Skip to content
Validators
/
Support external chains
/
Ethereum

Ethereum

Set up your Ethereum Mainnet or Ropsten Testnet node post transition to PoS

Prerequisites

High level Steps

  1. Install Geth
  2. Install consensus layer
  3. Expose methods

Install Geth

In this guide we will be installing Geth with the built-in launchpad PPAs (Personal Package Archives) on Ubuntu. If you are on different OS, please refer to the official Documentation.

Note: For post merge sync Geth version should be minimum 1.10.18-stable

1. Enable launchpad repository
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ethereum/ethereum
2. Install the latest version of go-ethereum:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ethereum
3. Install a consensus layer :

To sync after the latest merge in Ropsten network geth nodes should run a consensus client to be able to keep in sync with the chain. The list of consensus clients can be found in https://ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/nodes-and-clients/#consensus-clients

Users can opt for any Consensus client. To install Prysm as Consensus client

mkdir prysm && cd prysm
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/prysmaticlabs/prysm/master/prysm.sh --output prysm.sh && chmod +x prysm.sh
export USE_PRYSM_VERSION=v2.1.3-rc.3
#Download the Ropsten network genesis file
wget https://github.com/eth-clients/merge-testnets/raw/main/ropsten-beacon-chain/genesis.ssz
#Generate a secret key for authentication 
Generate a random 32byte hex string and store it in a local directory 
#Start Local Prysm beacon chain 
./prysm.sh beacon-chain --http-web3provider=http://localhost:8551  --jwt-secret=/PathToFile/jwtsecret --ropsten --genesis-state=./genesis.ssz --block-batch-limit=64

Refer:

https://docs.prylabs.network/docs/execution-node/authentication/

https://docs.prylabs.network/docs/next/install/install-with-script

[https://seanwasere.com/generate-random-hex/]

Run geth through systemd

1. Create systemd service file

After installation of go-ethereum, we are now ready to start the geth process but in order to ensure it is running in the background and auto-restarts in case of a server failure, we will setup a service file with systemd.

📝

Note: In the service file below you need to replace $USER and path to geth, depending on your system configuration.

sudo tee <<EOF >/dev/null /etc/systemd/system/geth.service
[Unit]
Description=Ethereum Node
After=network.target

[Service]
User=$USER
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/geth --syncmode "snap" --http --http.api=eth,net,web3,engine --http.vhosts * --http.addr 0.0.0.0 --authrpc.jwtsecret=/PathToFile/jwtsecret --override.terminaltotaldifficulty 50000000000000000
Restart=on-failure
LimitNOFILE=65535

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF
⚠️

If you would like to run a node on the Testnet instead (Ropsten), you need to add the --ropsten flag to the configuration above.

2. Enable and start the geth service
sudo systemctl enable geth
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl start geth

If everything was set-up correctly, your Ethereum node should now be starting the process of synchronization. This will take several hours, depending on your hardware.To check the status of the running service or to follow the logs, you can use:

sudo systemctl status geth
sudo journalctl -u geth -f
3. Verify if its in sync

To verify if your node is in sync you can check the latest block from the explorer. Compare it with what you have in sudo journalctl -u geth -f

Test your Ethereum RPC connection

Alternatively, you can now also use the Geth JavaScript console and check status of your node by attaching to your newly created geth.ipc. Don't forget to replace $USER and path, depending on your server configuration.

geth attach ipc:/root/.ethereum/geth.ipc
eth.syncing

#Testnet
#geth attach ipc:/root/.ethereum/ropsten/geth.ipc

Once your node is fully synced, the output from above will say false. To test your Ethereum node, you can send an RPC request using cURL

curl -X POST http://localhost:8545 \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
--data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_syncing","params":[],"id":1}'

If you are testing it remotely, please replace localhost with the IP or URL of your server.

EVM RPC endpoint URL

In order for Axelar Network to connect to your Ethereum node, your rpc_addr should be exposed in this format:

http://IP:PORT

Example: http://192.168.192.168:8545

Upgrade geth if necessary

If new release of geth is out, you can update it by following commands.

sudo systemctl stop geth
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade geth

Check that you are on latest version. The last version is 1.10.20-stable

geth version

Start you geth service and check logs.

sudo systemctl enable geth
sudo systemctl start geth
journalctl -u geth -f -n 100
Binance
Fantom