ANCORA Mainnet Validator Operation Guide
1. Validator Overview
Validators are the core infrastructure of the ANCORA network, responsible for block production, transaction validation, consensus voting, and network security. Validators earn staking rewards and transaction fees in exchange for secure, reliable operation.
2. Hardware & Infrastructure Requirements
2.1 Minimum Production Requirements
2.2 Security Requirements
Dedicated bare metal server (virtualized servers permitted but not recommended)
DDoS protection and firewall configuration
No open RPC ports to public internet
SSH key authentication only, no password login
Regular security patches and updates
3. Deployment Procedure
Environment Setup: Install Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, configure firewall and security settings
Binary Installation: Download and verify signed ANCORA core binary
Node Initialization: Initialize node data directory and configuration
Peer Configuration: Connect to bootstrap nodes and sync genesis state
State Sync: Perform fast state sync to catch up to current chain height
Key Generation: Generate validator consensus and network keys
Stake Deposit: Submit validator stake deposit transaction
Activation: Wait for validator set inclusion at next epoch boundary
4. Operation & Monitoring
4.1 Key Metrics to Monitor
Block height sync status
Consensus voting participation rate
Peer connection count and health
Memory, CPU, and disk utilization
Missed block and vote count
Slashing protection status
4.2 Recommended Monitoring Stack
Prometheus + Grafana for metrics visualization
Alertmanager for critical alerting
PagerDuty or OpsGenie for on-call notification
ELK stack for log aggregation and analysis
5. Rewards & Economics
Expected Annual Return: 5-8% APY on staked amount (varies with total stake)
Reward Distribution: Automatic distribution at end of each epoch
Commission Rate: Validators may set 0-20% commission on rewards for delegators
Withdrawal: Rewards withdrawable after 2 epoch cooldown period