Overview
Lodestar is a Typescript implementation of the official Ethereum specification by the ChainSafe.io team. In addition to the beacon chain client, the team is also working on 22 packages and libraries. A complete list can be found here . Finally, the Lodestar team is leading in light client research and development and has received funding from the EF and Moloch DAO for this purpose.
Official Links
1. Initial configuration
Create a service user for the consensus service, create data directory and assign ownership.
Copy sudo adduser --system --no-create-home --group consensus
sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/lodestar
sudo chown -R consensus:consensus /var/lib/lodestar
Install dependencies.
Copy sudo apt-get install gcc g++ make git curl ccze -y
2. Install Binaries
Building from source code can offer better compatibility and is more aligned with the spirit of FOSS (free open source software).
Option 1 - Build from source codeInstall yarn.
Copy curl -sS https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/pubkey.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/ stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/yarn.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install yarn -y
Confirm yarn is installed properly.
Copy yarn --version
# Should output version >= 1.22.19
Install nodejs.
Copy #Download and import the Nodesource GPG key
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg
sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/gpgkey/nodesource-repo.gpg.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg
#Create deb repository
NODE_MAJOR = 20
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg] https://deb.nodesource.com/node_$NODE_MAJOR.x nodistro main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list
#Run Update and Install
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nodejs -y
Install and build Lodestar.
Copy mkdir -p ~/git
cd ~/git
git clone -b stable https://github.com/chainsafe/lodestar.git
cd lodestar
yarn install
yarn run build
Verify Lodestar was installed properly by displaying the version.
Sample output of a compatible version.
Copy 🌟 Lodestar: TypeScript Implementation of the Ethereum Consensus Beacon Chain.
* Version: v1.8.0/stable/a4b29cf
* by ChainSafe Systems, 2018-2022
Install the binaries.
Copy sudo cp -a $HOME /git/lodestar /usr/local/bin/lodestar
3. Setup and configure systemd
Create a systemd unit file to define your consensus.service
configuration.
Copy sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/consensus.service
Paste the following configuration into the file.
Copy [Unit]
Description = Lodestar Consensus Layer Client service for Mainnet
Wants = network-online.target
After = network-online.target
Documentation = https://www.coincashew.com
[Service]
Type = simple
User = consensus
Group = consensus
Restart = on-failure
RestartSec = 3
KillSignal = SIGINT
TimeoutStopSec = 900
WorkingDirectory = /usr/local/bin/lodestar
ExecStart = /usr/local/bin/lodestar/lodestar beacon \
--dataDir /var/lib/lodestar \
--network mainnet \
--rest.port 5052 \
--port 9000 \
--targetPeers 100 \
--metrics.port 8008 \
--metrics true \
--checkpointSyncUrl https://beaconstate.info \
--jwt-secret /secrets/jwtsecret \
--execution.urls http://127.0.0.1:8551 \
--suggestedFeeRecipient < 0x_CHANGE_THIS_TO_MY_ETH_FEE_RECIPIENT_ADDRES S >
[Install]
WantedBy = multi-user.target
Replace<0x_CHANGE_THIS_TO_MY_ETH_FEE_RECIPIENT_ADDRESS>
with your own Ethereum address that you control. Tips are sent to this address and are immediately spendable.
Not staking? If you only want a full node, delete the whole line beginning with
Copy --suggestedFeeRecipient
To exit and save, press Ctrl
+ X
, then Y
, then Enter
.
Run the following to enable auto-start at boot time.
Copy sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable consensus
Finally, start your consensus layer client and check it's status.
Copy sudo systemctl start consensus
sudo systemctl status consensus
Press Ctrl
+ C
to exit the status.
4. Helpful consensus client commands
View Logs Stop Start View Status Reset Database
Copy sudo journalctl -fu consensus | ccze
Example of Synced Lodestar Consensus Client Logs
Copy Mar-19 04:09:49.000 info: Synced - slot: 3338 - head: 3355 0x5abb_ac30 - execution: valid(0x1a3c_2ca5) - finalized: 0xfa22_1142:3421 - peers: 25
Mar-19 04:09:52.000 info: Synced - slot: 3339 - head: 3356 0xcd2a_8b32 - execution: valid(0xab34_fa32) - finalized: 0xfa22_1142:3421 - peers: 25
Mar-19 04:09:04.000 info: Synced - slot: 3340 - head: 3357 0xff1a_f12a - execution: valid(0xfaf1_b35f) - finalized: 0xfa22_1142:3421 - peers: 25
Copy sudo systemctl stop consensus
Copy sudo systemctl start consensus
Copy sudo systemctl status consensus
Common reasons to reset the database can include:
To reduce disk space usage
To recover from a corrupted database due to power outage or hardware failure
To upgrade to a new storage format
Copy sudo systemctl stop consensus
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/lodestar/chain-db
sudo systemctl restart consensus
With checkpoint sync enabled, time to re-sync the consensus client should take only a minute or two.
Now that your consensus client is configured and started, you have a full node.
Proceed to the next step on setting up your validator client, which turns a full node into a staking node.
If you wanted to setup a full node, not a staking node, stop here! Congrats on running your own full node! 🎉