Become a Validator

Become a validator
This tutorial helps validators and full nodes quickly synchronize with the Oraichain mainnet by downloading a storage snapshot prepared by the team. The downloading speed is much faster than synchronizing from the first block, which allows fast set up to join the network in no time!
If you want to synchronize your node using the traditional method, please follow this tutorial instead.
Hardware specifications for an Oraichain node
Please take a look here​
Setup the validator node
1. Download and run the setup file
curl -OL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/oraichain/orai/v0.41.3-statesync-script/docker-compose.prod.yml && curl -OL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/oraichain/oraichain-static-files/master/orai.env
2. Edit wallet name and moniker you prefer to create a new wallet and validator in the orai.env file you have just downloaded
3. Build and enter the container
With docker, your validator can run on any platforms. As a result, it is a must to install and download Docker & docker-compose. Afterward, please type:
docker-compose pull && docker-compose up -d --force-recreate
4. Statesync to synchronize your node
Statesync is the quickest way to let your node catch up with the network by starting at a specified trusted height and fetch snapshot data from other peers.
To use the statesync method, please run the following script:
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/oraichain/orai/v0.41.3-statesync-script/scripts/prod_statesync.sh -O prod_statesync.sh && chmod 755 prod_statesync.sh && ./prod_statesync.sh
After running the script, your node will be ready to run as a full node!
Please wait until your node is fully synchronized by typing: oraid status &> status.json && cat status.json | jq '{catching_up: .SyncInfo.catching_up}'. If the catching up status is false, you can continue.
5. Start the node in background mode
Please stop the running node and follow the below steps to start the node in background mode (this step should only be run after the your node has fully synchronized with the network after step 5)
docker-compose restart orai && docker-compose exec -d orai bash -c 'oraivisor start --p2p.pex true'
If you do not specify the --p2p.persistent_peers flags, you must add at least a persistent peer connection in the .oraid/config/config.toml file before running the below command, otherwise your node will not be able to connect to the Oraichain network.
The above commands run as the background process so when you turn off your Terminal, it is still running. You can always run them in the foreground process by removing the "-d" flag.
6. Create validator transaction
You need to store two following files: .oraid/config/node_key.json, .oraid/config/priv_validator_key.json. They contain your validator information for voting. Create backups for these files, otherwise you will lose your validator node if something wrong happens.
You can check your wallet information by typing: oraid query auth account <your-validator-wallet-address> inside of the container or through the explorer, where you import your wallet. To prevent spamming, your wallet is not activated by default. As a result, it needs to receive at least one MsgSend transaction from a different account. In other words, you should receive some ORAI tokens (minimum of 10^-6 ORAI) to continue. When your wallet has some tokens, please enter the container and type:
wget -O /usr/bin/fn https://raw.githubusercontent.com/oraichain/oraichain-static-files/master/fn.sh && chmod +x /usr/bin/fn && fn createValidator
7. Check your node status with voting power
Type the following command to check your voting power:
oraid status &> status.json && cat status.json | jq '{catching_up: .SyncInfo.catching_up, voting_power: .ValidatorInfo.VotingPower}'
If you see that your VotingPower is greater than 0, and the catching_up is false, then congratulations, you are a validator now!
Tips
You should monitor your nodes frequently. Make sure it has the correct tendermint public key to vote. To check, you should take a look at your tendermint public key in the ValidatorInfo attribute after typing:
oraid status
Please compare the tendermint public key to the one when you type:
oraid query staking validator <operator address>
If they match, then your node is still running fine. If not, then you should remove the .oraid/config/node_key.json, .oraid/config/priv_validator_key.json files, replace them with your backup files and restart the node.
IMPORTANT NOTE
YOU MUST NOT RUN TWO VALIDATOR NODES WITH THE SAME NODE KEY AND VALIDATOR KEY AT THE SAME TIME. OTHERWISE, YOUR VALIDATOR WILL BE TOMBSTONED BECAUSE OF DOUBLE SIGNING, AND IT WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO JOIN THE VALIDATORSET EVER AGAIN.
BACK UP TWO IMPORTANT FILES: .oraid/config/node_key.json & .oraid/config/priv_validator_key.json. TO PREVENT DOUBLE SIGNING, BACK UP THE .oraid/data/priv_validator_state.json FILE BEFORE MIGRATING TO A DIFFERENT VALIDATOR NODE
Setup your sentry nodes (optional)
This section is optional if you want to follow the sentry architecture. For more information about the sentry architecture, please click here.
Setting up a fast sync sentry node is the same to that of a validator node but without the steps 4 and 5​
Setup the sentry architecture (optional)
This section is optional if you want to follow the sentry architecture. You can set the following configurations in the file .oraid/config/config.toml directly. Some pairs can be configured through the start command. This architecture will help you connect your genesis nodes with your sentry nodes, and your sentry nodes are responsible for connecting to other nodes within the network. To start using flags, please type:
oraivisor start --help
You also need to prepare your own VPC network beforehand.
1. Validator node configuration
pex = false
persistent_peers = <list of sentry nodes with node id, private ips, port 26656>
addr_book_strict = false
unconditional_peer_ids (optional) = <list of sentry node ids>
To get a node id, type:
oraid tendermint show-node-id
some configuration values can only be changed in the .oraid/config/config.toml file, like addr_book_strict
Example:
pex = false
persistent_peers = "[email protected]:26656,[email protected]:26656"
addr_book_strict = false
unconditional_peer_ids (optional) = "014b6fa1fd8d14fa7e08c353497baa1f5581a089,bc806159212529879b42c737c2338042e396b1dd"
2. Sentry node configuration
pex = true
unconditional_peer_ids = <validator node id>
persistent_peers = <validator nodes, optionally other sentry nodes>
private_peer_ids = <validator node ids>
addr_book_strict = false
external_address = <your-public-address. Eg: tcp://1.2.3.4:26656>
when starting, set flag --rpc.laddr tcp://0.0.0.0:26657
Example:
pex = true
unconditional_peer_ids = "cc433de0f3d7e8e125ca40396e7cedb12a5d68bc"
persistent_peers = "[email protected]:26656"
private_peer_ids = "cc433de0f3d7e8e125ca40396e7cedb12a5d68bc"
addr_book_strict = false
external_address = "tcp://1.2.3.4:26656"
when starting: oraivisor start --rpc.laddr tcp://0.0.0.0:26657
You should also set up firewalls for your genesis nodes.
Please join the Oraichain validators group on Telegram to discuss ideas and problems!
Joining Mainnet
Become a Full Node Operator
Last modified 30d ago