Become a Validator
Before running validators on your node, make sure your node is running and working correctly. For more information, check the Run a node page.
Setup Validator
cd lukso-l16-testnet
sudo lukso network validator setup
This will create a key store and a transaction wallet. The purpose of the transaction wallet is to call and pay for the deposit transaction.
Fill in a password and save it somewhere.
Never delete the following files if you have deposited your validators: keystore, transaction_wallet and deposit_data.json.
Amount of validators
Make a choice how many validators you want to run, for every validator you need to have 220 LYXt
Mnemonic
If this is the first time you set up your validators, choose to not use an existing Mnemonic.
Choose to create a separate withdraw Mnemonic.
The Mnemonics will appear in your node_config.yaml file.
Open your node_config.yaml
nano node_config.yaml
Copy your Mnemonics and store them somewhere safe and offline.
Check your balance
Check if the wallet has enough funds:
lukso network validator describe
Visit the Faucet and paste the transaction wallet public address into the field and choose the amount of LYXt you want to receive.
Transfer enough (#validators x staking_amount + extra LYXt to pay deposit fees) funds to the transaction wallet public's address.
Submit the transaction
Make a dry run first
lukso network validator deposit --dry
This will give you the possibility to peek in what is going to happen without executing a transaction.
Deposit your validators
If you are 100% sure that everything is correct you can deposit your LYXt, you will lose all your LYXt if you made a mistake
lukso network validator deposit
It can take up to eight hours before your validator becomes active, but you can already start your validator in the meantime.
Once you deposited LYXt make sure to create a backup.
lukso network validator backup
Store the file node_recovery.json somewhere safe and offline.
Start your validator node
sudo lukso network start
sudo lukso network validator start
Check the status of your validator, it can take up to 8 hours before your validators become active
lukso network validator describe
Make sure everything is working correctly by checking the stats pages:
You can also check your logs.
Terminology
Validator Node
Validator Node is a combination of services and an underlying keystore that if run together are
syncing, validating and proposing blocks. In most cases it can be described as a directory that contains
all necessary information to run this node. At LUKSO the directory has the following structure:
- configs
- configs.yaml // configuration of consensus service
- genesis.json // configuration of execution service
- data
- execution_data // db of execution service
- consensus_data // db of consensus service
- validator_data // db of validator service
- keystore
- prysm/direct/account/all-accounts.keystore.json // keystore of valdiator keys
- ...
- password.txt // password of keystore
- docker-compose.yaml // describes how to run the docker images
- node_config.yaml // adjustable values on how to run the nodes
- .env // auto genrated file derived from node_config.yaml
Validator Keystore
The Validator Keystore is a directory with private key in formats for the respective validator service version (Teku, Lighthouse, Prysm,...). The keystore has a fixed number of keys. If you need to change the number of keys you must create a new keystore. There is always one Validator Keystore for one Validator Node
Validator Key
The Validator Key is a private key that can have an active balance and is used to sign attestations and proposed blocks. The key can have an arbitrary amount of staked LYX but it won't change the reward. It is possible to deposit LYX multiple time to this validator key and that is important for the case the Validator Key missed duties and lost balance.
Validator Key State
The Validator Key State is the state of one particular key. A Validator Keystore can have many keys being in many states. When firstly created all the Validator Keys are in the state NOT_DEPOSITED. (NOTE: If the keystore was recreated the state my differ for some keys)
| State | Acitvated By | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| NOT_DEPOSITED | ... | The keystore was created for the first time |
| PENDING | A deposit with min staking amount was made | There is a proven stake deposited in the Deposit Contract |
| ACTIVE | The deposit was observed by the consensus network | The validator is eligible to be selected to propose and attest in the upcoming epochs |
How Validator Keys are created
A Validator Key is always part of a Validator Keystore - as a single key or a combination of many. The keys are being derived by a Mnemonic. A Mnemonic can potentially create an infinite amount of keys. It is important to understand that these keys are indexed. There is a possibility to (theoretically) create a certain range.
Once a mnemonic is known the creation of Validator Keystores is not random but deterministic.
An Example
Given a mnemonic m. We create a keystore from position 0 to 2. This could result into:
- Keystore A
- Key0: 0x8154..12
- Key1: 0x7361..45
- Key2: 0x7481..fe
Now let's assume we deleted this keystore, and we create a new one from position 1 to 3. This results into:
- Keystore B
- Key1: 0x7361..45
- Key2: 0x7481..fe
- Key3: 0x78ca..89
As you can see the Key1 and Key2 are the same in Keystore A and Keystore B. This mechanism allows for great power to rearrange your node setup.
Node Setup Example
Let's assume - given a mnemonic m - we want to create 2 nodes with 30 keys in Node A and 16 keys in the other Node B. Given our mnemonic m we would e.g. have the following setup:
Node A has a keystore with keys from position 0 to position 29 Node B has a keystore with keys from position 30 to position 45
Now let's assume we want to rearrange the Validator Keys's by having an equal amount of keys on both nodes.
We should:
- Stop the validator nodes
- Delete the keystores
- Recreate the keystores with the same mnemonic m
- Start the nodes again
The setup could be
Node A has a keystore with keys from position 0 to position 22 Node B has a keystore with keys from position 23 to position 45
Need help?
Ask your question in the validators channel on the official LUKSO Discord server.