Overview
Nimbus is a research project and a client implementation for Ethereum designed to perform well on embedded systems and personal mobile devices, including older smartphones with resource-restricted hardware. The Nimbus team are from Status the company best known for their messaging app/wallet/Web3 browser by the same name. Nimbus (Apache 2) is written in Nim, a language with Python-like syntax that compiles to C.
Note : Nimbus is configured to run both validator client and beacon chain client in one process.
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/nimbus
sudo chown -R consensus:consensus /var/lib/nimbus
Install dependencies.
Copy sudo apt install curl libsnappy-dev libc6-dev jq libc6 unzip ccze -y
2. Install Binaries
Downloading binaries is often faster and more convenient.
Building from source code can offer better compatibility and is more aligned with the spirit of FOSS (free open source software).
Option 1 - Download binariesRun the following to automatically download the latest linux release, un-tar and cleanup.
Copy RELEASE_URL = "https://api.github.com/repos/status-im/nimbus-eth2/releases/latest"
BINARIES_URL="$(curl -s $RELEASE_URL | jq -r ".assets[] | select(.name) | .browser_download_url" | grep _Linux_amd64.*.tar.gz$)"
echo Downloading URL: $BINARIES_URL
cd $HOME
# Download
wget -O nimbus.tar.gz $BINARIES_URL
# Untar
tar -xzvf nimbus.tar.gz -C $HOME
# Rename folder
mv nimbus-eth2_Linux_amd64_* nimbus
# Cleanup
rm nimbus.tar.gz
Install the binaries, display version and cleanup.
Copy sudo mv nimbus/build/nimbus_beacon_node /usr/local/bin
sudo mv nimbus/build/nimbus_validator_client /usr/local/bin
nimbus_beacon_node --version
rm -r nimbus
Option 2 - Build from source codeInstall dependencies.
Copy sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install curl build-essential git -y
Build the binary.
Copy mkdir -p ~/git
cd ~/git
git clone -b stable https://github.com/status-im/nimbus-eth2
cd nimbus-eth2
make -j$( nproc ) update
make -j$( nproc ) nimbus_beacon_node
make -j$( nproc ) nimbus_validator_client
Verify Nimbus was built properly by displaying the version.
Copy cd $HOME /git/nimbus-eth2/build
./nimbus_beacon_node --version
Install the binary.
Copy sudo cp $HOME /git/nimbus-eth2/build/nimbus_beacon_node /usr/local/bin
sudo cp $HOME /git/nimbus-eth2/build/nimbus_validator_client /usr/local/bin
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.
Standalone Beacon Node (Recommended) Combined (BN+VC)
Copy [Unit]
Description = Nimbus Consensus Layer Client service for Holesky
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
ExecStart = /usr/local/bin/nimbus_beacon_node \
--network=holesky \
--data-dir=/var/lib/nimbus \
--tcp-port=9000 \
--udp-port=9000 \
--max-peers=100 \
--rest-port=5052 \
--enr-auto-update=true \
--non-interactive \
--status-bar=false \
--in-process-validators=false \
--web3-url=http://127.0.0.1:8551 \
--rest \
--metrics \
--metrics-port=8008 \
--jwt-secret= "/secrets/jwtsecret" \
--suggested-fee-recipient= < 0x_CHANGE_THIS_TO_MY_ETH_FEE_RECIPIENT_ADDRESS >
[Install]
WantedBy = multi-user.target
This configuration combines the beacon chain and validator into one running service. While it is simpler to manage and run, this configuration is less flexible when it comes to running EL+CL failover nodes or in times you wish to resync your execution client and temporarily use Rocket Pool's Rescue Node .
Copy [Unit]
Description = Nimbus Consensus Layer Client service for Holesky
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
ExecStart = /usr/local/bin/nimbus_beacon_node \
--network=holesky \
--data-dir=/var/lib/nimbus \
--tcp-port=9000 \
--udp-port=9000 \
--max-peers=100 \
--rest-port=5052 \
--enr-auto-update=true \
--web3-url=http://127.0.0.1:8551 \
--rest \
--metrics \
--metrics-port=8008 \
--jwt-secret= "/secrets/jwtsecret" \
--graffiti= "🏠🥩🪙🛡️" \
--suggested-fee-recipient= < 0x_CHANGE_THIS_TO_MY_ETH_FEE_RECIPIENT_ADDRESS >
[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, use the Standalone Beacon Node configuration and delete the whole line beginning with
Copy --suggested-fee-recipient
To exit and save, press Ctrl
+ X
, then Y
, then Enter
.
Run the following to quickly sync with Checkpoint Sync.
Checkpoint sync allows you to start your consensus layer within minutes instead of days.
Copy sudo -u consensus /usr/local/bin/nimbus_beacon_node trustedNodeSync \
--network=holesky \
--trusted-node-url=https://holesky.beaconstate.ethstaker.cc \
--data-dir=/var/lib/nimbus \
--backfill=false
When the checkpoint sync is complete, you'll see the following message:
Done, your beacon node is ready to serve you! Don't forget to check that you're on the canonical chain by comparing the checkpoint root with other online sources. See https://nimbus.guide/trusted-node-sync.html for more information.
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.
Check your logs to confirm that the consensus clients are up and syncing.
Copy sudo journalctl -fu consensus | ccze
Example of Synced Consensus Client Logs
Copy nimbus_beacon_node[292966]: INF 2023-02-05 01:20:00.000+00:00 Slot start topics="beacnde" slot=31205 epoch=903 sync=synced peers=80 head=13a131:31204 finalized=1111:cdba33411 delay=69us850ns
nimbus_beacon_node[292966]: INF 2023-02-05 01:20:08.000+00:00 Slot end topics="beacnde" slot=31205 nextActionWait=7m27s985ms126us530ns nextAttestationSlot=31235 nextProposalSlot=-1 syncCommitteeDuties=none head=13a131:31204
4. Helpful consensus client commands
View Logs Stop Start View Status Reset Database
Copy sudo journalctl -fu consensus | ccze
Example of Synced Nimbus Consensus Client Logs
Copy nimbus_beacon_node[292966]: INF 2023-02-05 01:20:00.000+00:00 Slot start topics="beacnde" slot=31205 epoch=903 sync=synced peers=80 head=13a131:31204 finalized=1111:cdba33411 delay=69us850ns
nimbus_beacon_node[292966]: INF 2023-02-05 01:20:08.000+00:00 Slot end topics="beacnde" slot=31205 nextActionWait=7m27s985ms126us530ns nextAttestationSlot=31235 nextProposalSlot=-1 syncCommitteeDuties=none head=13a131:31204
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/nimbus/db
#Perform checkpoint sync
sudo -u consensus /usr/local/bin/nimbus_beacon_node trustedNodeSync \
--network=holesky \
--trusted-node-url=https://holesky.beaconstate.ethstaker.cc \
--data-dir=/var/lib/nimbus \
--backfill=false
sudo systemctl restart consensus
With checkpoint sync, 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.