0G Chain Validator Node Installation Guide

This guide provides the necessary steps to deploy a 0G Chain validator node. It covers dependency installation, binary compilation, node synchronization, and validator creation for the zgtendermint_16600-2 testnet.

Prerequisites

Before beginning the installation, ensure your system meets the following minimum requirements:

• Operating System: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or higher
• CPU: 4+ Cores
• RAM: 8GB+
• Storage: 500GB+ SSD
• Network: 100Mbps+ bandwidth

System Preparation

Update the local package index and install the required build dependencies for Go-based blockchain software.

sudo apt update && \
sudo apt install curl git jq build-essential gcc unzip wget lz4 -y

Install Go Environment

0G Chain requires Go version 1.22.0 or higher.

cd $HOME && \
ver="1.22.0" && \
wget "https://golang.org/dl/go$ver.linux-amd64.tar.gz" && \
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go && \
sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf "go$ver.linux-amd64.tar.gz" && \
rm "go$ver.linux-amd64.tar.gz" && \
echo "export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin:$HOME/go/bin" >> ~/.bash_profile && \
source ~/.bash_profile && \
go version

Binary Installation

Clone the official repository and build the 0gchaind binary from source.

git clone -b v0.3.0 https://github.com/0glabs/0g-chain.git
cd 0g-chain
make install
0gchaind version

Node Configuration

Define your environment variables to streamline the initialization process. Replace My_Node with your preferred moniker.

echo 'export MONIKER="My_Node"' >> ~/.bash_profile
echo 'export CHAIN_ID="zgtendermint_16600-2"' >> ~/.bash_profile
echo 'export WALLET_NAME="wallet"' >> ~/.bash_profile
echo 'export RPC_PORT="26657"' >> ~/.bash_profile
source $HOME/.bash_profile

Initialize Node

Initialize the configuration files and set the default keyring backend.

cd $HOME
0gchaind init $MONIKER --chain-id $CHAIN_ID
0gchaind config chain-id $CHAIN_ID
0gchaind config node tcp://localhost:$RPC_PORT
0gchaind config keyring-backend os

Network and Genesis Setup

Download the genesis file and configure seed nodes to allow your node to discover peers.

wget https://github.com/0glabs/0g-chain/releases/download/v0.2.3/genesis.json -O $HOME/.0gchain/config/genesis.json

SEEDS="81987895a11f6689ada254c6b57932ab7ed909b6@54.241.167.190:26656,010fb4de28667725a4fef26cdc7f9452cc34b16d@54.176.175.48:26656,e9b4bc203197b62cc7e6a80a64742e752f4210d5@54.193.250.204:26656,68b9145889e7576b652ca68d985826abd46ad660@18.166.164.232:26656"
sed -i.bak -e "s/^seeds *=.*/seeds = \"${SEEDS}\"/" $HOME/.0gchain/config/config.toml

Port Configuration

The following script updates config.toml and app.toml with standard port assignments and detects your external IP for P2P communication.

EXTERNAL_IP=$(wget -qO- eth0.me)
PROXY_APP_PORT=26658
P2P_PORT=26656
PPROF_PORT=6060
API_PORT=1317
GRPC_PORT=9090
GRPC_WEB_PORT=9091

# Update config.toml
sed -i \
    -e "s/\(proxy_app = \"tcp:\/\/\)\([^:]*\):\([0-9]*\).*/\1\2:$PROXY_APP_PORT\"/" \
    -e "s/\(laddr = \"tcp:\/\/\)\([^:]*\):\([0-9]*\).*/\1\2:$RPC_PORT\"/" \
    -e "s/\(pprof_laddr = \"\)\([^:]*\):\([0-9]*\).*/\1localhost:$PPROF_PORT\"/" \
    -e "/\[p2p\]/,/^\[/{s/\(laddr = \"tcp:\/\/\)\([^:]*\):\([0-9]*\).*/\1\2:$P2P_PORT\"/}" \
    -e "/\[p2p\]/,/^\[/{s/\(external_address = \"\)\([^:]*\):\([0-9]*\).*/\1${EXTERNAL_IP}:$P2P_PORT\"/; t; s/\(external_address = \"\).*/\1${EXTERNAL_IP}:$P2P_PORT\"/}" \
    $HOME/.0gchain/config/config.toml

# Update app.toml
sed -i \
    -e "/\[api\]/,/^\[/{s/\(address = \"tcp:\/\/\)\([^:]*\):\([0-9]*\)\(\".*\)/\1\2:$API_PORT\4/}" \
    -e "/\[grpc\]/,/^\[/{s/\(address = \"\)\([^:]*\):\([0-9]*\)\(\".*\)/\1\2:$GRPC_PORT\4/}" \
    -e "/\[grpc-web\]/,/^\[/{s/\(address = \"\)\([^:]*\):\([0-9]*\)\(\".*\)/\1\2:$GRPC_WEB_PORT\4/}" \
    -e "s/^minimum-gas-prices *=.*/minimum-gas-prices = \"0ua0gi\"/" \
    $HOME/.0gchain/config/app.toml

Storage Optimization (Optional)

To reduce disk usage, you can enable custom pruning settings.

sed -i \
    -e "s/^pruning *=.*/pruning = \"custom\"/" \
    -e "s/^pruning-keep-recent *=.*/pruning-keep-recent = \"100\"/" \
    -e "s/^pruning-interval *=.*/pruning-interval = \"10\"/" \
    "$HOME/.0gchain/config/app.toml"

Service Management

Create a systemd service file to ensure the node runs in the background and restarts automatically on failure.

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/0gd.service > /dev/null <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=0G Node
After=network.target

[Service]
User=$USER
Type=simple
ExecStart=$(which 0gchaind) start --home $HOME/.0gchain
Restart=on-failure
LimitNOFILE=65535

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable 0gd
sudo systemctl start 0gd

Monitoring Sync Status

Check the node’s logs and synchronization progress. The node is ready for validator operations only when catching_up is false.

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u 0gd -f -o cat

# Check sync status
0gchaind status | jq '{ latest_block_height: .sync_info.latest_block_height, catching_up: .sync_info.catching_up }'

Wallet Setup

Create a new wallet or restore an existing one. Ensure you securely back up your mnemonic phrase.

0gchaind keys add $WALLET_NAME --eth

To interact with the EVM-compatible faucet, extract your 0x address:

echo "0x$(0gchaind debug addr $(0gchaind keys show $WALLET_NAME -a) | grep hex | awk '{print $3}')"

Note: Request testnet tokens from the 0G Faucet before proceeding.

Validator Creation

Once the node is fully synced and funded, execute the following command to register your validator.

0gchaind tx staking create-validator \
--amount=1000000ua0gi \
--pubkey=$(0gchaind tendermint show-validator) \
--moniker="$MONIKER" \
--chain-id=zgtendermint_16600-2 \
--commission-rate="0.10" \
--commission-max-rate="0.20" \
--commission-max-change-rate="0.01" \
--details="0G infrastructure provider" \
--min-self-delegation="1" \
--from="$WALLET_NAME" \
--gas=auto \
--gas-adjustment=1.4 \
-y

Maintenance and Upgrades

When the network reaches a scheduled upgrade height (e.g., block 574000), follow these steps to update the binary.

cd $HOME
wget -O 0gchaind https://zgchaind-test.s3.ap-east-1.amazonaws.com/0gchaind-linux-v0.3.0
chmod +x $HOME/0gchaind
sudo mv $HOME/0gchaind $(which 0gchaind)
sudo systemctl restart 0gd

Verification Tasks

Task	Command
Check Balance	0gchaind q bank balances $(0gchaind keys show $WALLET_NAME -a)
RPC Connectivity	curl -X POST http://localhost:8545 -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_blockNumber","params":[],"id":1}'
Validator Status	Check moniker in 0G Explorer