Run a validator and bridge operator together

Overview

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

Before you start

Docker

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 mainnet:

8-core CPU
32 GB RAM
700 GB high-speed 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.

Run 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: ${NODE_IMAGE}
    stop_grace_period: 5m
    stop_signal: SIGINT
    hostname: node
    container_name: node
    ports:
      - 127.0.0.1:8545:8545
      - 127.0.0.1:8546:8546
      - 30303:30303
      - 30303:30303/udp
      - 6060:6060
    volumes:
      - ~/ronin/chaindata:/ronin
    environment:
      - SYNC_MODE=full
      - PASSWORD=${PASSWORD}
      - PRIVATE_KEY=${VALIDATOR_PRIVATE_KEY}
      - NETWORK_ID=${NETWORK_ID}
      - RONIN_PARAMS=${RONIN_PARAMS}
      - VERBOSITY=${VERBOSITY}
      - MINE=${MINE}
      - GASPRICE=${GASPRICE}
      - 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:
      - ~/ronin/data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
  bridge:
    image: ${BRIDGE_IMAGE}
    restart: always
    container_name: bridge
    environment:
      - LISTENERS__RONIN__RPCURL=${LISTENERS__RONIN__RPCURL}
      - RONIN_BRIDGE_VOTER_KEY=${BRIDGE_VOTER_PRIVATE_KEY}
      - LISTENERS__RONIN__SECRET__BRIDGEOPERATOR__PLAINPRIVATEKEY=${LISTENERS__RONIN__SECRET__BRIDGEOPERATOR__PLAINPRIVATEKEY}
      - LISTENERS__ETHEREUM__RPCURL=${LISTENERS__ETHEREUM__RPCURL}
      - DATABASE__HOST=db
      - DATABASE__DBNAME=${DATABASE__DBNAME}
      - DATABASE__PORT=5432
      - DATABASE__USER=${DATABASE__USER}
      - DATABASE__PASSWORD=${DATABASE__PASSWORD}
      - VERBOSITY=${VERBOSITY}
      - CONFIG_PATH=${CONFIG_PATH}
      - LISTENERS__RONIN__TASKINTERVAL=${LISTENERS__RONIN__TASKINTERVAL}
      - LISTENERS__RONIN__TRANSACTIONCHECKPERIOD=${LISTENERS__RONIN__TRANSACTIONCHECKPERIOD}
      - LISTENERS__RONIN__MAXPROCESSINGTASKS=${LISTENERS__RONIN__MAXPROCESSINGTASKS}
      - LISTENERS__ETHEREUM__GETLOGSBATCHSIZE=${LISTENERS__ETHEREUM__GETLOGSBATCHSIZE}
      - LISTENERS__RONIN__STATS__NODE=${LISTENERS__RONIN__STATS__NODE}
      - LISTENERS__RONIN__STATS__HOST=${LISTENERS__RONIN__STATS__HOST}
      - LISTENERS__RONIN__STATS__SECRET=${LISTENERS__RONIN__STATS__SECRET}
    depends_on:
      - db
      - node

This compose file defines three services:

node, which pulls a 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
LISTENERS__ETHEREUM__RPCURL=LISTENERS__ETHEREUM__RPCURL

# The name of your node that you want displayed on https://ronin-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
LISTENERS__RONIN__SECRET__BRIDGEOPERATOR__PLAINPRIVATEKEY=LISTENERS__RONIN__SECRET__BRIDGEOPERATOR__PLAINPRIVATEKEY

# 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

DATABASE__DBNAME=bridge
DATABASE__USER=postgres

# The Postgres database password
DATABASE__PASSWORD=DATABASE__PASSWORD

LISTENERS__RONIN__RPCURL=http://node:8545

CONFIG_PATH=config.mainnet.json

LISTENERS__RONIN__TASKINTERVAL=3s
LISTENERS__RONIN__TRANSACTIONCHECKPERIOD=50s
LISTENERS__RONIN__MAXPROCESSINGTASKS=200
LISTENERS__ETHEREUM__GETLOGSBATCHSIZE=100

NETWORK_ID=2020

GASPRICE=20000000000

MINE=true

VERBOSITY=3

CHAIN_STATS_WS_SECRET=WSyDMrhRBe111
CHAIN_STATS_WS_SERVER=ronin-stats-ws.roninchain.com

RONIN_PARAMS=--http.api eth,net,web3,consortium --miner.gaslimit 100000000 --miner.gasreserve 10000000 --discovery.dns enrtree://AIGOFYDZH6BGVVALVJLRPHSOYJ434MPFVVQFXJDXHW5ZYORPTGKUI@nodes.roninchain.com

LISTENERS__RONIN__STATS__NODE=<your_node_name>
LISTENERS__RONIN__STATS__HOST=wss://ronin-stats-ws.roninchain.com/bridge
LISTENERS__RONIN__STATS__SECRET=WSyDMrhRBe111

(Optional) Download the snapshot from the ronin-snapshot repo:

cd ~/ronin/chaindata/data/ronin/
wget -q -O - <snapshot URL from the README file in the repo> | tar -I zstd -xvf -

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​

Run the node​