Operate a Stake Pool
There are excellent guidelines available on how to set up cardano-node as a stake pool. You may even set one up without any prior Linux experience or concern for best practices. Simply copy and paste the commands from the instructions into your shell.
Unfortunately, simply getting your node up and running is insufficient. You must be able to manage, update, and safeguard it. To do so, you must first comprehend what you are doing in one of the testnets. Consider this category an entry point into the Cardano Pool Operator Community.
What are the prerequisites for persons who wish to learn how to run a stake pool?
- Knowledge of how to manage a server. You must be familiar with the operating system of your choosing in order to administer, maintain, and secure your server.
- This includes a thorough understanding of how networks operate, as well as how to backup and restore data.
- Experienced in interpreting documentation and implementing best practices.
- Understand Cardano, blockchain, wallets, and key pairs on a fundamental level.
What if I don't meet the requirements?
If you don't meet all of the qualifications, you'll need a strong desire to study and the understanding that you won't be able to learn everything in a few weeks.
We observed people who had no prior knowledge of Linux, shells, or networking, but who were committed and had enough time to properly deal with it, and who now manage a profitable stake pool. It isn't for everyone, and it isn't going to be simple. Here are a few resources to get you started:
Choose security over comfort
Best practices should always be a key consideration when running a stake pool. Security isn't something you can turn on or off or change in a configuration file. It is both an attitude and a way of life, therefore consider following the security related topics with stake pool operators on the Cardano Forum. Make sure to fully understand Cardano Key Pairs in the basic category.
Learn the basics
The basic category starts with an introduction to Cardano, you will learn the relay and block producer topology, what the hardware requirements are, which keys are available, which are hot and sensitive, and which you should never save on a server, no matter how convenient it is.
Stake pool operator resources
- Guild Operators, famous for their CNTools and top-notch content.
- Topology Updater is intended to be a temporary solution to allow everyone to activate their relay nodes without having to postpone and wait for manual topology completion requests.
- CNCLI is a collection of utilities to enhance and extend cardano-cli.
- Jormanager a Cardano stake pool management software.
- Stake Pool Operator Scripts a collection of scripts to manage your stake pool step-by-step.
- Coin Cashew Guides for stake pool operators.
- RaspberryPi with Docker Full guide to build and run both testnet and mainnet Cardano stake pool with Docker on Raspberry Pi. Youtube Playlist
- TOPO Guide. A friendly and complete guide to create a stake pool in Spanish
- Cardano Course, a cardano-node and cardano-cli course by IOG.