Eth2 Staker Checklist for launchpad

[hwwhww]

Hi! I'm working on adding an Eth2 Staker Checklist page on the launchpad so that the user can come back to check if they have set it well before the launch date. The target audience is amateur staker.

The document is the latest draft. Thanks to @CarlBeek and @sachayves for the early reviews! Please let me know if there are some important client-specific items or other recommendations for the users. 🙂

/cc @paulhauner @mratsim @rauljordan @ajsutton @cemozerr @q9f @protolambda @djrtwo

[hwwhww]

@sachayves suggested recommending VPN, but I have some concerns about that the latency may deteriorate the performance. Any thoughts?

[mratsim]

A VPN would go in a "Privacy" section because using a VPN means trusting your VPN provider instead of trusting your ISP. There are shady VPNs that might sell your data.

But being DOS-ed out of validation might be an issue without keeping your IP private.

[superphiz]

I question the recommendation to run the beacon node and validator on separate machines as a recommendation rather than a footnote suggestion. The 2019 article post describing this article is outdated with this item "Each validator needs to be initiated with a deposit of exactly 32 Ether and therefore people who wish to stake more ETH will need to run multiple validator instances. The node-client separation allows such users to only run a single beacon node with multiple validators connected to it thereby reducing computation, memory, and storage requirements."

I believe this architecture doesn't add significant security but it will be a deterrent to regular users as solo stakers because many are already talking about the beefy hardware requirements and nearly everyone has already purchased their hardware setup. Including this as a recommendation rather than an option will confuse a lot of people.

[hwwhww]

@superphiz

Thanks for the feedback, good points!

Two topics here:

1. Does putting VC/BN on the separate machines make the system more secure?

Ideally, we want to use advanced staking tools to manage the keys, e.g., having a remote signer, having a secret single leader election mechanism. IMHO, separate machines is an easier way to reduce some risks now. Users may also consider having sentry nodes architecture for better privacy + mitigate DDoS threat.

2. Is it needed for the solo staker?

I feel neutral to de-emphasize this option here. This document currently only has two levels of suggestions: "Required" and "Recommended" (which basically means "optional" here). I can move it to a new appendix section, so we can add other advanced solutions in the future. 🙂

[djrtwo]

Yeah, I had the same reaction on my first read.
I think that it's worthwhile to explore, but I don't expect most hobbyist (especially out the gate) to have multi-machine setups.

[superphiz]

I'm not completely sure how it fits into this checklist for launchpad, but a reddit user /u/Electracomplex, developed a launch preparedness checklist that is skill based rather than activity based. As I said, I don't know if it fits into this picture, but it's worth thinking about: https://github.com/eth2-educators/launch_checklist/blob/main/README.md

[hwwhww]

Suggested change

	- [ ] Port 19000 TCP/UDP for Nimbus
	- [ ] Port 9001 TCP/UDP for Teku
	- [ ] Port 9000 TCP/UDP for Nimbus
	- [ ] Port 9000 TCP/UDP for Teku

@superphiz
I think 19000 and 9001 are the recommended setting in Somer Esat's great guides. But they are actually 9000 by default in Nimbus and Teku.

https://status-im.github.io/nimbus-eth2/medalla-troubleshooting.html?highlight=9000#address-already-in-use-error
https://docs.teku.consensys.net/en/latest/Reference/CLI/CLI-Syntax/#p2p-port