Solana Validator Setup

Optimal Hardware Requirements

• CPU: 16 cores @ 3GHz
• RAM: 128GB
• Storage: 500GB (OS) + 500GB (Accounts) + 1TB (Ledger)

Start with a fresh Ubuntu VM (Server 20.04).

Dependencies

1. Create unprivileged Solana user:

sudo adduser soluser

2. Update package information:

sudo apt update

3. Create directory structure:

mkdir -p ~/deployments/solana/disks/{accounts,ledger}
mkdir -p ~/deployments/solana/{keys,logs}
mkdir -p ~/{dependencies,scripts}

4. (optional: if using multiple disks) Mount accounts and ledger partitions:

• Mount disks and set ownership:

sudo mount /dev/<accounts_partition> ~/deployments/solana/disks/accounts
sudo mount /dev/<ledger_partition> ~/deployments/solana/disks/ledger
sudo chown soluser:soluser ~/deployments/solana/disks/{accounts,ledger}

Available partitions can be listed by sudo lsblk.

• Update fstab:

sudo sh -c 'echo "UUID=<uuid> /home/user/deployments/solana/disks/<mntdir> ext4 defaults,nofail 0 0" >> /etc/fstab'

UUID of a partition can be obtained by sudo blkid /dev/<partition>.

5. (optional: if sudo version is < 1.9) Update sudo to >= v1.9 from source (for the RLIMIT_CORE patch):

• Install updates

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade --assume-yes

• Install make dependencies

sudo apt install gcc make

• Fetch source and uncompress

cd ~/dependencies
wget https://www.sudo.ws/dist/sudo-1.9.11p3.tar.gz
tar -zxvf sudo-1.9.11p3.tar.gz

• Configure

cd sudo-1.9.11p3/
sudo su
./configure --prefix=/usr --libexecdir=/usr/lib --with-secure-path --with-all-insults --with-env-editor --docdir=/usr/share/doc/sudo-1.9.5p2 --with-passprompt="[sudo] password for %p: "

• Make and install

make
make install && ln -sfv libsudo_util.so.0.0.0 /usr/lib/sudo/libsudo_util.so.0

6. Relogin.

Tune System

1. Optimize sysctl knobs:

bash -c "cat >/etc/sysctl.d/21-solana-validator.conf <<EOF
# Increase UDP buffer sizes
net.core.rmem_default = 134217728
net.core.rmem_max = 134217728
net.core.wmem_default = 134217728
net.core.wmem_max = 134217728

# Increase memory mapped files limit
vm.max_map_count = 1000000

# Increase number of allowed open file descriptors
fs.nr_open = 1000000
EOF"

sudo sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/21-solana-validator.conf

2. Increase process file descriptor count limit:

bash -c "cat >/etc/security/limits.d/90-solana-nofiles.conf <<EOF
# Increase process file descriptor count limit
* - nofile 1000000
EOF"

3. Relogin.

Connect to Cluster

0. Switch to the solana user:

su - solana

1. Install the Solana Toolkit binary:

sh -c "$(curl -sSfL https://release.solana.com/v1.10.32/install)"

2. Set the cluster URL using Solana CLI:

CLUSTER_URL="http://api.devnet.solana.com"
solana config set --url $CLUSTER_URL

3. Before attaching a validator node, sanity check that the cluster is accessible by fetching the cluster version:

solana cluster-version

If everything went well, the cluster version will be returned.

Create Accounts

1. Generate an identity keypair for the validator:

solana-keygen new -o ~/deployments/solana/keys/validator-keypair.json

2. Set the Solana config to use the generated keypair:

solana config set --keypair ~/deployments/solana/keys/validator-keypair.json

3. Generate authorized withdrawer account keypair:

solana-keygen new -o ~/deployments/solana/keys/authorized-withdrawer-keypair.json

4. Generate vote account keypair:

solana-keygen new -o ~/deployments/solana/keys/vote-account-keypair.json

5. Add token to account via airdrop (required for creating a vote account):

solana airdrop 1

6. Create vote account:

solana create-vote-account ~/deployments/solana/keys/vote-account-keypair.json ~/deployments/solana/keys/validator-keypair.json ~/deployments/solana/keys/authorized-withdrawer-keypair.json

Connect Validator

1. Make a script to start the validator:

• ~/scripts/validator.sh

#!/bin/bash

CLUSTER_ENTRYPOINT="entrypoint.devnet.solana.com:8001"

SOLANA_USER=solana
VALIDATOR_IDENTITY_PATH="/home/$SOLANA_USER/deployments/solana/keys/validator-keypair.json"
VOTE_IDENTITY_PATH="/home/$SOLANA_USER/deployments/solana/keys/vote-account-keypair.json"
LOG_PATH="/home/$SOLANA_USER/deployments/solana/logs/solana-validator.log"
ACCOUNTS_DISK_PATH="/home/$SOLANA_USER/deployments/solana/disks/accounts"
LEDGER_DISK_PATH="/home/$SOLANA_USER/deployments/solana/disks/ledger"
LEDGER_SIZE=50000000

solana-validator \
        --entrypoint $CLUSTER_ENTRYPOINT \
        --identity $VALIDATOR_IDENTITY_PATH \
        --vote-account $VOTE_IDENTITY_PATH \
        --log $LOG_PATH \
        --accounts $ACCOUNTS_DISK_PATH \
        --ledger $LEDGER_DISK_PATH \
        --limit-ledger-size $LEDGER_SIZE \
        --wal-recovery-mode skip_any_corrupted_record \
        --rpc-port 8899 \
        --no-poh-speed-test \
        --skip-poh-verify \
        --no-port-check

• Make it executable:

chmod +x ~/scripts/validator.sh

2. Create a service to start validator on boot:

• /etc/systemd/system/validator.service

[Unit]
Description=Solana Validator 
After=network.target 
StartLimitIntervalSec=0 

[Service]
Type=simple
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=1
LimitNOFILE=1000000
LogRateLimitIntervalSec=0
User=user
Environment=PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/home/user/.local/share/solana/install/active_release/bin
Environment=SOLANA_METRICS_CONFIG=host=https://metrics.solana.com:8086,db=devnet,u=scratch_writer,p=topsecret
ExecStart=/home/user/scripts/validator.sh

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

3. Enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl enable --now validator.service

4. Test validator connection:

solana gossip

A successful connection would return a list with the validator's public key and IP address.

Configure logging and monitoring

1. Set up logrotate to limit log size:

• /etc/logrotate.d/solana

/home/user/deployments/solana/logs/solana-validator.log {
  su user user
  rotate 12
  daily
  compress
  missingok
  notifempty
  postrotate
    systemctl kill -s USR1 validator.service
  endscript
}

• Give appropriate permissions:

sudo chmod 644 /etc/logrotate.d/solana

• Restart logrotate to load the new configuration:

sudo systemctl restart logrotate

---

To Do

• TPU and RPC address is 'none' on gossip, why?
• Prometheus
• Grafana
• "update" instructions