Node Setup

Running a validator means operating a full node that participates in consensus, validates transactions, and stores model weights. This guide covers everything from provisioning hardware to verifying your node is synced.

Prerequisites

• A dedicated machine (bare metal or cloud VM)
• Stable network access with a public IP
• SOMA CLI installed and setup

Hardware Requirements

Validators handle consensus, data validation, and model weight storage. Underprovisioned machines will fall behind on sync and miss proposals.

Component	Minimum	Recommended
CPU	8 cores	16+ cores
RAM	32 GB	64 GB
Storage	500 GB NVMe SSD	1 TB NVMe SSD
Network	1 Gbps	10 Gbps

Software Requirements

• OS: Linux (Ubuntu 22.04+ recommended)
• SOMA binary: installed via sup

If you haven’t installed SOMA yet, follow the installation guide.

Configuration

The client configuration at ~/.soma/soma_config/client.yaml handles network settings. If you followed the configure client guide, this file already exists.

Key Configuration Parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
rpc-url	RPC endpoint for the network	testnet URL
environment	Network to connect to	testnet

Testnet

soma client switch --env testnet

Testnet is the default environment.

Network Ports

Ensure the following ports are open and accessible:

Port	Protocol	Purpose
8080	TCP	JSON-RPC
8084	TCP	Consensus (Mysticeti)
8085	TCP	Primary worker

Start the Node

1. Start the validator process:

   soma start validator

2. Verify the node is running by checking the logs for sync progress:

   soma status

   Look for increasing block height — this means your node is syncing with the network.

3. Wait for the node to fully sync before proceeding to join the network. A partially synced validator will miss proposals and may be penalized.

Troubleshooting

Common startup issues

Port conflicts — If the node fails to bind, another process is using one of the required ports. Check with lsof -i :8080 (or the relevant port) and either stop the conflicting process or reconfigure.

Insufficient disk space — NVMe storage fills up over time as the network grows. Monitor usage with df -h and plan for expansion. Running out of disk mid-sync will corrupt state.

Sync stalls — If block height stops advancing, check your network connection and firewall rules. Ensure ports 8084 (UDP) and 8085 (TCP) are reachable from the public internet. Restarting the node usually resolves transient stalls.

Memory errors — If the process is killed by the OOM killer, your machine doesn’t have enough RAM. Check dmesg | tail for OOM messages. Upgrade to at least 32 GB.