Ethereum Validator

What is an Ethereum Validator server?

An Ethereum Validator server is a server that participates in the Ethereum blockchain consensus. It is responsible for validating transactions and blocks, and adding them to the blockchain. It's a server that runs 24/7 to ensure the network is secure and decentralized. Running the validator server rewards the owner with ETH from the network fees.

What are the hardware requirements?

The server needs to be up 24/7 to be a validator. It needs to have a good amount of RAM to be able to run the validator software. It also needs a good amount of storage to store the blockchain data (2-3TB), high network uptime and infrastructure stability.

What's the budget needed to run a validator server?

To start a validator server you need to deposit 32 ETH (check the price on CoinMarketCap). In the past the rewards couldn't be withdrawn, but after some updates it started to be possible. If you want to withdraw the starting deposit you need to terminate the validator.

Client Diversity

In the world of decentralization, there are many clients that can be used to run a validator. If the majority of validators use the same client, the network is less decentralized and in case of a bug of the validator client, the network could be compromised.
So, I started this server for a client in 2020 using Geth and Prysm, but then after trying different clients, I and the client decided to switch to Nimbus and Besu, which are less used but still secure and stable as you can see on Client Diversity website.

Monitoring

There are different ways to monitor a validator server. Starting from online dashboards, like Beaconcha.in, but it's also important to monitor the server itself.
For this reason I installed Prometheus and Grafana to monitor the server (example below).

Do you want to run a validator server?

If you want to run a ETH validator server or you search for someone who maintains yours, you can contact me.