Starting a Node

To start your Fermah Prover Node, follow the instructions below.

Please make sure you are running Telemetry

Machine Limits

We need to modify the maximum open files and unix socket buffers to increase their limits.

Open Files

sudo echo "fermah	soft	nofile	65535" >> /etc/security/limits.conf
sudo echo "fermah	hard	nofile	65535" >> /etc/security/limits.conf

Unix Socket Buffers

sudo sysctl -w net.core.wmem_max=16777216
sudo sysctl -w net.core.rmem_max=16777216

Start

Run the command:

fpn

This command will start the prover-node binary, which connects you to our network using the provided key and wait for Proof Requests. It will also periodically check for updates and install them in the background.

Make sure the configuration file exists at ~/.fermah/config/prover-node-config.toml

Daemonization

Systemd

Service File

1. Create the file /etc/systemd/system/fermah.service

2. Set permissions sudo chmod 644 /etc/systemd/system/fermah.service

[Unit]
Description=Fermah Prover Node
After=network.target local-fs.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=%u
Group=%g
ExecStart=/home/%u/.fermah/bin/fpn
ExecStop=/bin/kill -s TERM $MAINPID
Restart=on-failure
KillMode=control-group
ExecStartPost=/bin/sleep 0.5
TimeoutStopSec=20
StartLimitBurst=5
RestartSec=5
StandardOutput=append:/var/log/fermah/pn.log

# Ensure log directory exists
ExecStartPre=/bin/mkdir -p /var/log/fermah
ExecStartPre=/bin/chown %u:%g /var/log/fermah
ExecStartPre=/bin/chmod 755 /var/log/fermah
LimitNOFILE=65535

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Logrotate

1. Create the file /etc/logrotate.d/fermah

2. Set permissions sudo chmod 644 /etc/logrotate.d/fermah

/var/log/fermah/pn.log {
    su root adm
    daily
    missingok
    rotate 30
    maxsize 1G
    compress
    notifempty
    postrotate
        /usr/lib/rsyslog/rsyslog-rotate
    endscript
}

Enable service

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable fermah.service
sudo systemctl start fermah.service

Docker

Kubernetes

Headless Password

If you are using a password for your machine keystore file, you can start the process headless with no prompts, by using the env var FERMAH_KEYSTORE_PW_FILE and setting it to the absolute path to the file containing the password.

Keep in mind these security considerations:

• Set password file permissions to 600

• Ensure the keystore file has 600 permissions.

• Run the systemd service with a non root user and owning both keystore file and password file