Start your DV Node

Congratulations, almost there!

Great job on completing the DKG! Now it's time to start your Distributed Validator (DV) node. This step is crucial as it prepares your node for validating over the long term. When you access the cluster details, you will see the "Start DV node required" status and the action required prompt as shown below:

Click on the "Start your DV node" button to proceed.

Options to Start Your DV Node

Once you click the button, you will have two options to choose from:

1. Full Node Setup: use the default configuration provided by Obol. The CDVN repository is configured to sync an execution layer client (Nethermind) and a consensus layer client (Lighthouse) using Docker Compose.

2. Existing Beacon Node Setup: you already have a beacon node running somewhere and you want to use that instead of running an EL (Nethermind) & CL (Lighthouse) as part of the example repo, you can disable these images.

Each option has its specific steps to follow.

Full Node

Full Node Setup

1. Go to the charon-distributed-validator-node folder you created before

2. Copy .env.sample and rename it to .env

   cp .env.sample .env

3. Delete lighthouse data if it exists, and spin up a Distributed Validator Node with a Validator Client (~6h)

   rm -rf ./data/lighthouse
   docker compose up -d

4. Open Grafana dashboard to monitor your node with this command

   open http://localhost:3000/d/singlenode/

Existing beacon node

Existing Beacon Node Setup

1. Go to the charon-distributed-validator-node folder you created before

2. Copy and rename the docker-compose.override.yml.sample file with this command

   cp -n docker-compose.override.yml.sample docker-compose.override.yml

3. Uncomment the profiles: [disable] section for both nethermind and lighthouse. The override file should now look like this

   # docker-compose.override.yml
   # Disable nethermind
   profiles: [disable]
   # profiles: [disable]

4. Then, uncomment and set the variable CHARON_BEACON_NODE_ENDPOINTS in the .env file to your beacon node's URL

   # .env
   # Connect to one or more external beacon nodes. Use a comma separated list.
   CHARON_BEACON_NODE_ENDPOINTS=<YOUR_REMOTE_BEACON_NODE_URL>

5. Restart your docker compose

   docker compose down
   docker compose up -d

Final Steps

Once you have completed the setup for either option, click the "I started the DV node" button to confirm.

Now, you can communicate with the other operators in your private Discord channel to monitor the progress and ensure everyone has completed their part.

This process ensures that your DV node is properly set up and ready for validating, moving you closer to full activation and earning rewards.