Lighthouse client Installation guide

Configurate the service

1. Create a user for lighthouse beacon

   Service/User name:

   sudo useradd --system --no-create-home --shell /bin/false lighthousebeacon

2. Create a directory for data

   Service data directory:

   sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/lighthouse/beacon

3. Set permission for accessing the directory

   sudo chown -R lighthousebeacon:lighthousebeacon /var/lib/lighthouse/beacon

4. Communication ports selection

   Each service on the server needs a custom port for communication. Through ports, consensus client communicates with other peers in the network as well as other services running on the server, such as validator clients. There is an IPv4 and IPv6 variant, depending on the ISP support / preference. Each protocol version needs custom port. If you are not sure what to select, continue with default IPv4 port.

   1. Configurate public IPv4 port for P2P communication with other peers

      • Choose P2P communication port: default (9000) Custom
      • Verify availability of selected port 9000

        ss -tuln | grep ':9000'

        If it returns empty response, the port 9000 is free and can be used.

      • Enable traffic on the port through UFW

        sudo ufw allow 9000

      • Disable IPv6 traffic on the port
        • List allowed ports

          sudo ufw status numbered

        • Find order number for V6, see 9000 (V6) and remove it with the following line

          sudo ufw delete <Number>

   2. QUIC IPv4 port

      • Choose QUIC IPv4 port: default (9001) Custom
      • Verify availability of selected port 9001

        ss -tuln | grep ':9001'

        If it returns empty response, the port 9001 is free and can be used.

   3. Beacon API port for internal communication

      • Choose Beacon API port: default Custom
      • Verify availability of selected port 5052

        ss -tuln | grep ':5052'

        If it returns empty response, the port 5052 is free and can be used.

   1. Configurate public IPv6 port for P2P communication with other peers

      • P2P communication port: default (9090) Custom
      • Verify availability of selected port 9090

        ss -tuln | grep ':9090'

        If it returns empty response, the port 9090 is free and can be used.

      • Enable traffic on the port through UFW

        sudo ufw allow 9090

      • Disable IPv6 traffic on the port
        • List allowed ports

          sudo ufw status numbered

        • Find order number for V6, see 9090 and remove it with the following line

          sudo ufw delete <Number>

   2. QUIC IPv6 port

      • Choose QUIC IPv4 port: default Custom
      • Verify availability of selected port 9091

        ss -tuln | grep ':9091'

        If it returns empty response, the port 9091 is free and can be used.

5. Create configuration file for Lighthouse Beacon service

   Open Lighthouse Beacon configuration file

   sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/lighthousebeacon.service

   Copy the configuration below into the file. If needed, check flags documentation.

   [Unit]
   Description=Lighthouse Consensus Client BN (Ethereum Mainnet)
   Wants=network-online.target
   After=network-online.target
   
   [Service]
   User=lighthousebeacon
   Group=lighthousebeacon
   Type=simple
   Restart=always
   RestartSec=5
   ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/lighthouse bn \
     --network mainnet \
     --datadir /var/lib/lighthouse \
     --http \
     --execution-endpoint http://127.0.0.1:8551 \
     --execution-jwt /var/lib/jwtsecret/ethereum.hex \
   #  --target-peers 80 \
     --checkpoint-sync-url https://beaconstate.info \
     --port 9000 \
     --port6 9090 \
   #  --discovery-port 9000 \
     --quic-port 9001 \
     --quic-port6 9091 \
     --http-port 5052
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target

   Notes:

   • You can find all available flags at https://lighthouse-book.sigmaprime.io/help_bn.html
   • Update execution-jwt, if you use different
   • You can uncomment --target-peers to reduce bandwidth
   • You can configurate checkpoint-sync-url for a quick synchronization from a selected Checkpoint sync endpoint. After enabling it, verify, that you are on on the expected chain, see https://beaconstate.info/ → Get started → Lighthouse
   • If you operate more nodes in the local network, you can configurate --trusted-peers flag. You can get peer_id from BeaconChain API through PROTOCOL://IP:PORT/eth/v1/node/identity` command.

   [Unit]
   Description=Lighthouse Consensus Client BN (Gnosis Network)
   Wants=network-online.target
   After=network-online.target
   
   [Service]
   User=lighthousebeacon
   Group=lighthousebeacon
   Type=simple
   Restart=always
   RestartSec=5
   ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/lighthouse bn \
     --network gnosis \
     --datadir /var/lib/lighthouse \
   #  --subscribe-all-subnets \
     --execution-endpoint http://localhost:8551 \
     --execution-jwt /var/lib/jwtsecret/gnosis.hex \
   #  --target-peers 80 \
     --checkpoint-sync-url https://checkpoint.gnosischain.com \
     --http \
     --port 9000 \
     --port6 9090 \
   #  --discovery-port 9000 \
     --quic-port 9001 \
     --quic-port6 9091 \
     --http-port 5052
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target

   Notes:

   • You can find all available flags at https://lighthouse-book.sigmaprime.io/help_bn.html
   • Update execution-jwt, if you use different
   • You can uncomment checkpoint-sync-url for a quick synchronization from a checpoint. After enabling it, verify, that you are on on the expected chain, see https://checkpoint.gnosischain.com/ → Get started → Lighthouse
   • You can uncomment --target-peers to reduce bandwidth
   • If you operate more nodes in the local network, you can configurate --trusted-peers flag. You can get peer_id from BeaconChain API through PROTOCOL://IP:PORT/eth/v1/node/identity` command.
   *Note: Update execution-jwt, if you use different

   Press CTRL + X then Y then ENTER to save and exit the config file.

6. Load changes made in config files to the system

   sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Launch the service

• Start the service

  sudo systemctl start lighthousebeacon

• Check the state

  systemctl status lighthousebeacon && journalctl -fu lighthousebeacon

• Activate service to start automatically

  sudo systemctl enable lighthousebeacon

  • Open Delayed Start shell

    sudo nano /usr/local/bin/delayed-start.sh

    Configurate service start inside it

    systemctl start lighthousebeacon.service

  • Be sure, delayed-start.service service controlling delayed-start.sh is enabled for auto start with system startup

    sudo systemctl enable delayed-start.service

  1. Configurate Staking Manager util

     • Open the configuration file

       sudo nano /usr/local/etc/staking/config/clients.conf

       If the file is empty, generate it with command sudo /usr/local/bin/staking.sh init

     • Set link to proper service. It should be as follow:

       beaconServices="lighthousebeacon"

       If you place more services to the category, separate them with a space, see beaconServices="service1 service2 service3 ..."

  2. Activate service to start automatically on OS startup

     • Open Start with delay util

       sudo nano /usr/local/bin/delayed-start.sh

     • Place or uncomment a command to start the beacon client(s)

       /usr/local/bin/staking.sh start beacon

     • Verify, that a service `delayed-start.service` exists and is automatically launched on system start.

       sudo systemctl enable delayed-start.service