Join cyber as a Validator

Prepare your server

First, you should set up a server. Your node should be online constantly. This means that you will need a reliable server. You may also consider using any cloud service with a dedicated GPU, like Hetzner, Cherryservers etc. (or use a local machine). Whatever you choose, in order to achieve better stability and consistency we recommend you use a dedicated server for each validator node.

Cyber is based on Cosmos-SDK and is written in Go. It should work on any platform which can compile and run programs in Go. We strongly recommend running the validator node on a Linux-based server.

Cyber-rank computations are performed on GPU, so it is required to have it (GPU) on-board your node.

Recommended hardware setup:

CPU: 6 cores
RAM: 32 GB
SSD: 1 TB
Connection: 50+Mbps, Stable and low-latency connection
GPU: Nvidia GeForce (or Tesla/Titan/Quadro) with CUDA-cores; 4+ Gb of video memory*
Software: Ubuntu  20.04 LTS / 22.04 LTS

Cyber runs well on consumer-grade cards like Geforce GTX 1070, but we expect load growth and advise you use Error Correction compatible cards from Tesla or Quadro families. Also, make sure your card is compatible with >= v.410 of NVIDIA driver.

Of course the hardware is your own choice and technically it might be possible to run the node on "even - 1 CUDA core GPU", but you should be aware of performance drop and rank calculation speed decline.

Node setup

To avoid possible misconfiguration issues and simplify the setup of $ENV, we recommend to perform all the commands as root (here root - is literally root, not just a user with root priveliges). For the case of a dedicated server for cybernode it should be concidered as ok from the security side.

Third-party software

The main distribution unit for Cyber is a docker container. All images are located in the default Dockerhub registry. In order to access the GPU from the container, Nvidia driver version 410+ and Nvidia docker runtime should be installed on the host system.

All commands below suppose amd64 architecture, as the different architectures commands may differ accordingly.

Docker installation

Simply copy the commands below and paste into CLI.

Update the apt package index:

sudo apt-get update

Install packages to allow apt to use a repository over HTTPS:

sudo apt install -y \
     apt-transport-https \
     ca-certificates \
     curl \
     gnupg-agent \
     software-properties-common

Add Docker’s official GPG key:

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo apt-key add -

sudo add-apt-repository \
   "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
   $(lsb_release -cs) \
   stable"

Update the apt package index:

sudo apt update

Install the latest version of Docker CE and containerd:

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

Installing Nvidia drivers

To proceed, first add the ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa

sudo apt update

Install Ubuntu-drivers:

sudo apt install -y ubuntu-drivers-common

Next check what are recommended drivers for your card:

ubuntu-drivers devices

You should see something similar to this:

== /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.0 ==
modalias : pci:v000010DEd00001BA1sv00001462sd000011E4bc03sc00i00
vendor   : NVIDIA Corporation
model    : GP104M [GeForce GTX 1070 Mobile]
driver   : nvidia-driver-418 - third-party free
driver   : nvidia-driver-430 - third-party free
driver   : nvidia-driver-440 - third-party free
driver   : nvidia-driver-460 - third-party free recommended
driver   : xserver-xorg-video-nouveau - distro free builtin

We need the 410+ drivers release, up to v515 is tested. As you can see the v460 is recommended. The command below will install the recommended version of the drivers:

sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall

To install specific version of a driver use sudo apt install nvidia-driver-460

The driver installation takes approximately 10 minutes.

DKMS: install completed.
Setting up libxdamage1:i386 (1:1.1.4-3) ...
Setting up libxext6:i386 (2:1.3.3-1) ...
Setting up libxfixes3:i386 (1:5.0.3-1) ...
Setting up libnvidia-decode-415:i386 (460.84-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1) ...
Setting up build-essential (12.4ubuntu1) ...
Setting up libnvidia-gl-415:i386 (460.84-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1) ...
Setting up libnvidia-encode-415:i386 (460.84-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1) ...
Setting up nvidia-driver-415 (460.84-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1) ...
Setting up libxxf86vm1:i386 (1:1.1.4-1) ...
Setting up libglx-mesa0:i386 (18.0.5-0ubuntu0~18.04.1) ...
Setting up libglx0:i386 (1.0.0-2ubuntu2.2) ...
Setting up libgl1:i386 (1.0.0-2ubuntu2.2) ...
Setting up libnvidia-ifr1-415:i386 (460.84-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1) ...
Setting up libnvidia-fbc1-415:i386 (460.84-0ubuntu0~gpu18.04.1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.27-3ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.130ubuntu3.1) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-45-generic

Reboot the system for the changes to take effect.

sudo reboot

Check the installed drivers:

nvidia-smi

You should see this: (Some version/driver numbers might differ. You might also have some processes already running)

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 460.84       Driver Version: 460.84       CUDA Version: 11.2     |
|-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name        Persistence-M| Bus-Id        Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp  Perf  Pwr:Usage/Cap|         Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|===============================+======================+======================|
|   0  GeForce GTX 1070    Off  | 00000000:01:00.0 Off |                  N/A |
| 26%   36C    P5    26W / 180W |      0MiB /  8119MiB |      2%      Default |
+-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Processes:                                                       GPU Memory |
|  GPU       PID   Type   Process name                             Usage      |
|=============================================================================|
|  No running processes found                                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Install Nvidia container runtime for docker

Add package repositories:

distribution=$(. /etc/os-release;echo $ID$VERSION_ID)

curl -s -L https://nvidia.github.io/nvidia-docker/gpgkey | sudo apt-key add -

curl -s -L https://nvidia.github.io/nvidia-docker/$distribution/nvidia-docker.list | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nvidia-docker.list

You should see something like this:

deb https://nvidia.github.io/libnvidia-container/ubuntu20.04/$(ARCH) /
deb https://nvidia.github.io/nvidia-container-runtime/ubuntu20.04/$(ARCH) /
deb https://nvidia.github.io/nvidia-docker/ubuntu20.04/$(ARCH) /

Install nvidia-container toolkit and reload the Docker daemon configuration

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y nvidia-container-toolkit

sudo systemctl restart docker

Test nvidia-smi with the latest official CUDA image

docker run --gpus all nvidia/cuda:11.4.0-base nvidia-smi

Output logs should coincide as earlier:

Unable to find image 'nvidia/cuda:11.4.0-base' locally
11.1-base: Pulling from nvidia/cuda
54ee1f796a1e: Pull complete 
f7bfea53ad12: Pull complete 
46d371e02073: Pull complete 
b66c17bbf772: Pull complete 
3642f1a6dfb3: Pull complete 
e5ce55b8b4b9: Pull complete 
155bc0332b0a: Pull complete 
Digest: sha256:774ca3d612de15213102c2dbbba55df44dc5cf9870ca2be6c6e9c627fa63d67a
Status: Downloaded newer image for nvidia/cuda:11.2.0-base-ubuntu20.04
Mon Jun 21 14:07:52 2021 
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|NVIDIA-SMI 460.84      Driver Version:460.84      CUDA Version: 11.4    |
|-----------------------------+--------------------+---------------------+
|GPU  Name       Persistence-M| Bus-Id       Disp.A| Volatile Uncorr. ECC|
|Fan  Temp  Perf Pwr:Usage/Cap|        Memory-Usage| GPU-Util  Compute M.|
|                             |                    |               MIG M.|
|=============================+====================+=====================|
|  0  GeForce GTX165...  Off  |00000000:01:00.0 Off|                  N/A|
|N/A   47C    P0   16W /  N/A |      0MB /  3914MiB|      0%      Default|
|                             |                    |                  N/A|
+-----------------------------+--------------------+---------------------+
                                                                       
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Processes:                                                              |
| GPU   GI   CI       PID   Type   Process name                GPU Memory|
|       ID   ID                                                Usage     |
|========================================================================|
| No running processes found                                             |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Your machine is ready to launch the node.

Launching cyber fullnode

Make a directory tree for storing your daemon:

mkdir $HOME/.cyber
mkdir $HOME/.cyber/data
mkdir $HOME/.cyber/config

Run the full node: (This will pull and extract the image from cyberd/cyber of latest version, containing all upgrades binaries)

docker run -d --gpus all --name=bostrom --restart always -p 26656:26656 -p 26657:26657 -p 1317:1317 -e ALLOW_SEARCH=true -v $HOME/.cyber:/root/.cyber  cyberd/bostrom:v3.0.0-cuda11.4

Docker image already contain all binaries to either sync from 0 or start form snapshot.

Setup some peers to persistent_peers and seeds to $HOME/.cyber/config/config.toml line 184:

# Comma separated list of seed nodes to connect to
seeds = ""

# Comma separated list of nodes to keep persistent connections to
persistent_peers = ""

For peers addresses please refer to appropriate section of the networks repo.

To speed-up sync use chain snapshot (check for most recent pinned snap in Hall of Fame). Download the snapshot, unpack it and replace your node .cyber/data and .cyber/wasm folders to one's from snapshot.

wget https://link_to_actual_snapshot:bostrom_pruned_4302990.tar.gz
tar -I pigz -xf bostrom_pruned_4302990.tar.gz -C $HOME/.cyber
rm -rf $HOME/.cyber/data $HOME/.cyber/wasm
cp bostrom_pruned_4302990/* $HOME/.cyber

Also adjust your config .cyber/config/app.toml pruning stratege to be similar with snapshot you've selected (pruning = "everything" for pruned snapshot, pruning = "nothing" for archive)

nano $HOME/.cyber/config/app.toml
set line 17 `pruning = "everything"`

If you would like to sync all the way from the bottom - you may just fill the peers and let thing spin, upgrade block would be handled automatically.

To apply config changes restart the container:

docker restart bostrom

Then check the status of your node:

docker exec bostrom cyber status

A possible output may look like this:

{"NodeInfo":{"protocol_version":{"p2p":"8","block":"11","app":"0"},"id":"808a3773d8adabc78bca6ef8d6b2ee20456bfbcb","listen_addr":"tcp://86.57.207.105:26656","network":"bostrom","version":"","channels":"40202122233038606100","moniker":"node1234","other":
{"tx_index":"on","rpc_address":"tcp://0.0.0.0:26657"}},"SyncInfo":{"latest_block_hash":"241BA3E744A9024A2D04BDF4CE7CF4985D7922054B38AF258712027D0854E930","latest_app_hash":"5BF4B64508A95984F017BD6C29012FE5E66ADCB367D06345EE1EB2ED18314437","latest_block_height":"521",
"latest_block_time":"2021-06-21T14:21:41.817756021Z","earliest_block_hash":"98DD3065543108F5EBEBC45FAAAEA868B3C84426572BE9FDA2E3F1C49A2C0CE8","earliest_app_hash":"E3B0C44298FC1C149AFBF4C8996FB92427AE41E4649B934CA495991B7852B855","earliest_block_height":"1",
"earliest_block_time":"2021-06-10T00:00:00Z","catching_up":false},"ValidatorInfo":{"Address":"611C9F3568E7341155DBF0546795BF673FD84EB1","PubKey":{"type":"tendermint/PubKeyEd25519","value":"0iGriT3gyRJXQXR/98c+2MTAhChIo5F5v7FfPmOAH5o="},"VotingPower":"0"}}

To check container logs use:

docker logs bostrom -f --tail 10

Validator start

After your node has successfully synced, you can run a validator.

Prepare the staking address

To proceed further you need to add your existing address to the node or generate one and fund it.

To create a new one use:

docker exec -ti bostrom cyber keys add <your_key_name>

The above command returns the address, the public key and the seed phrase, which you can use to recover your account if you forget your password later.

Keep you seed phrase safe. Your keys are only your responsibility!

To import existing address use:

docker exec -ti bostrom cyber keys add <your_key_name> --recover

You can use your ledger device with the Cosmos app installed on it to sign transactions. Add address from Ledger:

docker exec -ti bostrom cyber keys add <your_key_name> --ledger

<your_key_name> is any name you pick to represent this key pair. You have to refer to that name later when you use cli to sign transactions.

Send the create validator transaction

Validators are actors on the network committing new blocks by submitting their votes. This refers to the node itself, not a single person or a single account.

The next step is to declare a validator candidate. To declare a validator candidate, run the following command adjusting the stake amount and the other fields:

docker exec -ti bostrom cyber tx staking create-validator \
  --amount=10000000boot \
  --min-self-delegation "1000000" \
  --pubkey=$(docker exec -ti bostrom cyber tendermint show-validator) \
  --moniker=<your_node_nickname> \
  --from=<your_key_name> \
  --commission-rate="0.10" \
  --commission-max-rate="0.20" \
  --commission-max-change-rate="0.01" \
  --chain-id=bostrom \
  --gas-prices=0.01boot \
  --gas=600000

Verify that you are validating

docker exec -ti bostrom cyber query staking validators

If you see your <your_node_nickname> with the status Bonded and Jailed false everything is good. You are validating the network.

Maintenance of the validator

Jailing

If your validator got under slashing conditions, it will be jailed. After such an event an operator must unjail the validator manually:

docker exec -ti bostrom cyber tx slashing unjail --from=<your_key_name> --chain-id=bostrom --gas-prices=0.01boot --gas=300000

Back-up validator keys (!)

Your identity as a validator consists of two things:

your account (to sign transactions)
your validator private key (to sign stuff on the chain consensus layer)

Please back up $HOME/.cyber/config/priv_validator_key.json along with your seed phrase. In case of occasional node loss you would be able to restore your validator operation with this file and another full node.

Finally, in case you want to keep your cyber node ID consistent during networks please backup $HOME/.cyber/config/node_key.json.

Rebase to snapshot

You can use a snapshot to start a node from scratch, as well as to reduce its disk space.
Please check the latest snapshot here.

Download snapshot

wget https://snapshot.cybernode.ai/bostrom_pruned_<*>.tar

Stop your node

docker stop bostrom

Replace data folder to snapshot

sudo -H rm -r ~/.cyber/data/ ~/.cyber/wasm/
tar -xf bostrom_pruned_<*>.tar -C ~/.cyber/

Start node

docker start bostrom

Check node status and logs after startup

docker exec -ti bostrom cyber status
docker logs bostrom -f --tail 20

go-cyber/docs/run_validator.md