Prerequisites
Operating a stake pool in a Cardano Testnet Environment prior to registering a stake pool in the Mainnet production environment offers a risk-free approach to start learning practically about the technical skills, commitment, responsibilities and benefits of operating a Cardano stake pool.
When operating a stake pool on Mainnet, using a Testnet environment to test configuration changes and upgrades as well as troubleshoot any issues that may arise without impacting the production environment is very helpful.
While explaining how to implement a stake pool on Mainnet, The How to Set Up a Cardano Stake Pool guide also includes instructions throughout describing how to configure a stake pool to operate in a Testnet environment.
🧙♂️ Mandatory Skills for Stake Pool Operators
As a Stake Pool Operator (SPO) for Cardano, you need:
Operational knowledge of how to set up, run and maintain a Cardano node continuously
A commitment to maintain your node 24/7/365
System operation skills including general knowledge of using Bash scripts, JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) format, systemd services and cron jobs
Server administration skills (operational and maintenance)
Fundamental understanding of networking
🧙 Mandatory Experience for Stake Pool Operators
Experience of development and operations (DevOps)
Experience in how to harden and secure a server.
In the Cardano Developer Portal, successfully complete the section Operate a Stake Pool including the Stake Pool Course
🛑 Before continuing this guide, you must satisfy the above requirements. 🚧
🎗️ Minimum Mainnet Stake Pool Hardware and Operating Requirements
Two separate servers: 1 block producer node, 1 registered relay node
One air-gapped offline machine (cold environment)
Operating system: 64-bit Linux (i.e. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS)
Processor: An Intel or AMD x86 processor with two or more cores, at 2GHz or faster
Memory: 24GB RAM (including swap space)
Storage: 250GB free storage
Internet: Static IP address and a broadband connection supporting speeds at least 10 Mbps
Data Plan: At least 1GB per day (30GB per month)
Power: Reliable electrical power
ADA balance: At least 505 ADA for pool deposit and transaction fees
🏋️♂️ Recommended Future-proof Mainnet Stake Pool Hardware and Operating Requirements
Four separate servers: 1 block producer node, 3 relay nodes (2 registered relays and 1 unregistered relay) located in at least two different physical locations around the world
One air-gapped offline machine (cold environment)
Operating system: 64-bit Linux (i.e. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS)
Processor: 4 core or higher CPU
Memory: 24GB+ RAM
Storage: 300GB+ free storage
Internet: Static IP addresses and broadband connections supporting speeds of at least 100 Mbps
Data Plan: Unlimited
Power: Reliable electrical power with UPS or other backup power source
ADA balance: More pledge and stake is better, to be determined by a0, the pledge influence factor
🔨 Example Testnet Stake Pool Hardware and Operating Requirements
One server: 1 block producer node
Operating system: 64-bit Linux (i.e. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS)
Processor: An Intel or AMD x86 processor with two or more cores, at 2GHz or faster
Memory: 8GB RAM
Storage: 25GB free storage
Internet: Static IP address and a broadband connection supporting speeds at least 10 Mbps
Data Plan: At least 1GB per day (30GB per month)
Power: Reliable electrical power
ADA balance: 0 ADA (Request tokens and stake pool delegations using the Testnets Faucet)
🔓 Recommended Stake Pool Security
If you need ideas on how to harden your stake pool's nodes, refer to this guide.
🛠️ Setup Ubuntu
Refer to the respective guide to Install Ubuntu Server or Install Ubuntu Desktop.
🧱 Rebuilding Nodes
If you are rebuilding or reusing an existing cardano-node installation, refer to the section Resetting an Installation.
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