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Setup

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Info

The Mainnet has been upgraded to support staking phase 1.1. You can now start to run a staked seed node on the Mainnet.

SSNs minimum system requirements

  • Ubuntu Linux 22.04
  • Recent dual-core processor @ 2.2 GHZ. Examples: Intel Xeon (Skylake)
  • 8GB DRR3 RAM or higher
  • Public static IP address
  • 300GB Solid State Drive
  • 100MB/s upload and download bandwidth
  • Docker version 24+

Default Port Requirements for SSNs

Before preparing to host an SSN, please note that these are the ports that must be enabled in the SSN:

Type Default Purpose
Inbound 33133 Protocol level port for receiving network data
Inbound 4201/443 API service
Inbound 4501 Staking API service
Outbound 443 For getting initial node data for syncing

Additionally, there are ports that may be enabled in the SSN:

Type Default Purpose
Inbound 4401 WebSocket service

Preparing the Node

Launching a seed node for staking is similar to launching a normal seed node using key whitelisting mode (option 1), with some additional configuration steps.

  1. First, please verify that your SSN meets the minimum hardware requirements.
  2. Follow the steps for launching a seed node using key whitelisting mode (option 1), except use ssn-configuration.tar.gz instead of seed-configuration.tar.gz.

Caution

Step 2 above includes generating a key pair for launching the seed node. We highly recommend not to use the same key pair for depositing stake, withdrawing stake and withdrawing reward.

Configuring Domain Name

Once your seed node is fully set up, it is time to configure your domain name to point to the address of your seed node.

  • If your seed node is not behind a load balancer, you can set an A record in your domain registrar to point your domain/subdomain to your seed node’s IP address.
  • If your seed node is behind a load balancer, you can set a CNAME record in your domain registrar to point your domain/subdomain to the hostname of your load balancer.

SSL/TLS Configuration

As the staked seed nodes are for public consumption, we expect these nodes to have high availability and be secure and reliable. As such, all operators are required to support serving of API and raw data requests over SSL/TLS.

Advanced Setup

Different node operators may wish to have a different setup to secure their SSN. It is possible as long as:

  1. JSON-RPC port (by default 4201) and WebSocket port are accessible by anyone without any restriction
  2. Staking API port (by default 4501) is accessible by the verifier to check the SSN

SSN operators are allowed to:

  • Change the default port numbers (please inform us)
  • Add a load balancer in front of their node
  • Add additional services such as Cloudflare proxy in front of the node
  • Run more than 1 SSN node behind a load balancer (these will collectively be treated as a single SSN)

SSN operators are not allowed to:

  • Outsource API service to other node operators or Zilliqa seed nodes
  • Restrict or censor any API service to the public or any region