Cardano stake pool guide

tips, gotchas and other learnings

Hardware

• 2 x raspberry pi 4 model b, 8GB RAM: https://www.canakit.com/raspberry-pi-4-starter-kit.html
• 2 x samsung 970 evo SSD M.2 NVMe, minimum 250GB: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-970-EVO-250GB-MZ-V7E250BW/dp/B07BN5FJZQ
• 2 x icy box SSD enclosure: https://www.amazon.com/Icy-Box-External-Type-C-Enclosure/dp/B07Z4BKTQG/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2Y0W4MG08XD27&dchild=1&keywords=icy+box+ssd+enclosure&qid=1621606795&sprefix=icy+box+ssd+enc%2Celectronics%2C201&sr=8-3
• 2 x powered usb hub: https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-4-Port-Individual-Switches-HB-UM43/dp/B00JX1ZS5O
• any monitor that can connect with the raspberry 🥧 (micro HDMI): https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/raspberry-pi-setting-up/1

Raspberry Pie 🥧 setup (AcceptanceCriteria = bootloading Ubuntu from the USB storage rather than the microSD card slot $ because faster | cheaper | better)

• headless setup on both pies 🥧
  • https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/raspberry-pi-headless-setup-how-to,6028.html
  • https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/
  • https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/wireless/headless.md
• install Ubuntu on SSD flash drive
  • https://ubuntu.com/blog/how-to-install-ubuntu-with-the-new-raspberry-pi-imager
  • https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/
• boot load from USB (SSD $ flash drive (Samsung 970 M.2)) instead from the microSD slot
  • https://jamesachambers.com/raspberry-pi-4-ubuntu-20-04-usb-mass-storage-boot-guide/ (hardware recommended from this article)
  • https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/boot-raspberry-pi-4-usb
  • https://linuxhint.com/how_to_boot_raspberry_pi_4_from_usb_ssd/#:~:text=From%20the%20Raspberry%20Pi%20OS,re%20done%2C%20click%20on%20Start.

Build and configure the cardano node

• resource followed: https://www.coincashew.com/coins/overview-ada/guide-how-to-build-a-haskell-stakepool-node
• the following tools do not come packaged with ubuntu so you need to install them via apt: git, llvm, libnuma-dev, make, libtool, jq, net-tools, fail2ban
• during the libsodium build step
  • run the configure bash script with the following argument: ./configure --disable-dependency-tracking
• correctly set the LD_LIBRARY_PATH, the guide has it set incorrectly: export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$(llvm-config --libdir):$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
• the cli and node executable locations are different on the raspberry pie 🥧 vs the guide. during the copy step the executables can be found below:
  • ~/path/to/sourcecode/dist-newstyle/build/aarch64-linux/ghc-8.10.4/cardano-cli-1.27.0/x/cardano-cli/build/cardano-cli
  • ~/path/to/sourcecode/dist-newstyle/build/aarch64-linux/ghc-8.10.4/cardano-node-1.27.0/x/cardano-node/build/cardano-node

Harden Ubuntu on both raspberry pies 🥧

• follow most of the guide
• add the swap file step if necessary: https://cardano-node-installation.stakepool247.eu/adding-swap-virtual-memory