Run a validator and bridge operator together

Overview

This guide demonstrates how to run a testnet validator node and a bridge operator on one machine using Docker.

Before you start

Docker

Install Docker Engine
Install Docker Compose plugin

Ethereum endpoint

You need an Ethereum RPC endpoint to listen for events from Ethereum chain and send events to Ethereum. This can be an Alchemy, Infura or any other Ethereum RPC endpoint.

Private keys

Generate three private keys as described in Generate keys:

One key for the validator
One key for the bridge voter
One key for the bridge operator

System requirements

Recommended system requirements for running a validator node on the Saigon testnet:

2 CPU cores
8 GB RAM
100 GB SSD
x86-64 architecture

These requirements are rough guidelines, and each node operator should monitor their node to ensure good performance for the intended task. The size of your node will also grow over time.

Install the node

Set up directories:

Create a ronin directory:

mkdir ~/ronin

Go to the newly created directory:

cd ~/ronin

Create a directory for bridge data:

mkdir -p data

Create a directory for chain data:

mkdir -p chaindata/data/ronin

Create a file called docker-compose.yml:

vim docker-compose.yml

Paste the following into docker-compose.yml:

version: "3"
services:
  node:
    image: ${NODE_IMAGE}
    stop_grace_period: 5m
    stop_signal: SIGINT
    hostname: node
    container_name: node
    ports:
      - 127.0.0.1:8545:8545
      - 127.0.0.1:8546:8546
      - 30303:30303
      - 30303:30303/udp
      - 6060:6060
    volumes:
      - ~/ronin/chaindata:/ronin
    environment:
      - SYNC_MODE=snap
      - PASSWORD=${PASSWORD}
      - PRIVATE_KEY=${VALIDATOR_PRIVATE_KEY}
      - BOOTNODES=${BOOTNODES}
      - NETWORK_ID=${NETWORK_ID}
      - RONIN_PARAMS=${RONIN_PARAMS}
      - VERBOSITY=${VERBOSITY}
      - MINE=${MINE}
      - GASPRICE=${GASPRICE}
      - GENESIS_PATH=${GENESIS_PATH}
      - ETHSTATS_ENDPOINT=${INSTANCE_NAME}:${CHAIN_STATS_WS_SECRET}@${CHAIN_STATS_WS_SERVER}:443
      - BLS_PASSWORD=${BLS_PASSWORD}
      - BLS_PRIVATE_KEY=${BLS_PRIVATE_KEY}
      - BLS_AUTO_GENERATE=${BLS_AUTO_GENERATE}
      - ENABLE_FAST_FINALITY=${ENABLE_FAST_FINALITY}
      - ENABLE_FAST_FINALITY_SIGN=${ENABLE_FAST_FINALITY_SIGN}
      - BLS_SHOW_PRIVATE_KEY=${BLS_SHOW_PRIVATE_KEY}
  db:
    image: postgres:14.3
    restart: always
    command: postgres -c 'max_connections=1000'
    hostname: db
    container_name: db
    ports:
      - 127.0.0.1:5432:5432
    environment:
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${DB_PASSWORD}
    volumes:
      - ~/bridgedata-v2:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  bridge:
    image: ${BRIDGE_IMAGE}
    restart: always
    container_name: bridge
    environment:
      - RONIN_RPC=${RPC_ENDPOINT}
      - RONIN_BRIDGE_VOTER_KEY=${BRIDGE_VOTER_PRIVATE_KEY}
      - RONIN_BRIDGE_OPERATOR_KEY=${BRIDGE_OPERATOR_PRIVATE_KEY}
      - ETHEREUM_RPC=${ETHEREUM_ENDPOINT}
      - DB_HOST=db
      - DB_NAME=${DB_NAME}
      - DB_PORT=5432
      - DB_USERNAME=${DB_USERNAME}
      - DB_PASSWORD=${DB_PASSWORD}
      - VERBOSITY=${VERBOSITY}
      - CONFIG_PATH=${CONFIG_PATH}
      - RONIN_TASK_INTERVAL=${RONIN_TASK_INTERVAL}
      - RONIN_TRANSACTION_CHECK_PERIOD=${RONIN_TRANSACTION_CHECK_PERIOD}
      - RONIN_MAX_PROCESSING_TASKS=${RONIN_MAX_PROCESSING_TASKS}
      - ETHEREUM_GET_LOGS_BATCH_SIZE=${ETHEREUM_GET_LOGS_BATCH_SIZE}
    depends_on:
      - db
      - node

This compose file defines three services:

node, which pulls a full Ronin node image from the GitHub Container Registry.
bridge, which pulls a bridge image.
db, which builds a Postgres database for the bridge.

Create an .env file to store configuration parameters for the services:

vim .env

Paste the following into .env and replace placeholder values (like INSTANCE_NAME) with your node's information:

# Your Ethereum RPC endpoint
ETHEREUM_ENDPOINT=ETHEREUM_ENDPOINT

# The name of your node that you want displayed on https://saigon-stats.roninchain.com/
INSTANCE_NAME=INSTANCE_NAME

# The latest version of the node's image as listed in https://docs.roninchain.com/validators/setup/upgrade-validator
NODE_IMAGE=NODE_IMAGE

# The latest version of the bridge's image as listed in https://docs.roninchain.com/bridge-operators/setup/upgrade-bridge-operator
BRIDGE_IMAGE=BRIDGE_IMAGE

# Your bridge operator private key without the 0x prefix
BRIDGE_OPERATOR_PRIVATE_KEY=BRIDGE_OPERATOR_PRIVATE_KEY

# If you're a governor, uncomment this line and replace with your bridge voter key, without the 0x prefix
# BRIDGE_VOTER_PRIVATE_KEY=BRIDGE_VOTER_PRIVATE_KEY

# Your validator private key without the 0x prefix
VALIDATOR_PRIVATE_KEY=VALIDATOR_PRIVATE_KEY

# The password used to encrypt the node's private key file
PASSWORD=PASSWORD

# BLS Wallet features
# Your BLS private key without the 0x prefix
BLS_PRIVATE_KEY=BLS_PRIVATE_KEY_WITHOUT_0x

# The password used to encrypt the BLS private key file
BLS_PASSWORD=BLS_PASSWORD

# Whether to participate in the finality vote broadcast
ENABLE_FAST_FINALITY=true

# Whether to produce the finality vote
ENABLE_FAST_FINALITY_SIGN=true

# Whether to automatically generate BLS private key
BLS_AUTO_GENERATE=false

# Whether to show the raw BLS private key after decryption
BLS_SHOW_PRIVATE_KEY=false

DB_NAME=bridge
DB_USERNAME=postgres

# The Postgres database password
DB_PASSWORD=DB_PASSWORD

RPC_ENDPOINT=http://node:8545

CONFIG_PATH=config.testnet.json
GENESIS_PATH=testnet.json
DEPLOYMENT=test

RONIN_TASK_INTERVAL=3
RONIN_TRANSACTION_CHECK_PERIOD=50
RONIN_MAX_PROCESSING_TASKS=200
ETHEREUM_GET_LOGS_BATCH_SIZE=100

BOOTNODES=enode://77e9cfce2d4c01c61115591984ca4012923c29846a7b66c775fed0cc8fe5f41b304a71e3e9433e067ea7ef86701c13992fefacf9e223786c62c530a7110e8142@35.224.85.190:30303

NETWORK_ID=2021

GASPRICE=20000000000

MINE=true

VERBOSITY=3

CHAIN_STATS_WS_SERVER=saigon-stats.roninchain.com
CHAIN_STATS_WS_SECRET=xQj2MZPaN6

RONIN_PARAMS=--http.api eth,net,web3,consortium --miner.gaslimit 100000000 --miner.gasreserve 10000000

(Optional) Download the snapshot:

cd ~/ronin/chaindata/data/ronin/
curl https://storage.googleapis.com/testnet-chaindata/chaindata-22-3-2023.tar -o chaindata.tar && tar -xvf chaindata.tar
mv chaindata-22-3-2023 chaindata

Start the node:

cd ~/ronin && docker-compose up -d

This command pulls a Ronin node image, a bridge image, a Postgres database, and starts the services you defined.

After a few minutes, check the status of your node on the Ronin Network Status page. If it's green, the node is connected and up to date with the network.
Review the log for the validator and the bridge (the node should sync to the latest block for making the bridge work).

docker logs node -f --tail 100
docker logs bridge -f --tail 100

Overview​

Before you start​

Docker​

Ethereum endpoint​

Private keys​

System requirements​

Install the node​