# Run validator

## Run Deelance Validator

### Validator Hardware Requirements

#### Mainnet

* Instance Spec: Suggest r7a.4xlarge instance type on AWS.
* Memory: 64 GB
* Disk: **IMPORTANT** 4T GB, solid-state drive(SSD), gp3, 8k IOPS, 500 MB/S throughput, read latency <1ms (if start with snap sync, it will need NVMe SSD).
* Network Bandwidth: > 10 Gbps

#### Testnet

* CPU: "AMD Gen 3 or newer" or "Intel Ice Lake or newer"
* Memory: 16 GB
* Disk: 1.5 TB, solid-state drive(SSD), gp3, 8k IOPS, 250 MB/S throughput.
* Network Bandwidth: > 2.5 Gbps

### Setup Validator Node

#### 1. Install Deelance Fullnode

Follow the instructions here to set up a full node.

#### 2. Prepare Accounts

Two accounts require preparation before running a validator: the Consensus account and the BLS Vote account. Ensure these accounts match the corresponding ones when creating a new validator.

**Generate Consensus Address**

To create a new mining consensus account, run this command and set a password for the account:

```shell
geth account new --datadir ${DATA_DIR}
```

* `DATA_DIR`: Where your key store files are saved.

If you already have a consensus account, skip this step. Save the password in a file named password.txt:

```shell
echo {your-password for the consensus account} > password.txt
```

**Generate BLS Vote Address**

To set up a new BLS account, use this command:

```shell
geth bls account new --datadir ${DATA_DIR}
```

* `DATA_DIR`: The directory to store your key store files.

If you already have a BLS vote key, you can create a BLS wallet and recover it with the keyfile using:

```shell
geth bls account import ${KEY_FILE} --datadir ${DATA_DIR}
```

To retrieve your bls address, run:

```shell
geth bls account list --datadir ${DATA_DIR}
```

Save the password in a file named blspassword.txt:

```shell
echo {your-password for the BLS wallet} > blspassword.txt
```

#### 3. Start Validator Node

> Warning: Please do not expose your RPC endpoints to public network!

Start your validator using the command line below:

```bash
geth --config ./config.toml --datadir ./node --syncmode snap -unlock {accounts to sign txs, including your mining account at least} --miner.etherbase {the address of your mining account} --password password.txt --blspassword blspassword.txt --mine --vote --allow-insecure-unlock --cache 18000
```

### Post Running

#### 1. Update validator profile

You can submit a PullRequest to this repository to update your information: <https://github.com/bnb-chain/validator-directory>

#### 2. Publish Validator Information

Please submit a Pull Request to this repo <https://github.com/Deelance-Organization/dee-validator-directory>

This repository is a place for validator candidates to give potential delegators a brief introduction about your team and infrastructure, and present your ecosystem contributions.

#### 3. Stop Validating

You can stop mining new blocks by sending commands in **geth console**

Connect to your validator node with **geth attach ipc:path/to/geth.ipc**

```bash
miner.stop()
```

To resume validating,

```bash
miner.start()
```