Validator Tasks

Overview

This document focuses on running the Iota Node software as a Validator.

Contents

• Overview
• Contents
• Requirements
• Deployment
• Configuration
• Connectivity
• Network Buffer
  • Option 1: With /etc/sysctl.d/
  • Option 2: With sysctl command
  • Verification
• Storage
• Key Management
• Monitoring
  • Metrics
  • Logs
  • Dashboards
• Software Updates
• State Sync
• Chain Operations
  • Updating On-chain Metadata
  • Operation Cap
  • Updating the Gas Price Survey Quote
  • Reporting/Un-reporting Validators
  • Joining the Validator Set
  • Leaving the Validator Set
• Private Security Fixes

Requirements

To run an Iota Validator a machine with the following is required:

• CPU: 24 physical cores (or 48 virtual cores)
• Memory: 128 GB
• Storage: 4 TB NVME
• Network: 1 Gbps

Deployment

Iota Node can be deployed in a number of ways.

There are pre-built container images available in Docker Hub.

And pre built linux/amd64 binaries available in S3 that can be fetched using one of the following methods:

wget https://releases.iota.io/$IOTA_SHA/iota-node

curl https://releases.iota.io/$IOTA_SHA/iota-node -o iota-node

To build directly from source:

git clone https://github.com/iotaledger/iota.git && cd iota
git checkout [SHA|BRANCH|TAG]
cargo build --release --bin iota-node

Configuration and guides are available for the following deployment options:

• Systemd
• Ansible
• Docker Compose

Configuration

Iota Node runs with a single configuration file provided as an argument, example:

./iota-node --config-path /opt/iota/config/validator.yaml.

Configuration templates are available here:

• Validator

Connectivity

Iota Node uses the following ports by default:

protocol/port	reachability	purpose
TCP/8080	inbound	protocol/transaction interface
UDP/8081	inbound/outbound	primary interface
UDP/8084	inbound/outbound	peer to peer state sync interface
TCP/8443	outbound	metrics pushing
TCP/9184	localhost	metrics scraping

To run a validator successfully it is critical that ports 8080-8084 are open as outlined above, including the specific protocol (TCP/UDP).

Network Buffer

From load testing IOTA validator networks, it has been determined that the default Linux network buffer sizes are too small. We recommend increasing them using one of the following two methods:

Option 1: With /etc/sysctl.d/

These settings can be added to a new sysctl file specifically for the iota-node, or appended to an existing file. Modifications made in this way will persist across system restarts.

# Create a new sysctl file for the iota-node
sudo nano /etc/sysctl.d/100-iota-node.conf

# Add these lines to the file, overwriting existing settings if necessary.
net.core.rmem_max = 104857600
net.core.wmem_max = 104857600
net.ipv4.tcp_rmem = 8192 262144 104857600
net.ipv4.tcp_wmem = 8192 262144 104857600

# Apply the settings immediately, before the next restart
sudo sysctl --system

Option 2: With sysctl command

These modifications do not persist across system restarts. Therefore, the commands should be run each time the host restarts.

sudo sysctl -w net.core.wmem_max=104857600
sudo sysctl -w net.core.rmem_max=104857600
sudo sysctl -w net.ipv4.tcp_rmem="8192 262144 104857600"
sudo sysctl -w net.ipv4.tcp_wmem="8192 262144 104857600"

Verification

To verify that the system settings have indeed been updated, check the output of the following command:

sudo sysctl -a | egrep [rw]mem

Storage

All Iota Node-related data is stored by default under /opt/iota/db/. This is controlled in the Iota Node configuration file.

$ cat /opt/iota/config/validator.yaml | grep db-path
db-path: /opt/iota/db/authorities_db
  db-path: /opt/iota/db/consensus_db

Ensure that you have an appropriately sized disk mounted for the database to write to.

• To check the size of the local Iota Node databases:

du -sh /opt/iota/db/
du -sh /opt/iota/db/authorities_db
du -sh /opt/iota/db/consensus_db

• To delete the local Iota Node databases:

sudo systemctl stop iota-node
sudo rm -rf /opt/iota/db/authorities_db /opt/iota/db/consensus_db

Key Management

The following keys are used by Iota Node:

key	scheme	purpose
authority.key	bls12381	transactions, BLS key to create an aggregated signature
account.key	ed25519	controls assets for staking
network.key	ed25519	consensus primary, iota state sync
protocol.key	ed25519	key to sign mysticeti consensus blocks

These are configured in the Iota Node configuration file.

Monitoring

Metrics

Iota Node exposes metrics via a local HTTP interface. These can be scraped for use in a central monitoring system as well as viewed directly from the node.

• View all metrics:

curl -s http://localhost:9184/metrics

• Search for a particular metric:

curl http://localhost:9184/metrics | grep <METRIC>

Iota Node also pushes metrics to a central Iota metrics proxy.

Logs

Logs are controlled using the RUST_LOG environment variable.

The RUST_LOG_JSON=1 environment variable can optionally be set to enable logging in JSON structured format.

Depending on your deployment method, these will be configured in the following places:

• If using Ansible, here
• If using Systemd natively, here
• If using Docker Compose, here

To view and follow the Iota Node logs:

journalctl -u iota-node -f

To search for a particular match

journalctl -u iota-node -g <SEARCH_TERM>

• If using Docker Compose, look at the examples here

It is possible to change the logging configuration while a node is running using the admin interface.

To view the currently configured logging values:

curl localhost:1337/logging

To change the currently configured logging values:

curl localhost:1337/logging -d "info"

Dashboards

Public dashboard for network wide visibility:

• Iota Testnet Validators

Software Updates

When an update is required to the Iota Node software the following process can be used. Follow the relevant Systemd or Docker Compose runbook depending on your deployment type. It is highly unlikely that you will want to restart with a clean database.

• If using Systemd, here
• If using Docker Compose, here

State Sync

Checkpoints in Iota contain the permanent history of the network. They are comparable to blocks in other blockchains with the biggest difference being that they are lagging instead of leading. All transactions are final and executed prior to being included in a checkpoint.

These checkpoints are synchronized between validators and fullnodes via a dedicated peer to peer state sync interface.

Inter-validator state sync is always permitted, however, there are controls available to limit what fullnodes are allowed to sync from a specific validator.

The default and recommended max-concurrent-connections: 0 configuration does not affect inter-validator state sync, but will restrict all fullnodes from syncing. The Iota Node configuration can be modified to allow a known fullnode to sync from a validator:

p2p-config:
  anemo-config:
    max-concurrent-connections: 0
  seed-peers:
    - address: <multiaddr>  # The p2p address of the fullnode
      peer-id: <peer-id>    # hex encoded network public key of the node
    - address: ...          # another permitted peer
      peer-id: ...

Chain Operations

The following chain operations are executed using the iota CLI. This binary is built and provided as a release similar to iota-node, examples:

wget https://releases.iota.io/$IOTA_SHA/iota
chmod +x iota

curl https://releases.iota.io/$IOTA_SHA/iota -o iota
chmod +x iota

It is recommended and often required that the iota binary release/version matches that of the deployed network.

Updating On-chain Metadata

You can leverage the Validator Tool to perform the majority of the following tasks.

An active/pending validator can update its on-chain metadata by submitting a transaction. Some metadata changes take effect immediately, including:

• name
• description
• image url
• project url

Other metadata (keys, addresses etc) only come into effect at the next epoch.

To update metadata, a validator makes a MoveCall transaction that interacts with the System Object. For example:

1. To update the name to new_validator_name, use the Iota Client CLI to call iota_system::update_validator_name:

iota client call --package 0x3 --module iota_system --function update_validator_name --args 0x5 \"new_validator_name\" --gas-budget 10000

2. To update the p2p address starting from next epoch to /ip4/192.168.1.1, use the Iota Client CLI to call iota_system::update_validator_next_epoch_p2p_address:

iota client call --package 0x3 --module iota_system --function update_validator_next_epoch_p2p_address --args 0x5 "[4, 192, 168, 1, 1]" --gas-budget 10000

Operation Cap

To avoid touching account keys too often and allowing them to be stored offline, validators can delegate the operation ability to another address. This address can then update the reference gas price and tallying rule on behalf of the validator.

Upon creating a Validator, an UnverifiedValidatorOperationCap is created as well and transferred to the validator address. The holder of this Cap object (short for "Capability") therefore could perform operational actions for this validator. To authorize another address to conduct these operations, a validator transfers the object to another address that they control. The transfer can be done by using the Iota Client CLI: iota client transfer.

To rotate the delegatee address or revoke the authorization, the current holder of Cap transfers it to another address. In the event of compromised or lost keys, the validator could create a new Cap object to invalidate the incumbent one. This is done by calling iota_system::rotate_operation_cap:

iota client call --package 0x3 --module iota_system --function rotate_operation_cap --args 0x5 --gas-budget 10000

By default the new Cap object is transferred to the validator address, which then could be transferred to the new delegatee address. At this point, the old Cap becomes invalidated and no longer represents eligibility.

To get the current valid Cap object's ID of a validator, use the Iota Client CLI iota client objects command after setting the holder as the active address.

Updating the Gas Price Survey Quote

To update the Gas Price Survey Quote of a validator, which is used to calculate the Reference Gas Price at the end of the epoch, the sender needs to hold a valid UnverifiedValidatorOperationCap. The sender could be the validator itself, or a trusted delegatee. To do so, call iota_system::request_set_gas_price:

iota client call --package 0x3 --module iota_system --function request_set_gas_price --args 0x5 {cap_object_id} {new_gas_price} --gas-budget 10000

Reporting/Un-reporting Validators

To report a validator or undo an existing report, the sender needs to hold a valid UnverifiedValidatorOperationCap. The sender could be the validator itself, or a trusted delegatee. To do so, call iota_system::report_validator/undo_report_validator:

iota client call --package 0x3 --module iota_system --function report_validator/undo_report_validator --args 0x5 {cap_object_id} {reportee_address} --gas-budget 10000

Once a validator is reported by 2f + 1 other validators by voting power, their staking rewards will be slashed.

Joining the Validator Set

In order for an Iota address to join the validator set, they need to first sign up as a validator candidate by calling iota_system::request_add_validator_candidate with their metadata and initial configs:

iota client call --package 0x3 --module iota_system --function request_add_validator_candidate --args 0x5 {authority_pubkey_bytes} {network_pubkey_bytes} {protocol_pubkey_bytes} {proof_of_possession} {name} {description} {image_url} {project_url} {net_address}
{p2p_address} {primary_address} {gas_price} {commission_rate} --gas-budget 10000

After an address becomes a validator candidate, any address (including the candidate address itself) can start staking with the candidate's staking pool. Once a candidate's staking pool has accumulated at least iota_system::MIN_VALIDATOR_JOINING_STAKE amount of stake, the candidate can call iota_system::request_add_validator to officially add themselves to the next epoch's active validator set:

iota client call --package 0x3 --module iota_system --function request_add_validator --args 0x5 --gas-budget 10000000

Leaving the Validator Set

To leave the validator set starting from the next epoch, the sender needs to be an active validator in the current epoch and should call iota_system::request_remove_validator:

iota client call --package 0x3 --module iota_system --function request_remove_validator --args 0x5 --gas-budget 10000

After the validator is removed at the next epoch change, the staking pool will become inactive and stakes can only be withdrawn from an inactive pool.

Private Security Fixes

There may be instances where urgent security fixes need to be rolled out before publicly announcing it's presence ( issues affecting liveness, invariants such as IOTA supply, governance, etc.). In order to not be actively exploited the IOTA Foundation will release signed security binaries incorporating such fixes with a delay in publishing the source code until a large % of our validators have patched the vulnerability.

This release process will be different and we expect to announce the directory for such binaries out of band.

You can download all the necessary signed binaries and docker artifacts incorporating the security fixes by using the download_private.sh

Usage ./download_private.sh <directory-name>

You can also download and verify specific binaries that may not be included by the above script using the download_and_verify_private_binary.sh script.

Usage: ./download_and_verify_private_binary.sh <directory-name> <binary-name>

Question 1/3

Which key is used by an IOTA Node for staking control?

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