Running a Node
This tutorial will walk you through setting up your own node on Pivotal.
Objectives
By the end of this tutorial you should be able to:
Deploy and sync a Pivotal node
Prerequisites
CAUTION
Running a node is time consuming, resource expensive, and potentially costly. If you don't already know why you want to run your own node, you probably don't need to.
If you're just getting started and need an RPC URL, you can use our free endpoints:
Mainnet:
https://mainnet.pivotalprotocol.com
Testnet (Sepolia):
https://sepolia.pivotalprotocol.com
Note: Our RPCs are rate-limited, they are not suitable for production apps.
Hardware requirements
We recommend you have this configuration to run a node:
8-Core CPU
at least 16 GB RAM
an SSD drive with at least 750GB (full node) or 4.5TB (archive node) free
If utilizing Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS), ensure timing buffered disk reads are fast enough in order to avoid latency issues alongside the rate of new blocks added to Pivotal during the initial synchronisation process.
Docker
This tutorial assumes you are familiar with Docker and have it running on your machine.
L1 RPC URL
You'll need your own L1 RPC URL. This can be one that you run yourself, or via a third-party provider.
Running a Node
Clone the repo.
Ensure you have an Ethereum L1 full node RPC available (not Pivotal), and set
OP_NODE_L1_ETH_RPC
&OP_NODE_L1_BEACON
(in the.env.*
file if usingdocker-compose
). If running your own L1 node, it needs to be synced before Pivotal will be able to fully sync.Uncomment the line relevant to your network (
.env.sepolia
, or.env.mainnet
) under the 2env_file
keys indocker-compose.yml
.Run
docker compose up
. Confirm you get a response from:
CAUTION
Syncing your node may take days and will consume a vast amount of your requests quota. Be sure to monitor usage and up your plan if needed.
Snapshots
If you're a prospective or current Pivotal Node operator and would like to restore from a snapshot to save time on the initial sync, it's possible to always get the latest available snapshot of the Pivotal chain on mainnet and/or testnet by using the following CLI commands. The snapshots are updated every week.
Restoring from snapshot
In the home directory of your Pivotal Node, create a folder named geth-data
. If you already have this folder, remove it to clear the existing state and then recreate it. Next, run the following code and wait for the operation to complete.
Testnet (Full)
Testnet (Archive)
Mainnet (Full)
Mainnet (Archive)
You'll then need to untar the downloaded snapshot and place the geth
subfolder inside of it in the geth-data
folder you created (unless you changed the location of your data directory).
Return to the root of your Pivotal node folder and start your node.
Your node should begin syncing from the last block in the snapshot.
Check the latest block to make sure you're syncing from the snapshot and that it restored correctly. If so, you can remove the snapshot archive that you downloaded.
Syncing
You can monitor the progress of your sync with:
You'll also know that the sync hasn't completed if you get Error: nonce has already been used
if you try to deploy using your node.
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