key​

On Bttc, it is recommended that you keep the owner and signer keys different.

  • Signer — the address that signs the checkpoint transactions. The recommendation is to keep at least 2 ETH, 20,000TRX, 0.5BNB on the signer address.
  • Owner — the address that does the staking transactions. The recommendation is to keep the BTT tokens on the owner address.

Configuring Delivery with the Signer Private Key​

You must set a Delivery private key only on the validator machine. Do not set a Delivery private key on the sentry machine.

To set the private key on delivery, run:

deliverycli generate-validatorkey ETHEREUM_PRIVATE_KEY

where

  • ETHEREUM_PRIVATE_KEY — your signer Ethereum private key.

This will generate priv_validator_key.json. Move the generated JSON file to the Delivery configuration directory:

mv ./priv_validator_key.json ~/.deliveryd/config

Configuring BTTC with the Signer Private Key​

You must generate a Bttc keystore file with the signer private key only on the validator machine. Do not generate a Bttc keystore file on the sentry machine.

To set the private key on bttc, run:

deliverycli generate-keystore ETHEREUM_PRIVATE_KEY

where

  • ETHEREUM_PRIVATE_KEY — your signer Ethereum private key.

When prompted, set up a password to the keystore file.

This will generate a UTC-<time>-<address> keystore file.

Move the generated keystore file to the Bttc configuration directory:

mv ./UTC-<time>-<address> ~/.bttc/keystore/

Add password.txt​

Make sure to create a password.txt file then add the Bttc keystore file password right in the ~/.bttc/password.txt file.

Add your Ethereum address​

Make sure to create a address.txt file,then add the Bttc address file right in the ~/.bttc/address.txt file. Open for editing vi ~/.bttc/address.txt.

In address.txt, add your Ethereum address. Example: 0xca67a8D767e45056DC92384b488E9Af654d78DE2.

Save the changes in address.txt.

Start the validator node​

At this point, you must have:

  • The Delivery service on the sentry machine fully synced and running.
  • The Bttc service on the sentry machine running.
  • The Delivery service and the Bttc service on the validator machine configured.
  • Your signer keys configured.

Start the Delivery service​

You will now start the Delivery service on the validator machine. Once the Delivery service syncs, you will start the Bttc service on the validator machine.

Change to the ~/node/delivery directory:

cd ~/node/delivery

Start the Delivery service:

bash delivery-start.sh

Start the Delivery rest-server:

bash delivery-server-start.sh

Start the Delivery bridge:

bash delivery-bridge-start.sh

Check the sync status of Delivery:

curl localhost:26657/status

In the output, the catching_up value is:

  • true — the Delivery service is syncing.
  • false — the Delivery service is fully synced.

Wait for the Delivery service to fully sync.

Start the Bttc service​

Once the Delivery service on the validator machine is fully synced, start the Bttc service on the validator machine.

Change to the ~/node/bttc directory:

cd ~/node/bttc

Start the Bttc service:

bash start.sh