Validator Setup
The following guide describes how to setup a validator on Ubuntu.
Identity Setup
You will need to create the following keys on your system:
koii-keygen new --outfile ~/validator-keypair.json
koii-keygen new --outfile ~/withdrawer-keypair.json
koii-keygen new --outfile ~/stake-account-keypair.json
koii-keygen new --outfile ~/vote-account-keypair.json
The authorized withdrawer keypair is the ultimate authority over your validator. This keypair will be able to withdraw from your vote account and will have additional permission to change all other aspects of your vote account.
This is a very important keypair. Anyone in possession of it can permanently take control of your vote account and make any changes they please. Therefore, it's crucial to store your authorized-withdrawer keypair in a secure location.
It doesn't have to be stored on your validator and it shouldn't be stored anywhere where an unauthorized person could access it.
It's recommended that you use systemctl to manage the validator process. To set up the validator service you can complete the following steps.
Step 1: Create a Systemctl Service File for the Validator
Write a service configuration using the editor of your choice (nano, vim, etc.). Do this as a system user with root permissions, not your validator user.
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/koii-validator.service
Paste the service configuration below into your editor.
[Unit]
Description=Koii Validator
After=network.target
[Service]
User=koii
Group=koii
Environment="PATH=/home/koii/.local/share/koii/install/active_release/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games"
ExecStart=/home/koii/.local/share/koii/install/active_release/bin/koii-validator --identity /home/koii/validator-keypair.json --ledger /home/koii/validator-ledger --accounts /home/koii/validator-accounts --rpc-bind-address 0.0.0.0 --dynamic-port-range 10000-10500 --rpc-port 10899 --gossip-port 10001 --log - --limit-ledger-size --enable-rpc-transaction-history --enable-cpi-and-log-storage --no-os-network-limits-test --no-poh-speed-test --full-rpc-api --entrypoint testnet-validator-1.koii.network:10001 --known-validator CVYuw3N4wjfh5gwDTjcyz1UqQAT9tRLcqZJjEpuc4vf3
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Save and close your editor.
Step 2: Create a Vote Account
You will need your validator keypair to be funded with KOII tokens before continuing.
Please make sure your koii CLI is configured for testnet and using your validator identity before continuing:
koii config set --url https://testnet.koii.network --keypair ~/validator-keypair.json
For the remainder of the steps please elevate your user to your validator account.
sudo su koii
Using the keys created in the first portion of this guide, create a vote account.
koii create-vote-account ~/vote-account-keypair.json ~/validator-keypair.json ~/withdrawer-keypair.json
Step 3: Create a Stake Account
Create the staking account using the validator's identity keypair and the authorized withdrawer keypair.
koii create-stake-account ~/stake-account-keypair.json <AMOUNT_TO_STAKE> --stake-authority ~/validator-keypair.json --withdraw-authority ~/withdrawer-keypair.json
Where <AMOUNT_TO_STAKE> is the number of tokens you want to stake with.
Step 4: Delegate Your Stake
Delegate the stake to the validator using the staking account and validator's identity keypair. You will have to use the --force option in order to bypass the warning that your vote account has no root slot.
koii delegate-stake ~/stake-account-keypair.json ~/vote-account-keypair.json --stake-authority ~/validator-keypair.json --force
Replace <VALIDATOR_VOTE_ACCOUNT_ADDRESS> with the validator's public address. That address can be found using the koii validator-info get command.
Step 5: Enable and Start the Koii Validator Service
From the system user with root permissions, enable and start the validator service.
Enable the service
sudo systemctl enable koii-validator.service
Start the service
sudo systemctl start koii-validator.service
Check the service status
sudo systemctl status koii-validator.service
Step 6: Check Your Stake
Because your validator will not show up in the koii validators list for 12 to 24 hours, you can check your stake to make sure it as properly delegated by running koii stake-account ~/stake-account-keypair.json which should output something similar to the following:
Balance: 500 KOII
Rent Exempt Reserve: 0.00228288 KOII
Delegated Stake: 0 KOII
Activating Stake: 499.99771712 KOII
Delegated Vote Account Address: <pubkey>
Stake Authority: <pubkey>
Withdraw Authority: <pubkey>
If you see a value in Activating Stake then you should be successfully voting within two epochs (about 24 hours)