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Validator Setup Guide

Validators secure the network by issuing validation blocks and receive Mana as a reward. To become a validator, you need to create an account that can issue blocks, and the account needs to stake tokens. This guide explains how to create the account and configure the validator plugin of the docker setup. The validator plugin will then try to make the account a validator by issuing a candidacy announcement to the network. The validator plugin will start issuing validation blocks if selected for the committee.

info

Running a validator implies running a full-node setup.

Throughout the guide, we will use the CLI wallet from the iota-SDK and the node docker setup.

notation

This guide uses the following notation. If Public Key has a value of 0xff, then running the command echo {Public Key} means replacing the variable {Public Key} with its value, i.e., running the command echo 0xff.

Set Up the CLI Wallet​

1a. Download the latest Version​

You can download the latest release of the CLI Wallet from the following link: https://github.com/iotaledger/iota-sdk/releases/tag/cli-wallet-v2.0.0-beta.2

After downloading, copy the binary to your current directory.

1b. Build From Source​

Pre-build Release

If you already downloaded the pre-build release version, you can skip this section and continue with Connect to a Node

Please follow the instructions to build the CLI Wallet from source:

1. Clone the Repository​

You can clone the repository by running the following command:

git clone -b 2.0 https://github.com/iotaledger/iota-sdk

2. Build​

After you have downloaded the source code, you can build it by changing the current directory to iota-sdk/cli and running the following command:

cargo build --release

3. (optional) Copy the Wallet​

For ease of access, you can copy the Wallet that you built into your current directory or even add it to your $PATH:

cp ../target/release/wallet wallet

2. Connect to a Node​

You can use the following command to connect your wallet to a Testnet node — alternatively, your node’s URL:

./wallet init --node-url "https://api.nova-testnet.iotaledger.net"

3. Configure Your Wallet​

Once you’ve connected your wallet to a node, you must answer the following setup questions:

Not Mentioned Questions

The setup questions that aren't asked here you can configure however you prefer, there config doesn't matter for this how-to.

Select secret manager.​

Unless you have a ledger, select Stronghold.

Do you want to set the address of the new wallet?​

No.

Select BIP path​

Select Custom as the BIP path and type 1/0/0/0.

Do you want to set an alias for the new wallet?​

Yes.

Then, enter a wallet alias of your choice.

Create an Account​

Connect to a Node

The following sections assume you have already set up your CLI Wallet, and connected it to a node.

1. Create an Implicit Account​

You can create an implicit account by running the following command:

implicit-account-creation-address

Please copy the implicit address returned by the command.

2. Fund Your Account​

You can enter the address at the Testnet Faucet to fund your account or run the following command

faucet {implicit-address} --url https://faucet.nova-testnet.iotaledger.net/api/enqueue

3. Sync With the Node​

After creating and funding your implicit account, you should use the sync and implicit-accounts functionalities to retrieve the implicit account creation output.

sync
implicit-accounts

You should run this until the BIC changes from None to Some(0), then copy the Output Id.

4. Transition the Implicit Account to a Full Account​

You need to transition your implicit account to a full account to be able to become a validator by running the following command:

implicit-account-transition {Output Id}

5. Sync With the Node​

You can now sync with the node and run the accounts command to ensure an account is displayed with Block Issuance Credit of 0, which is the case if it displays Some(0) instead of None.

sync
accounts

You now have a block issuer account and can send transactions as you wish if you have enough Mana available.

Adding a Block Issuer Key​

1. Generate an Ed25519 Keypair​

In the directory of the node docker setup, you can run the following command to generate an Ed25519 keypair:

docker compose run iota-core tools ed25519-key

Please take note of the ed25519 public key and ed25519 private key and add a 0x at the beginning of the public key.

2. Select a Validator Account​

You can now return to the wallet and sync it. Afterward, you should run the accounts command to retrieve the list of available accounts and choose an account you want to use as a validator to issue validation block. Please take note of its Account ID and Account Address.

sync
accounts

3. Add the Account as a Block Issuer​

You can add the account as a block issuer using the following command:

note

The public key needs to have the 0x prefix.

add-block-issuer-key {Account ID} {ed25519 public key}

4. Verify​

You can verify you successfully added the key by running the sync and accounts commands. You should then copy the Output ID of the account and run the output {Output ID} command.

sync
account
output {Output ID}

You can find the block_issuer_keys list in the features section of the retrieved output. It should show two entries that look like these but with different values:

block_issuer_keys: BlockIssuerKeys(
    [
        0x16cbbea33ebcf2e17528737ee64b7b8290fe5c5b0d3c60a05a05bff3d2517b10,
        0x1a6709248bd6f06b103e0b3173c16c69d9a457d447409a6efc9612ffb64da964,
    ],

Start Staking​

1. Sync With the Node​

To start staking, you first need to run the sync and accounts commands and take note of the Account ID of the account you want to use as a validator.

sync
account

2. Decide Your Stake Amount​

Next, you should run the output {Output ID} command and take note of the amount. This is the highest possible amount you can stake. Decide how much you want to stake. The Stake Amount can be anything between 1 and the displayed amount.

output {Output ID}
tip

The higher your Stake Amount, the more likely you will be selected for the validator committee, so setting Stake Amount = amount is preferred.

3. Decide on a Fixed Cost​

This value is not particularly important for the Testnet. A recommended value is anywhere between 1 and 10.

4. Begin Staking​

You can use the following command to start staking:

begin-staking {Account ID} {Stake Amount} {Fixed Cost}

You can verify you successfully started staking by running the sync and accounts commands, copying the Output ID of the account, and then running output {Output ID}. You should be able to find the StakingFeature within the features section. It should show the Stake Amount and Fixed Cost you just entered. It should look like this, but with the values you entered:


StakingFeature {
staked_amount: 1000000000,
fixed_cost: 1,
...

The account is now registered as a validator. Next, you must set up the infrastructure to issue validation blocks to secure the network.

Prepare the Validator Plugin​

Running a validator requires running a full IOTA-Core node. You can follow the steps outlined in the how to install using Docker guide to setup the node.

Follow the next steps after successfully setting up the node or while setting it up at your choice.

1. Update the .env File​

You must modify the .env file in the following ways:

  1. Uncomment the COMPOSE_PROFILES line below the validator service.
  2. Set the Account Address from earlier as the VALIDATOR_ACCOUNT_ADDR.
  3. Set the ed25519 private key from earlier as the VALIDATOR_PRV_KEY (with no 0x prefix).

2. Allot Mana to the Account​

The selected account needs Mana to issue candidacy announcements to the network. The Mana must be allotted to the account. You can do this using the allot-mana command in the CLI wallet or the developer tools in Firefly. In the CLI Wallet, first check how much Mana can be allotted using sync, which shows you a ManaBalance:

ManaBalance {
    total: DecayedMana {
        stored: 1861687,
        potential: 19380254,
    },
    available: DecayedMana {
        stored: 1861687,
        potential: 19380254,
    },
    rewards: 0,
},

Set Mana as stored + potential from the available section.

Now we allot the Mana to our account. If you happen to have multiple accounts, you also need to specify the ID of the account that will be used as the validator account.

allot-mana {Mana}

3. Verify the inx-validator​

When you start the docker containers, an inx-validator container should also start. You can check the logs to see if everything is working with the following command:

docker logs -f inx-validator

If the logs don't show any errors, you should be good to go. The network will select you as a validator if your stake is high enough. You can check the stake requirements as follows: The total pool stake, which consists of your Stake Amount and all the stake that is delegated to your account, must be greater than the Pool Stake of the last entry in the validator list. Note that this list might change every epoch, so the stake requirements might also change.

You can check your Total pool stake by taking the Account Address, opening the following URL, and checking the Validation tab:

https://explorer.iota.org/iota2-testnet/addr/{Account Address}