After months of buying hardware, installing software, running testnets, doing worst-case scenario simulations, ... I feel I'm ready. Bring it on!
Posted Nov 15, 2020, 10:32 AM UTC
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Here it is in all its glory, my very own Ethereum staking node.
It's an Intel NUC10i5, loaded with 32GB of RAM, 500GB NVMe SSD + 1TB SATA SSD.
Software wise it's running on Flatcar Linux, which is an awesome low footprint container-focused Linux distro.
Systemd orchestrates container creation and makes sure everything keeps running.
Geth for ETH1 (might switch to Nethermind down the road as Geth's storage footprint is huge), Lighthouse beacon node and validator, Prometheus + Grafana for metrics + monitoring.
On the various testnets it has worked flawlessly, which gave me the confidence needed to go ahead and deposit for mainnet.
Feels like we're writing history here, I'm so stoked (staked?) for this baby too fulfil its destiny.
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Sorry for the delay u/hereforginger , I was called away from my computer right after posting!
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Thanks !
I never dove into this so I still have questions...
This means that you are gonna stake 32ETH or more on a wallet connected to this device, and you will get rewarded from providing to the network ?
I understood the hardware (I think) but what is its use/role regarding ETH network/staking/incentives to run it ?
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This means that you are gonna stake 32ETH or more on a wallet connected to this device, and you will get rewarded from providing to the network ?
Yes, something like that. The design is actually quite smart; the keys needed to validate in the network differ from your 'wallet' keys.
In short, staking in ETH2.0 will yield something between 20% and 5% annually. How much exactly is dependant on the number of staked ETH, you can checkout the rate/curve at launchpad.ethereum.org
If you're interested, Vitalik recently did a write-up about why and how this is the way forward to provide security to the Ethereum network:
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r/ethstaker seems to know all about this but... what am I looking at exactly ? 😅
I would presume a staking node (?) but could you explain a bit further ?
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If you don't mind me asking, about how much did it set you back? Minus the ETH you lock up in it lol.
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Sure, no problem.
NUC 350€, RAM 125€, 500GB NVMe SSD 60€, 1TB SATA SSD 65€.
All in all I paid (350+125+60+65) 600 euros. It could be done a bit cheaper now, I guess, but I wanted enough time on the testnets so I bought it all roughly 6 months ago.
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Thanks!
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What made you go with this vs a hosted solution in azure/aws?
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Many reasons really:
- it's healthier for the network
- I have a preference for one-off costs over monthly expenses
- Host hardening is less important as it's not directly exposed on the internet
- More overhead resources / no need to optimise as much (try renting a 1.5TB SSD 32GB RAM box!)
- It's more tangible and fun, to me
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How are you avoiding downtime and risk of being slashed? I agree with most of what you said but as far as redundancy, I would be afraid of extended downtime from: -loss of internet -loss of power -any hardware failure on the box
I don’t know the parameters for being slashed off hand (I think it’s under 96%?). Do you have a monitoring plan for the box?
I am interested in spinning up nodes so all this info helps. Thanks!
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Well, I keep a copy of my validator key on an encrypted USB stick.
In an absolute worst case scenario (downtime >1week, no fix in sight), I intend to either ask a friend to validate for me or spin up a VPS.
I don't know what your definition of extended downtime is, but having tested the inactivity leak firsthand I can attest that it is very bearable!
Slashings only occur if you act maliciously (or have multiple validators running with the same key). inactivity leak is very low, around the same rate as earnings rate. So as long as you get >50% uptime you should be profitable (ignoring overhead costs).
You get forcefully exited either if your balance drops below 16ETH, or you get caught acting maliciously. Both are very unlikely to happen if your intentions are good, IMO.
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Appreciate the info- thanks and good luck with the setup!
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Even though I'm not knowledgeable about these things, I just wanted to say congrats on the development! Hope it serves you well.
Thanks!
Time will tell but I feel pretty good about this setup.
Internet access and badwidth are -IMO- the wildcards, but as I've experienced on the testnets, a bit of downtime isn't that bad for your profitability.