Validator Node Management

As a validator on Sui, there are some processes you need to perform to ensure your nodes are always optimized.

Storage management

All sui-node related data is stored by default under /opt/sui/db/. This is specified in the sui-node configuration file.

$ cat /opt/sui/config/validator.yaml | grep db-path

  db-path: /opt/sui/db/authorities_db
  db-path: /opt/sui/db/consensus_db

Ensure that you have an appropriately sized disk mounted for the database to write to.

• To check the size of the local sui-node databases:

$ du -sh /opt/sui/db/
$ du -sh /opt/sui/db/authorities_db
$ du -sh /opt/sui/db/consensus_db

• To delete the local sui-node databases:

$ sudo systemctl stop sui-node
$ sudo rm -rf /opt/sui/db/authorities_db /opt/sui/db/consensus_db

Key management

The following keys are used by sui-node:

Key	Scheme	Purpose
protocol.key	bls12381	Transactions
account.key	ed25519	Controls assets for staking
network.key	ed25519	State sync
worker.key	ed25519	Consensus (to be migrated)

These are configured in the sui-node configuration file.

Metrics

sui-node exposes metrics via a local HTTP interface. These can be scraped for use in a central monitoring system, as well as viewed directly from the node.

• View all metrics:

$ curl -s http://localhost:9184/metrics

• Search for a particular metric:

$ curl http://localhost:9184/metrics | grep <METRIC>

sui-node also pushes metrics to a central Sui metrics proxy.

Logs

Logs are controlled using the RUST_LOG environment variable.

The RUST_LOG_JSON=1 environment variable can optionally be set to enable logging in JSON structured format.

Depending on your deployment method, these are configured in the following places:

• Ansible
• Native systemd
• Docker Compose

To view and follow the sui-node logs:

$ journalctl -u sui-node -f

To search for a particular match:

$ journalctl -u sui-node -g <SEARCH_TERM>

• If you are using Docker Compose, look at the examples in the README.

It is possible to change the logging configuration while a node is running using the admin interface.

To view the currently configured logging values:

$ curl localhost:1337/logging

To change the currently configured logging values:

$ curl localhost:1337/logging -d "info"

Dashboards

Public dashboard for network-wide visibility:

• Sui Testnet Validators

Software updates

When an update is required to the sui-node software, the following process can be used. Follow the relevant Systemd or Docker Compose run book depending on your deployment type. It is highly unlikely that you want to restart with a clean database.

• Systemd
• Docker Compose

State sync

Checkpoints in Sui contain the permanent history of the network. They are comparable to blocks in other blockchains with one big difference being that they are lagging instead of leading. All transactions are final and executed prior to being included in a checkpoint.

These checkpoints are synchronized between validators and full nodes via a dedicated peer-to-peer state sync interface.

Inter-validator state sync is always permitted, however there are controls available to limit what full nodes are allowed to sync from a specific validator.

The default and recommended max-concurrent-connections: 0 configuration does not affect inter-validator state sync, but restricts all full nodes from syncing. The sui-node configuration can be modified to allow a known full node to sync from a validator:

p2p-config:
  anemo-config:
    max-concurrent-connections: 0
  seed-peers:
    - address: <multiaddr>  # The p2p address of the Full node
      peer-id: <peer-id>    # hex encoded network public key of the node
    - address: ...          # another permitted peer
      peer-id: ...

Chain operations

The following chain operations are executed using the sui CLI. This binary is built and provided as a release similar to sui-node, for example:

$ wget https://releases.sui.io/$SUI_SHA/sui
$ chmod +x sui

$ curl https://releases.sui.io/$SUI_SHA/sui -o sui
$ chmod +x sui

It is recommended and often required that the sui binary release/version matches that of the deployed network.

Updating on-chain metadata

You can leverage the validator tool to perform a majority of the following tasks.

An active/pending validator can update its on-chain metadata by submitting a transaction. Some metadata changes take effect immediately, including:

• Name
• Description
• Image URL
• Project URL

Other metadata (keys, addresses, and so on) only come into effect at the next epoch.

To update metadata, a validator makes a MoveCall transaction that interacts with the system object. For example:

1. To update name to new_validator_name, use the Sui Client CLI to call sui_system::update_validator_name:

tip

Beginning with the Sui v1.24.1 release, the --gas-budget option is no longer required for CLI commands.

$ sui client call --package 0x3 --module sui_system --function update_validator_name --args 0x5 \"new_validator_name\" --gas-budget 10000

2. To update the p2p address starting from next epoch to /ip4/192.168.1.1, use the Sui Client CLI to call sui_system::update_validator_next_epoch_p2p_address:

$ sui client call --package 0x3 --module sui_system --function update_validator_next_epoch_p2p_address --args 0x5 "[4, 192, 168, 1, 1]" --gas-budget 10000

See the full list of metadata update functions.

Operation Cap

To avoid touching account keys too often and allowing them to be stored off-line, validators can delegate the operation ability to another address. This address can then update the reference gas price and tallying rule on behalf of the validator.

Upon creating a validator, a UnverifiedValidatorOperationCap is created and transferred to the validator address. The holder of this Cap object (short for "Capability") therefore could perform operational actions for this validator. To authorize another address to conduct these operations, a validator transfers the object to another address that they control.

The transfer can be done by using Sui Client CLI: sui client transfer.

To rotate the delegatee address or revoke the authorization, the current holder of Cap transfers it to another address. In the event of compromised or lost keys, the validator could create a new Cap object to invalidate the incumbent one.

This is done by calling sui_system::rotate_operation_cap:

$ sui client call --package 0x3 --module sui_system --function rotate_operation_cap --args 0x5 --gas-budget 10000

By default, the new Cap object is transferred to the validator address, which then could be transferred to the new delegatee address. At this point, the old Cap becomes invalidated and no longer represents eligibility.

To get the current valid Cap object's ID of a validator, use the Sui Client CLI sui client objects command after setting the holder as the active address.

Updating the gas price survey quote

To update the gas price survey quote of a validator, which is used to calculate the reference gas price at the end of the epoch, the sender needs to hold a valid UnverifiedValidatorOperationCap. The sender could be the validator itself or a trusted delegatee.

To do so, call sui_system::request_set_gas_price:

$ sui client call --package 0x3 --module sui_system --function request_set_gas_price --args 0x5 {cap_object_id} {new_gas_price} --gas-budget 10000

Reporting/un-reporting validators

To report a validator or undo an existing report, the sender needs to hold a valid UnverifiedValidatorOperationCap. The sender could be the validator itself or a trusted delegatee.

To do so, call sui_system::report_validator/undo_report_validator:

$ sui client call --package 0x3 --module sui_system --function report_validator/undo_report_validator --args 0x5 {cap_object_id} {reportee_address} --gas-budget 10000

After a validator is reported by 2f + 1 other validators by voting power, their staking rewards are slashed.

Joining the validator set

For a Sui address to join the validator set, they need to first sign up as a validator candidate by calling sui_system::request_add_validator_candidate with their metadata and initial configs:

$ sui client call --package 0x3 --module sui_system --function request_add_validator_candidate --args 0x5 {protocol_pubkey_bytes} {network_pubkey_bytes} {worker_pubkey_bytes} {proof_of_possession} {name} {description} {image_url} {project_url} {net_address} {p2p_address} {primary_address} {worker_address} {gas_price} {commission_rate} --gas-budget 10000

After an address becomes a validator candidate, any address (including the candidate address itself) can start staking with the candidate's staking pool. After a candidate's staking pool has accumulated at least sui_system::MIN_VALIDATOR_JOINING_STAKE amount of stake, the candidate can call sui_system::request_add_validator to officially add themselves to next epoch's active validator set:

$ sui client call --package 0x3 --module sui_system --function request_add_validator --args 0x5 --gas-budget 10000000

Leaving the validator set

To leave the validator set starting next epoch, the sender needs to be an active validator in the current epoch and should call sui_system::request_remove_validator:

$ sui client call --package 0x3 --module sui_system --function request_remove_validator --args 0x5 --gas-budget 10000

After the validator is removed at the next epoch change, the staking pool becomes inactive and stakes can only be withdrawn from an inactive pool.

Private security fixes

There might be instances where urgent security fixes need to be rolled out before publicly announcing its presence (issues affecting liveliness, invariants such as SUI supply, governance, and so on). To not be actively exploited, Mysten Labs releases signed security binaries incorporating such fixes with a delay in publishing the source code until a large percentage of our validators have patched the vulnerability.

This release process is different and you should expect that announcements of the directory for such binaries are out of band. View the public key used to verify these binaries

There is also a script available that downloads all the necessary signed binaries and Docker artifacts incorporating the security fixes.

• Usage: ./download_private.sh <directory-name>

You can also download and verify specific binaries that might not be included by the above script using the download_and_verify_private_binary.sh script.

• Usage: ./download_and_verify_private_binary.sh <directory-name> <binary-name>