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ETH Home Staking Collection
DVT Home Staking Curriculum
DVT Home Staking Curriculum
  • The DVT Home Staking Curriculum
  • Curriculum breakdown & timeline
  • Understanding ETH validators
    • Introduction to ETH Validators
    • Roles & Responsibilities of a node operator
    • Rewards and penalties
    • Importance of client diversity
    • Distributed Validator Technologies (DVTs)
    • Economics of using DVTs (WIP)
      • Diva Staking (WIP)
      • Obol (WIP)
      • SSV (WIP)
    • Bonded Validators
    • Economics of bonded validators (WIP)
  • Hardware & systems setup
    • Setup Overview
    • Hardware & system requirements
    • Procuring your hardware
    • Assemble your hardware
    • Practicing for free on Cloud VMs
      • Google Cloud
      • Alibaba Cloud
  • Linux OS, Networking, & Security
    • Install and prepare the OS
    • Networking & network security
    • Device level security setup
    • Verifying checksums
  • Installing & configuring your EL+CL clients
    • Set up and configure execution layer client
      • Nethermind
      • Besu
      • Geth
      • Erigon
      • Reth
    • Set up and configure consensus layer client
      • Teku BN
      • Nimbus BN
      • Lodestar BN
      • Lighthouse BN
      • Prysm BN
  • Keystore generation & MEV-Boost
    • Validator key generation
    • Set up and configure MEV-boost
  • Native Solo Staking Setup
    • Validator client setup
      • Teku VC
      • Nimbus VC
      • Lodestar VC
      • Lighthouse VC
      • Prysm VC
    • Depositing 32 ETH into your validator
    • Exiting your validator
  • Monitoring, Maintenance, and Updates
    • Set up monitoring suite
      • Installing & configuring Prometheus
      • Installing & configuring Node Exporter
      • Installing & configuring Grafana
      • Beaconcha.in App API
      • Client Uptime Check
    • Maintenance & Updates
      • Nethermind
      • Besu
      • Teku
      • Nimbus
      • Lodestar
      • Updating the monitoring suite
      • Preparing for Pectra
  • DVT Setup
    • Diva Staking
      • Diva Staking client setup
        • Default - All-in-one setup
        • Advanced - with standalone Lodestar VC
      • Registering your Diva node
      • Updating your Diva client
      • Monitoring your Diva Node
    • Obol
      • Techne Bronze Speedrun (Launchpad)
      • Obol + Bonded Validators (Techne Silver)
        • Obol + Lido CSM
    • SSV
      • SSV + Lido CSM (WIP)
      • SSV Operator
      • SSV Staker
  • Bonded Validators Setup
    • Lido CSM
      • Generating CSM keystores
      • Set Fee Recipient Address
        • Method 1: Configure on validator keys
        • Method 2: Configure on separate validator client
        • Verifying Fee Recipient Registered on MEV Relays
      • Upload/Remove/View validator keys
      • Rewards & bonds
      • Exiting CSM validators
        • "Lazy" exits (TESTNET ONLY)
        • Proper Exits
      • Role/Address management
      • Monitoring
      • Automations
        • CSM with ETHPillar
        • CSM with ETH Docker
        • CSM with Dappnode
    • Puffer
      • Non-Enclave: 2 ETH
    • Ether.fi
      • Receive distributed validator keyshares
    • Stader (WIP)
    • Rocketpool (WIP)
  • Liquid Staking Vaults
    • Stakewise V3
  • Mainnet
    • Mainnet Deployment
    • Heroglpyhs (WIP)
  • Best practices
    • Slashing prevention
    • Maximising uptime and performance
    • Optimising security
    • Managing your withdrawal wallet
  • Tips
    • Advanced networking
    • Downloading files from your node
  • Useful resources
    • General resources
    • Holesky Faucets
  • Automation/tools
    • ETHPillar
    • ETH Docker
    • Automated power on/off
      • Wake-on-LAN (WoL)
      • Network UPS Tools (NUT)
    • Validator Healthcheck Alerts
  • Solo Stakers Guild
    • Lido CSM+SSV+Obol (Testnet)
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On this page
  • Key considerations
  • Curriculum Scope
  1. Understanding ETH validators

Importance of client diversity

PreviousRewards and penaltiesNextDistributed Validator Technologies (DVTs)

Last updated 1 year ago

Your Ethereum validator node is made up of various pieces of software clients working together to process and attest to transactions. Being a decentralised network, Ethereum is not dependent on any single physical server/node.

However, if every node runs only on one single client set, the existence of crazy bugs or targeted attacks on the software layer can still disrupt this process.

When this happens, we, as validator node operators, will suffer penalties. These penalties increase exponentially when our validator nodes go offline together with a large portion of the network.

Looking at the chart below, correlation penalties involving 33% or more of the network will result in all of your staked ETH being slashed!

This is why there are at least 4 - 5 clients to choose from for execution layer and consensus layer clients today. With Geth owning more than 50% of the execution layer client market share today, the existence of a crazy bug causing validator nodes running Geth to double-sign will be catastrophic.

This is why we will be recommending minority clients for this curriculum.

Key considerations

Even though we should run minority clients, it does not automatically mean that any client can run on the same hardware. A key reason for Geth's popularity, other than its reliability, is the ability for it to run on minimal hardware.

Execution layer clients (updated 4th Feb 2024)

Client
CPU speed
RAM
Storage
SSD speeds
Sync speed
Market share

Geth

lowest

16 GB

2 TB

Good

2nd

78%

Besu

lower

32 GB

2 TB

Good

1st

5%

Nethermind

lower

32 GB

2 TB

Good

3rd

14%

Erigon

higher

32 GB

4 TB*

Good

4th

2%

*Erigon is optimised for running archival nodes (full nodes are sufficient for validators) and will consume 2 TB of disk space within several weeks after syncing.

Consensus layer clients (updated 4th Feb 2024)

Because the dependencies on hardware requirements is greater for the execution layer (EL) clients, the considerations for consensus layer (CL) clients will primarily be on market share.

Client
Market share

Prysm

38.93%

Lighthouse

33.01%

Teku

18.69%

Nimbus

8.21%

Lodestar

1.16%

Further, because all CL clients now have the checkpoint sync feature - enabling CL syncing in just a few minutes - we can rapidly switch between CL clients with minimal downtime when there are bugs in one.

Curriculum Scope

Because of the Key Considerations above, we will be covering the following clients as the scope for this DVT Home Staker Programme:

  1. Execution layer: Nethermind and Besu

  2. Consensus layer: Teku, Nimbus, Lodestar

Source on market share -

Source on market share -

https://clientdiversity.org/
https://clientdiversity.org/
Kiln's research on correlation penalties