Environment Setup

This section will detail the hardware and software needed to run a Pocket node.

Hardware

Hardware Requirements: 4 CPU’s (or vCPU’s) | 16 GB RAM | 200GB Disk

These are just the hardware requirements for your Pocket node. You'll also need to run the full nodes of other blockchains, which may have their own hardware requirements that surpass Pocket's.

Software

There are three ways to install the software you need to run Pocket Network.

Source

Install your dependencies

• go

• go environment GOPATH & GOBIN

• git

Create source code directory

mkdir -p $GOPATH/src/github.com/pokt-network && cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/pokt-network

Download the source code

git clone https://github.com/pokt-network/pocket-core.git && cd pocket-core

Checkout the latest release

Command

git checkout tags/<release tag>

Example

git checkout tags/RC-0.8.2

Make sure you have $GOPATH setup

Command

echo $GOPATH

Response (Mac)

/Users/<your username>/go

Build your binary and put it in the $GOPATH/bin directory

Command

go build -o <$GOPATH/bin directory> <source code directory>/...

Example

go build -o $GOPATH/bin/pocket $GOPATH/src/github.com/pokt-network/pocket-core/app/cmd/pocket_core/main.go

Test your installation

Command

pocket version

Response

> RC-0.8.2

Check your version number against the latest release here.

Homebrew

Install your dependencies

• go
• go environment GOPATH & GOBIN
• Homebrew (Mac or Linux)

Install using Homebrew

brew tap pokt-network/pocket-core && brew install pokt-network/pocket-core/pocket

Test your installation

Command

pocket version

Response

> RC-0.8.2

Docker

See pokt-network/pocket-core-deployments

Environment

• Reverse Proxy: For SSL termination and request management

• Ports: Expose Pocket RPC (Default :8081) and P2P port (Default: 26656)

• SSL Cert: Required for Validator's serviceURI

Set your Open Files Limit

ulimit -Sn 16384

This Open Files Limit is set based on the standard config provided with Pocket Core in <datadir>/config/config.json. If you modify your config, you will need to ensure that you modify your Open Files Limit too, according to the formula below.

The required ulimit can be calculated using this formula:

({ulimit -Sn} >= {MaxNumInboundPeers} + {MaxNumOutboundPeers} + {GRPCMaxOpenConnections} + {MaxOpenConnections} + {Desired Concurrent Pocket RPC connections} + {100 (Constant number of wal, db and other open files)}

Secure your Server

Make sure the server that hosts your node is protected by up-to-date anti-virus and anti-malware software. Protect your node with a firewall but make sure to maintain login access for yourself and keep the above ports open.