ETH Docker
Last updated
Last updated
You will need to prepare your virtual machine (VM) or home staking hardware for all options below. Step-by-step guide below.
Create a new Google Cloud account to unlock $300 of free cloud credits.
Create a VM on the Google Cloud Console (or any other cloud provider) with the following machine specifications.
CPU: 4 vCPU
RAM: 16GB
Boot Disk: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Balanced persistent disk, 350GB SSD,
Identity & API access: No service account
Firewall: Enable HTTP & HTTPS traffic
Estimated cost per month on Google Cloud = $149, or 2 months of free practice time with $300 of cloud credits
SSH into your VM/hardware: Click on the dropdown beside the "SSH" column and select "Open in browser window". Click on "Authorize" when prompted.
Go to the ETH Docker repository and to get and run the installation commands. Run the next 2 commands in sequence.
Exit your virtual machine/hardware and re-login to add your host user into the sudo & docker user group.
Enable ethd to be called from anywhere on your terminal.
Next, configure the ETH Docker service. Tip: You can now call ethd from anywhere in your VM.
Follow along the prompts in the terminal UI (TUI) to:
Choose Holešovice Testnet >> Ethereum node - consensus, execution and validator client
Select the consensus + validator client and execution client and of your choice
Use the provided URL for Checkpoint Sync, select yes for MEV Boost, use default relay, yes for Grafana dashboards
Set Rewards Address to an ERC-20 wallet address that you control (e.g., Metamask, hardware wallet)
use default Graffiti, yes for generate validator keys
Arrow keys & Tab key: Cycle options
Space bar: Select option
Enter: Confirm option
CTRL+C: Exit individual screen monitoring view
Edit the .env file in the eth-docker folder.
Append :el-shared.yml and :cl-shared.yml in the COMPOSE_FILE line.
Example:
Now, the REST/HTTP/WS endpoints of your execution and consensus client can be accessed via:
Execution Client (HTTP): http://127.0.0.1:8545
Execution Client (WS): http://127.0.0.1:8546
Consensus Client: http://127.0.0.1:5052
Replace --execution_address with your actual ERC-20 wallet address (e.g., Metamask, hardware wallet) on mainnet. The pre-filled execution address here enables the ETHStaker community to fund the validator key on our behalf.
Follow the TUI prompts:
Choose language
Confirm withdrawal (execution layer) address
Number of validator keys to generate
Set password to encrypt validator keys - No "****" will be displayed so make sure to type your password carefully.
Save the 24-word mnemonic securely
Your validator keys will be saved in the ~/eth-docker/.eth/validator_keys folder.
Import the generated validator keys onto your validator client
This section only applies to the Holeksy testnet
Join the discord server here - https://discord.gg/ethstaker
Join the #cheap-holesky-validator channel
Type “/cheap-holesky-deposit <your ETH address> ” in the text box and press enter
Click on the link generated (ie. the Signer.is text shown below)
Connect your Metamask wallet and sign the message
Copy the URL and paste it in the Enter Signature box.
Copy the deposit data generated by the command below and paste it in a plain text file on your laptop (e.g., Notepad, Textedit), then it save as deposit_data_001.json.
Example:
[{"pubkey": "b72e61268081e28b583d78876cc1687d72be4c3592de1f9d585c96b4c64b25b49174f04ae6e55eb1e59247cb575c0157", "withdrawal_credentials": "010000000000000000000000f0179dec45a37423ead4fad5fcb136197872ead9", "amount": 32000000000, "signature": "8bb6e8838d15ea0ea23ed5151436ea07b65a0530ccfa9f5154b1fa394827df5add81510cf3463b79a387b0dffbe43ae417ea53b844b43d6a249fbc153fa1deda9fc089f218a845e382aa7455d804650e0e03232d3dad36b180bbdacd908f286c", "deposit_message_root": "8dbda15641eb7be3573f7377d10634c93c2b1dceb9fb6e519ec54ae0286d04c7", "deposit_data_root": "43f215ce19df49591db322bd4966667afc2a226a0a9812e5d60e31c60223991c", "fork_version": "01017000", "network_name": "holesky", "deposit_cli_version": "2.7.0"}]
Go to the Holesky Ethereum Staking Launchpad and select "Become a Validator".
Scroll down and skip through until you see this page. Then, upload your deposit_data_001.json file here and sign the transaction on your wallet.
Monitor the logs of your validator node to make sure that it is syncing (or synced) with no errors while you wait for Lido to provision your validator deposit with 32 ETH.
View logs of each docker container.
Flags:
-f: Follow along the logs in real time. CTRL+C to exit monitoring view
--tail: Print the last N lines of the logs.
Choose one to replace the <container_name> above.
Within the ~/eth-docker folder, run ./ethd help to print all available command line options.
Common options:
Update all clients & ETH Docker stack: ethd update
Stop ETH Docker: ethd down
Restart ETH Docker: ethd restart
Restart from scratch: ethd terminate
Resync consensus client: ethd resync-consensus
Resync execution client: ethd resync-execution
