Techne Bronze Speedrun (Launchpad)

Requirements

Obol Techne Bronze Credentials require node operators to run 50 testnet validator keys as a distributed validator cluster for 3 weeks, where Obol will fund the testnet ETH required to activate the validator keys.

Hardware (Holesky)

CPU: 4 cores
RAM: 16GB
SSD: 350GB
OS: Ubuntu 24.04

Install dependencies

Install Docker.

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh

sudo groupadd docker
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Exit and re-login.

exit

Generate your Obol ENR

cd

# Use docker to create an ENR. Backup the file `.charon/charon-enr-private-key`.
docker run --rm -v "$(pwd):/opt/charon" -u $(id -u):$(id -g) obolnetwork/charon:v1.1.0 create enr

You should expect to see a console output like this:

Created ENR private key: .charon/charon-enr-private-key
enr:-JG4QGQpV4qYe32QFUAbY1UyGNtNcrVMip83cvJRhw1brMslPeyELIz3q6dsZ7GblVaCjL_8FKQhF6Syg-O_kIWztimGAYHY5EvPgmlkgnY0gmlwhH8AAAGJc2VjcDI1NmsxoQKzMe_GFPpSqtnYl-mJr8uZAUtmkqccsAx7ojGmFy-FY4N0Y3CCDhqDdWRwgg4u

Save the ENR public key in a text file on your laptop. You will need to use this in the next section.

The ENR public key is denoted as enr:-JG4QGQpV4qYe32QFUAbY1UyGNtNcrVMip83cvJRhw1brMslPeyELIz3q6dsZ7GblVaCjL_8FKQhF6Syg-O_kIWztimGAYHY5EvPgmlkgnY0gmlwhH8AAAGJc2VjcDI1NmsxoQKzMe_GFPpSqtnYl-mJr8uZAUtmkqccsAx7ojGmFy-FY4N0Y3CCDhqDdWRwgg4u in the example output above.

Restarting from scratch

If you want to redo the whole process, remove the existing charon-distributed-validator-node folder before re-running the set of commands above.

cd
sudo rm -r .charon

Register your ENRs

Appoint a cluster leader among your cluster.

The cluster leader will collect the wallet addresses of all members and configure the parameters of your cluster on the Obol Launchpad.

Select Create a cluster with a group >> read, click through, & sign the disclaimers with your wallet
Choose your cluster name and size (4, 7, or 10)
Input the wallet address of each operator
Set validators field to 50 (i.e., generate 50 validator keys)
Select SPLIT ONLY REWARDS under Withdrawal Configuration.
1. Set the Principal Recipient to 0x17E6F6270A101dc7687Cc9899889819EeAF8253f because we want Obol to fund our testnet validators.
2. Input the wallet addresses and the percentage split of each operator
Deploy 'Split Rewards' Contract (1 transaction) >> Confirm and sign (3 transactions)

Screenshots

Copy the group invite link and share it with your other cluster members.

They will need to accept the cluster configuration, input their respective ENR Public Keys , and then sign a message (2 transactions) with their respective wallet addresses set during the cluster creation step.

DKG Ceremony

Once all members have accepted the cluster configuration, everyone can now proceed to the distributed key generation (DKG) phase.

Each cluster member copies the DKG command generated for them and runs it on their own machine.

All cluster members need to run the DKG service within 30 minutes of one another and keep it running until the ceremony is complete.

Once the DKG ceremony is completed, back up the .charon folder containing the following important files:

charon-enr-private-key
cluster-lock.json
cluster-definition.yml
validator_keys/
deposit-data.json

Back up using one of the 2 methods below.

This is the most secure method but requires having SSH access to your server from your laptop's terminal (i.e., after manually adding SSH public keys to your server).

scp -i PATH_TO_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY -r USER@EXTERNAL_IP_ADDRESS:~/.charon $HOME/Documents

Your .charon folder will now be found on your laptop's Documents folder. Note that .charon is a hidden folder so you will not see it being displayed in your file system.

This is an alternative method if you have not set up SSH access to your server from your laptop's terminal. It is less secure as you will expose your files temporarily on your terminal.

Zip up the .charon folder and convert the zipped file into a base64 string. Then print out the resulting contents.

sudo tar -czvf - $HOME/.charon | base64 > dot_charon.tar.gz.b64
cat dot_charon.tar.gz.b64

Copy the entire output carefully and save it in a text editor on your laptop.
Clear your terminal and remove the bash history of your server to minimise exposure of these important files

clear
history -c

Restoring the files

To restore base64 encoded files, we basically need to reverse the process above.

Convert the base64 string back into a zipped file and then unzip the resulting archive.

base64 -d dot_charon.tar.gz.b64 > dot_charon.tar.gz
tar xvf dot_charon.tar.gz

The .charon folder will be found in the folder you ran the above command in. Run ls -la to see it.

Then, set the following permissions.

sudo chmod +x ~/.charon
sudo chmod 755 ~/.charon
sudo chmod 600 ~/.charon/charon-enr-private-key

Set up ETH Docker

Each cluster member needs to spin up a "vanilla" validator node.

ETH Docker

Changes to note:

Set the Reward Address to your cluster's Splitter contract.

Edit the configuration file

Edit the .env file in the eth-docker folder.

cd 
nano ~/eth-docker/.env

Append :lido-obol.yml in the COMPOSE_FILE line.

Example:

Change the CL_NODE line to http://charon:3600 (from http://consensus:5052)

Example:

CTRL+O, ENTER, CTRL+X to save and exit.

Start your Obol-enabled validator node

Migrate .charon contents into ETHDocker.

cd
sudo cp -r .charon/* eth-docker/.eth
sudo chown -R $USER:$USER eth-docker/.eth/validator_keys

Start ETH Docker.

ethd up

After all your services running via Docker "warmed up" for ~5 minutes, import your validator key shards.

ethd keys import

Monitoring Charon

Print Obol's Charon logs.

ethd logs charon -f --tail 20

Other monitoring commands under "View Logs" section of the overall ETH Docker page.

ETH Docker

Grafana Dashboards

Open up a browser webpage and enter the following URL.

http://<VM_external_IP>:3000

Enter "admin" for both the username and password.
Navigate to Dashboards. The 2 most common dashboards when running Obol DVTs are Charon Log Dashboard and Charon Overview

Register your cluster for funding

Cluster leader to fill up the Obol Techne Credentials registration form here.

Copy and paste the cluster-lock.json and deposit-data.json files from your node to a text editor your laptop so that you can upload them easily onto the form.

sudo cat ~/.charon/cluster-lock.json

sudo cat ~/.charon/deposit-data.json

Add Obol monitoring credentials

You will receive your monitoring credentials after registrering your cluster with Obol Techne Credentials Progamme and you will need to add it into your ETH Docker configuration.

Open up the obol-prom.yml file for editing.

nano ~/eth-docker/prometheus/obol-prom.yml

Replace the credentials field with your actual monitoring credentials.

CTRL+O, ENTER, CTRL+X to save and exit.

Copy the contents over into the custom-prom.yml file that is empty by default but already incorporated in the default ETH Docker configurations.

cp ~/eth-docker/prometheus/obol-prom.yml ~/eth-docker/prometheus/custom-prom.yml

Then, restart your ETH Docker services.

ethd down
ethd up

Securing your device

Firewall Rules

sudo ufw default deny incoming
sudo ufw default allow outgoing
sudo ufw allow 22/tcp # for SSH
sudo ufw allow 30303 # for the EL
sudo ufw allow 9000 # for the CL
sudo ufw allow 3000 # for the native Grafana
sudo ufw allow 3610 # for Obol P2P
sudo ufw enable