Being A Validator

What it's like to be a validator on Harmony ONE!

Becoming a Validator#

The TL;DR overview of becoming a validator at the current time#

• Create nodes (servers) to sign blocks for your validator wallet
• Create a brand and market it, a lot
• Find a way to add to the community, make people know you're helping
• Answer questions in the official harmony support channels
• Work on getting more delegations, you'll need it
• Debate when it's an appropriate time to add a 2nd BLS key to your server (right now it's around 10 million before you look at a 2nd key)
• Start new nodes as info and shard conditions change daily

Setting up a Server Node#

The TL;DR on creating nodes (servers)#

There's really not much to configuring a new harmony node server or rolling out an additional node when needed if you're familiar with Linux and if the following list is familiar to you:

• Create cloud server
• Create a non-root user account
• Create a directory for the install files and database
• Download and install hmy & harmony
• Setup BLS keys in .hmy/blskeys
• Import or create a wallet
• Sync Database
• Install and start service
• Setup scripts to assist with management

After Setup Steps#

The TL;DR on life after you've worked and become elected#

After you're elected and you've worked hard enough to secure enough delegates to become stable here's what the validator life is like daily.

• Monitor stats non stop on Smart Stake's Next Election site
• Monitor stats on your nodes
• Monitor uptime (aka missed signings)
• Investigate missed signings
• Make decisions on adding or removing BLS keys before elections every 18ish hours
• Take crap for making any decision
• Market your brand some more to get more delegations
• Repeat