Nethermind

Overview

Nethermind is a flagship Ethereum client all about performance and flexibility. Built on .NET core, a widespread, enterprise-friendly platform, Nethermind makes integration with existing infrastructures simple, without losing sight of stability, reliability, data integrity, and security.

Official Links

Subject	Link
Releases	https://github.com/NethermindEth/nethermind/releases
Documentation	https://docs.nethermind.io
Website	https://nethermind.io/nethermind-client

1. Initial configuration

Create a service user for the execution service, create data directory and assign ownership.

sudo adduser --system --no-create-home --group execution
sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/nethermind
sudo chown -R execution:execution /var/lib/nethermind

Install dependencies.

sudo apt install curl libsnappy-dev libc6-dev jq libc6 unzip -y

2. Install Binaries

• Downloading binaries is often faster and more convenient.

Option 1 - Download binaries

Run the following to automatically download the latest linux release, un-zip and cleanup.

RELEASE_URL="https://api.github.com/repos/NethermindEth/nethermind/releases/latest"
BINARIES_URL="$(curl -s $RELEASE_URL | jq -r ".assets[] | select(.name) | .browser_download_url" | grep linux-x64)"

echo Downloading URL: $BINARIES_URL

cd $HOME
wget -O nethermind.zip $BINARIES_URL
unzip -o nethermind.zip -d $HOME/nethermind
rm nethermind.zip

Install the binaries.

sudo mv $HOME/nethermind /usr/local/bin/nethermind

3. Setup and configure systemd

Create a systemd unit file to define your execution.service configuration.

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/execution.service

Paste the following configuration into the file.

[Unit]
Description=Nethermind Execution Layer Client service for Goerli
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target
Documentation=https://www.coincashew.com

[Service]
Type=simple
User=execution
Group=execution
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=3
KillSignal=SIGINT
TimeoutStopSec=900
WorkingDirectory=/var/lib/nethermind
Environment="DOTNET_BUNDLE_EXTRACT_BASE_DIR=/var/lib/nethermind"
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/nethermind/Nethermind.Runner \
  --config goerli \
  --datadir="/var/lib/nethermind" \
  --Metrics.Enabled true \
  --Metrics.ExposePort 6060 \
  --Metrics.IntervalSeconds 10000 \
  --Sync.SnapSync true \
  --Sync.AncientBodiesBarrier 4367322 \
  --Sync.AncientReceiptsBarrier 4367322 \
  --JsonRpc.JwtSecretFile /secrets/jwtsecret
  
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

To exit and save, press Ctrl + X, then Y, then Enter.

Run the following to enable auto-start at boot time.

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable execution

Finally, start your execution layer client and check it's status.

sudo systemctl start execution
sudo systemctl status execution

Press Ctrl + C to exit the status.

4. Helpful execution client commands

View Logs

sudo journalctl -fu execution | ccze

A properly functioning Nethermind execution client will indicate "block nnn ... was processed". For example,

Nethermind.Runner[2]: 2023-02-03 00:01:36.2643|FCU - block 16001 (fd781...c2e19f) was processed.
Nethermind.Runner[2]: 2023-02-03 00:01:36.2643|Block 0xd78eaabc854f4e4a844c5c0f9ccf45bed0b2f13d77ea978af62d0eef2210c2e19f was set as head.

Stop

sudo systemctl stop execution

Start

sudo systemctl start execution

View Status

sudo systemctl status execution

Now that your execution client is configured and started, proceed to the next step on setting up your consensus client.

If you're checking the logs and see any warnings or errors, please be patient as these will normally resolve once both your execution and consensus clients are fully synced to the Ethereum network.