Running MEV Plus alongside the SafeStake Operator is similar to running it with a normal Ethereum node. If you haven’t already tried running MEV Plus this tutorial should help you get started in getting set up for native delegation.

Once the node and the MEV Plus service is running, it boils down to correctly configuring a SafeStake Operator. This tutorial goes through the step by step process of installing and running a SafeStake Operator on Goerli testnet.

  1. ​
    Set firewall rule

    Log in to your host cloud service provider, open the following firewall inbound rules:

    TypeIpProtocolPortIpRangesUsage
    Inbound/IngressTCP & UDP303030.0.0.0/0Geth/Nethermind/Besu/Erigon p2p
    Inbound/IngressTCP & UDP90000.0.0.0/0Lighthouse p2p
    Inbound/IngressTCP5052InternalOperator - Lighthouse
    Inbound/IngressTCP8551InternalLighthouse - Geth/Nethermind/Besu/Erigon
    Inbound/IngressTCP260000.0.0.0/0hotstuff consensus
    Inbound/IngressTCP260010.0.0.0/0hotstuff consensus
    Inbound/IngressTCP260020.0.0.0/0hotstuff consensus
    Inbound/IngressTCP260030.0.0.0/0When aggregating signatures, operator nodes use this port to request signature from each other
    Inbound/IngressUDP260040.0.0.0/0Node discovery
    Inbound/IngressTCP260050.0.0.0/0DKG port, which will listen only when DKG is triggered. By default, the port won’t listen.

  2. ​
    SSH Login to your server

  3. ​
    Install Docker and Docker compose

  4. ​
    Enable docker service and start it immediately.

    sudo systemctl enable docker

  5. ​
    Create local volume directory

    sudo mkdir -p /data/geth
# OR, if you use Nethermind/Besu/Erigon:
# sudo mkdir -p /data/nethermind
# sudo mkdir -p /data/besu
# sudo mkdir -p /data/erigon
sudo mkdir -p /data/lighthouse
sudo mkdir -p /data/jwt
sudo mkdir -p /data/operator

  6. ​
    Generate your jwt secret to jwt directory

    openssl rand -hex 32 | tr -d "\n" | sudo tee /data/jwt/jwtsecret

  7. ​
    Clone operator code from Github

    git clone --recurse-submodules
https://github.com/ParaState/SafeStakeOperator.git dvf

  8. ​
    Running Geth/Nethermind/Besu/Erigon & Lighthouse Service

    NOTE: This step is to provide a quick way to setup and run the execution client and consensus client of goerli testnet. If you already have a node running execution client and consensus client, you can skip this step.

    cd dvf
cp .env.example .env
sudo docker compose -f docker-compose-operator-mev.yml up geth -d# OR,
if you use Nethermind/Besu/Erigon:# sudo docker compose -f
docker-compose-operator-mev.yml up nethermind -d# sudo docker compose
-f docker-compose-operator-mev.yml up besu -d# sudo docker compose -f
docker-compose-operator-mev.yml up erigon -d
sudo docker compose -f docker-compose-operator-mev.yml up lighthouse -d

    NOTE: Remember to open the 5052 firewall port for this host

    Syncing data may take several hours. You can use the command to see the latest logs of lighthouse to check if the data is synced:

    sudo docker compose -f docker-compose-operator-mev.yml logs -f --tail 10
lighthouse

    Once the data is synced, you will see output like below:

    INFO Synced, slot: 3690668, block: 0x1244…cb92, epoch: 115333,
finalized_epoch: 115331, finalized_root: 0x0764…2a3d, exec_hash:
0x929c…1ff6 (verified), peers: 78

    or you can use this command to check if lighthouse is synced:

    curl -X GET "http://localhost:5052/lighthouse/syncing" -H "accept:
application/json"

    if the output shows {“data”:“Synced”}, it means it is already synced.

  9. ​
    Edit local environment variables

    vim.env;

    Now that we have open the .env file, we will update the values based on our own configuration.

    Leave these variables unchanged now:

    GETH_NETWORK=goerli
NETHERMIND_NETWORK=goerli
BESU_NETWORK=goerli
ERIGON_NETWORK=goerli
LIGHTHOUSE_NETWORK=prater
OPERATOR_NETWORK=prater
IMAGE_TAG=v1.2-testnet
REGISTRY_CONTRACT_ADDRESS=f31605c163b54C00371b10af21E8eDa32B969F21
NETWORK_CONTRACT_ADDRESS=C1b4AA96afA5D3566A86920e69Fc6C274d54F3B4
API_SERVER=https://api-testnet.safestake.xyz/v1/# different chain has
different ttd
TTD=10790000# separated by ',' for multiple relays, such as
MEV_BOOST_RELAYS=xxx,xxx,xxx
MEV_BOOST_RELAYS=https://0xafa4c6985aa049fb79dd37010438cfebeb0f2bd42b115b89dd678dab0670c1de38da0c4e9138c9290a398ecd9a0b3110@boost-relay-goerli.flashbots.net#gas
limit. [default: 30,000,000]
GAS_LIMIT_INTEGER=30000000
OPERATOR_ID=<YOUR_OPERATOR_ID>

    Update these variables with yours

    WS_URL= #YOUR Infura WSS URL

    BEACON_NODE_ENDPOINT= # The beacon node endpoint. Depending on whether you are running single-node mode or multi-node mode, fill in the correct Lighthouse beacon node service url, e.g. http://127.0.0.1:5052 for a local node

    For BEACON_NODE_ENDPOINT, if you follow the previous step to run Geth/Nethermind/Besu/Erigon and Lighthouse and you want operator runs on the same machine, then you can use a local IP:

    BEACON_NODE_ENDPOINT=http://127.0.0.1:5052

    Otherwise, suppose the host where you run the Lighthouse & Geth/Nethermind/Besu/Erigon service has an IP 12.102.103.1, then you can set:

    BEACON_NODE_ENDPOINT=http://12.102.103.1:5052

  10. ​
    Generate a registration public and private key

    sudo docker compose -f docker-compose-operator-mev.yml up dvf_key_tool

    Output:

    ...

dvf-dvf_key_tool-1 | INFO: node public key
AtzozvDHiWUpO+oJph2ikv+EyBN5pdBXsfgZqLi0+Yqd
dvf-dvf_key_tool-1 exited with code 0

    Save the public key, which will be used later. Or you can find the public key in the “name” field of the file /data/operator/v1/prater/node_key.json

  11. ​
    Go to SafeStake website:

    • Click “Join As Operator”.
    • Select a wallet where you have enough goerli testnet token to pay minimum fee to sign a transaction.
    • After you connect your wallet, click “Register Operator”
    • Your wallet address is auto filled. You need to enter the “Display Name” for your node and the “Operator Public Key” got from the previous step. Then click “Next”.
    • Click “Register Operator”
    • Wallet extension page will pop out. You need to click “Confirm” to sign the transaction.

    After we register an Operator on the Safestake website, we will be shown our OPERATOR ID, which is the unique identifier we need to start with. We will need to update the OPERATOR ID to the .env file before running the operator service.

  12. ​
    Edit local environment variables for OPERATOR_ID

    vim.env;
OPERATOR_ID= #The Operator ID is the ID you receive after registering
the operator on SafeStake website

  13. ​
    Start operator service

    sudo docker compose -f docker-compose-operator-mev.yml up
--force-recreate -d operator

    Congratulations, now the Operator program has been installed and deployed.

​
Some final notes about Operator’s private/public keys

You can always view your public key in case you forget it with the command:

sudo docker compose -f docker-compose-operator-mev.yml logs -f operator
| grep "node public key"

output

dvf-operator-1 | [2022-08-13T16:01:33.814Z INFO
dvf::node::node] node public key
Al0wMNz3JpkYDH7HVp93dZfLMt1GJHypLfhwOWS0NwC/

It is a good practice to back up your operator private key file

Keep it safe and put it in a safe place!

/data/operator/v1/prater/node_key.json

Your SafeStake Operator Node is now configured

then you may go to SafeStake website to register a validator and then choose your operator.

​
Backup and Migration

If you are using our default settings, all data other than configuration files is stored in the folder /data. It is possible for Geth/Nethermind/Besu/Erigon and lighthouse to resync data in a new machine. For operator, it is important to always backup and copy the folder /data/operator/ to the new machine before you start operator in the new machine.

Some description of the folders and files under /data/operator/v1/prater/:

── prater
    ├── contract_record.yml # record the current synced block number
    ├── dvf_node_db # hotstuff consensus files
    ├── node_key.json # operator's public and private key
    ├── secrets # secret files for encryption
    ├── validators # data files of the validators that the operator is
serving, inherited from the native folder of lighthouse validator
client, including slashing_protection.sqlite, etc.