How to set up a validator node 🌐

Pre-requisites

First of all, you need to have:

installed fetchd.
Configured and connected your validator to the desired network.

Also, it would be beneficial if you also explore the CLI documentation to understand how to correctly interact with the Fetch Ledger.

Creating a validator

If you wish to create a validator, you will need to send a transaction to the network to stake your FET tokens. This process registers you as a validator, and if you are one of the chosen validators, you will start to produce blocks. If you want to create a validator using fetchd Command Line Interface (CLI) you will need to send a create-validator transaction to the network as shown below:


fetchd tx staking create-validator \
  --amount=<the amount to bond> \
  --pubkey=$(fetchd tendermint show-validator) \
  --moniker="choose a moniker" \
  --chain-id=<chain_id> \
  --commission-rate="0.10" \
  --commission-max-rate="0.20" \
  --commission-max-change-rate="0.01" \
  --min-self-delegation="<the min self delegation>" \
  --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.5 --gas-prices "<network gas prices>" \
  --from=<key_name>

Dorado example

You should verify that you have some tokens available before trying to create a validator. The easiest way to do this is via the CLI. Below, you can find an example of a typical CLI command that registers the node as running the validator:


fetchd tx staking create-validator \
  --amount=1000000000000000000atestfet \
  --pubkey=$(fetchd tendermint show-validator) \
  --moniker="my-test-validator" \
  --chain-id=dorado-1 \
  --commission-rate="0.10" \
  --commission-max-rate="0.20" \
  --commission-max-change-rate="0.01" \
  --min-self-delegation="1000000000000000000" \
  --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.5 --gas-prices 1000000000atestfet \
  --from=test-key

Edit a validator configuration

It is possible that validators will need to adjust various settings about their nodes over the time. This can be simple things, such as the associated website for a validator, or more consequential actions, like altering the commission rate. In either case, should a validator choose to make this update they would send an edit-validator transaction to the network.

These transactions can be created in a similar way to the create-validator transaction depicted above:


fetchd tx staking edit-validator
  --moniker="choose a moniker" \
  --website="https://fetch.ai" \
  --details="To infinity and beyond!" \
  --chain-id=<chain_id> \
  --commission-rate="0.10" \
  --from=<key_name>

Unbonding a validator

Whenever and if a validator wants to stop being a validator for any reason, they can unbond some or all of their staked tokens. Unbonding refers to the process of withdrawing or removing a certain amount of staked tokens from a validator or a network after a defined waiting period.

This operation is carried out with the following CLI command:


fetchd tx staking unbond \
  <validator operator address> \
  <amount to remove> \
  --from <key name>

An instance of this command is given in the example below:


fetchd tx staking unbond \
  fetchvaloper1jqqwdch3jmzlmj4tjfn67s3sqm9elkd3wrpspf \
  1000000000000000000000atestfet \
  --gas auto --gas-adjustment 1.5 --gas-prices 1000000000atestfet \
  --from test-key