Runbook: Recommended Hardware Baseline for Node Operation

The Agoric chain is a vital component of the Agoric economy, and chain validators who operate nodes on the network will need powerful resources to keep the network running.

Chain validators should operate a node with the following recommendations in mind:

• An all-purpose server with at least 16 GB RAM
• Supported processor architecture with at least 4 cores/ vCPU
  • x86_64 CPUs are what we have most experience with and hence recommend
  • We aim to address issues with arm64 compatibility in due course, but we are not in a position to give them high priority at this time.
• High-performance SSD, e.g. NVMe SSD with storage that accommodates the following estimated value with a block cadence of 5 seconds/block:
  • a full node (with the default pruning=syncable) grows at the rate of ~6GB_month (approximately 200MB_day)
  • an archiving node (with pruning=nothing) grows at the rate of ~12GB_month (approximately 400MB_day)

Chain validators may also want to consider the following recommendations to support operating a validator:

• Minimum symmetric gigabit connection
• Internet-reachable IPv4 space with full control over all ports
• Layer 3 volumetric DoS mitigation
• Secure method for storing and interacting with key material, e.g. an HSM
• Configuration and change management procedures
• Disaster recovery and backup procedures
• High-availability of services across diverse geography
• Multi-factor authentication and access control

Discussion of this topic, including recommendations and edits is located in Issue #4014.