Validator Requirements
Elastos Supernodes are responsible for validating blocks produced by Bitcoin merge miners via the bonded proof-of-stake (BPoS) consensus model, as part of the mainchains overarching Elastic Consensus design.
For a detailed description of BPoS mechanics, please visit here.
For a better understanding of Elastos' economics, please visit the economics page.
Only Cyber Republic Council members are required to run all services! Regular BPoS operators can simply run the mainchain, which requires far fewer computational resources. Check the hardware requirements for more information.
User Requirements
This guide is mostly intended for the user who:
- Feels comfortable with Linux or similar POSIX shell environment
- Has the budget to access cloud computing or virtual private server resources, or has the ability to stand up their own server
Minimum Hardware Configuration
If you are a community validator, only the ELA (mainchain) service needs to be installed:
- CPU: 2 cores or more
- RAM: 8 GB or more
- Storage: 100 GB or more (total size as of March 2023 is ~50 GB)
If you are a CR Council member, all services (ELA, ESC, EID, oracles, and arbiter) must be installed:
- CPU: 4 cores or more
- RAM: 32 GB or more
- Storage: 400 GB or more (total size as of March 2023 is ~200 GB)
A solid-state drive (SSD) is generally preferred but not a must. A hard drive (HDD) should be OK, especially to just run the mainchain.
The disk usage will always increase because the blockchains are growing. You should keep an eye on your disk to make sure it is big enough to hold all the programs.
Reference Configurations
There are many options to choose from when selecting a hosting provider. Several instance options along with hardware specs and rough pricing estimates are tabulated below. These lists are intended only as a means of comparison and are not inteded to be an exhaustive index of all possible server solutions.
Mainchain Only (Community Validators)
| Provider | Type | Model | CPUs | RAM (GB) | SSD Storage (GB) | Price (Month) USD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS | Cloud | t3.large | 2 | 8 | 100* | ~$100 |
| Tencent | Cloud | S6.MEDIUM8 | 2 | 8 | 100 | ~$80 |
| Alibaba | Cloud | ecs.g7a.large | 2 | 8 | 100 | ~$60 |
| Digital Ocean | Cloud | Basic Droplet | 2 | 8 | 160 | ~$48 |
| Hetzner | VPS | CPX31 | 2 | 8 | 80 | ~$13 |
| Netcup | VPS | VPS 1000 G10 | 6 | 8 | 160 | ~$11 |
| Contabo | VPS | Cloud VPS S | 4 | 8 | 200 | ~$6 |
It is recommended operators explore other providers in addition to the ones listed to ensure that the network does not become overly reliant on a single hosting solution.
All Services (Only CR Council Members)
| Provider | Type | Model | CPUs | RAM (GB) | SSD Storage (GB) | Price (Month) USD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AWS | Cloud | t3.2xlarge | 8 | 32 | 400* | ~$280 |
| Tencent | Cloud | S6.2XLARGE32 | 8 | 32 | 400* | ~$275 |
| Alibaba | Cloud | ecs.g7a.2xlarge | 8 | 32 | 400* | ~$250 |
| OVH | Dedicated | Rise-1 | 6 | 32 | 1000* | ~$85 |
| Hetzner | VPS | CX51 | 8 | 32 | 440* | ~$60 |
| Netcup | VPS | VPS 6000 G10 | 14 | 36 | 960 | ~$40 |
| Contabo | VPS | Cloud VPS L | 8 | 30 | 800 | ~$25 |
* Additional storage needs to be configured when ordering
If you're unclear on the differences between Cloud hosting and VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting, this article has you covered. Both are viable options, but they come with some tradeoffs for operators that are worth being aware of.
Server Software Requirements
- OS: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 64 Bit (Intel x86_64) or newer
- Ubuntu is the recommended as the Elastos blockchain developers use macOS and Ubuntu to do the development and testing, but the nodes should run on other distributions as well.
- LTS is better because LTS has a longer product life than the non-LTS version. (See Ubuntu Releases)
- The script prefers a freshly installed OS because it reduces conflicts with the old setup. It is time-consuming to debug such conflicts and do the related support work.
Public Network Requirements
- Use the non-metered connection to prevent a high usage billing
- A Public IP
Server Security Rules
The following ports need to be publicly accessible from anywhere (0.0.0.0/0). For a cloud server, please modify the inbound rules.
If you do not need all the chains, please find a required subset by the chain name.
| Chain or Program Name | Protocol and Port Range | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| ELA | TCP 20338 | ELA P2P |
| ELA | TCP 20339 | ELA DPoS |
| DID | TCP 20608 | DID P2P |
| ESC | TCP+UDP 20638 | ESC P2P |
| ESC | TCP 20639 | ESC DPoS |
| EID | TCP+UDP 20648 | EID P2P |
| EID | TCP 20649 | EID DPoS |
| Arbiter | TCP 20538 | Arbiter P2P |
| Carrier | UDP 3478 | Carrier P2P |
| Carrier | TCP 33445 | Carrier TCP Relay |
| Carrier | UDP 33445 | Carrier P2P |