Deploying a Sonic RPC Node

Step-by-step guide for deploying a new Sonic RPC Node on Testnet V1, including system requirements, hardware configurations, and setup instructions.

Table of Contents

1. System Requirements

2. Server Port Policy

3. System Tuning

4. Install Sonic Devnet Validator

5. Initialization

6. Configuration

7. Running the Node

8. Shutting Down the Node

9. Operator Guides

10. Support

System Requirements

Operating System

• Ubuntu Server 22.04.4 LTS

Hardware Requirements

Configuration	CPU	RAM	SSD
Low-End	64-core	512GB	10TB
Mid-Range	128-core	1T	15TB

Server Port Policy

• Open ports 80 and 443 for RPC external services.

• Open TCP and UDP protocol ports in the range of 8000 to 9000.

• Whitelist IP addresses 52.13.90.86.

After configuration, send your server's public IP address to [email protected].

System Tuning

Your system needs to be tuned to run properly. Your RPC validator may not start without these settings.

Optimize sysctl knobs:

sudo bash -c "cat >/etc/sysctl.d/21-solana-validator.conf <<EOF
# Increase UDP buffer sizes
net.core.rmem_default = 134217728
net.core.rmem_max = 134217728
net.core.wmem_default = 134217728
net.core.wmem_max = 134217728

# Increase memory mapped files limit
vm.max_map_count = 1000000

# Increase number of allowed open file descriptors
fs.nr_open = 1000000
EOF"

sudo sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/21-solana-validator.conf

Increase systemd and session file limits:

Add to the [Service] section of your systemd service file:

LimitNOFILE=1000000

Or add to the [Manager] section of /etc/systemd/system.conf:

DefaultLimitNOFILE=1000000

Then run:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

sudo bash -c "cat >/etc/security/limits.d/90-solana-nofiles.conf <<EOF
# Increase process file descriptor count limit
* - nofile 1000000
EOF"

Important: Close all open sessions. Log out then log in again after making these changes.

Install Sonic Testnet Validator

Option 1: Pre-built Binary Package

wget https://grid-sonic.hypergrid.dev/downloads/sonic_testnet_grid_v1.tar.gz
tar -zxvf sonic_testnet_grid_v1.tar.gz

Option 2: Build from Source Code

1. Install dependencies:

curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh
source $HOME/.cargo/env
rustup component add rustfmt

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libssl-dev libudev-dev pkg-config zlib1g-dev llvm clang cmake make libprotobuf-dev protobuf-compiler

2. Download the source code:

git clone https://github.com/mirrorworld-universe/hypergrid-grid
cd hypergrid-grid
git checkout base_on_1.18.23

3. Build

mkdir ~/sonic_node
./scripts/cargo-install-all.sh ~/sonic_node
cp ./start_node.sh ~/sonic_node/
cp ./stop_node.sh ~/sonic_node/

Initialization

cd ~/sonic_node
mkdir config
mkdir logs

./bin/solana-keygen new --no-passphrase
./bin/solana config set --url http://127.0.0.1:8899
./bin/solana-keygen new -o ./config/validator-keypair.json

Check System Variables

cat /proc/sys/net/core/rmem_default
cat /proc/sys/net/core/rmem_max
cat /proc/sys/net/core/wmem_default
cat /proc/sys/net/core/wmem_max
cat /proc/sys/vm/max_map_count
cat /proc/sys/fs/nr_open
cat /proc/sys/fs/file-max
cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness

Configuration

Edit the start_node.sh file and replace YOUR_PUBLIC_IP with your machine's public IP address.

This script contains various configuration options. Ensure you replace YOUR_PUBLIC_IP with your actual public IP address, VALIDATOR_ID, with the public address of the known validator on the cluster, and VALIDATOR_GENESIS_HASH with the genesis hash of the cluster you are deploying for.

mkdir -p /data/logs
mkdir -p /data1/accounts
mkdir -p /data/ledger

#!/bin/bash
export PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/root/sonic_node/bin
export RUST_LOG=${RUST_LOG:-solana=info,solana_runtime::message_processor=info,solana_metrics::metrics=warn}
export RUST_BACKTRACE=full
export SONIC_FEE_MULTIPLIER=5000

exec solana-validator \
    --identity ./config/validator-keypair.json \
    --known-validator VALIDATOR_ID \
    --repair-validator VALIDATOR_ID \
    --ledger ./ledger \
    --rpc-port 8899 \
    --full-rpc-api \
    --no-voting \
    --rpc-bind-address 0.0.0.0 \
    --only-known-rpc \
    --gossip-host YOUR_PUBLIC_IP \
    --gossip-port 8001 \
    --entrypoint 52.13.90.86:8001 \
    --public-rpc-address YOUR_PUBLIC_IP:8899 \
    --enable-rpc-transaction-history \
    --enable-extended-tx-metadata-storage \
    --no-wait-for-vote-to-start-leader \
    --no-os-network-limits-test \
    --rpc-pubsub-enable-block-subscription \
    --rpc-pubsub-enable-vote-subscription \
    --account-index program-id \
    --account-index spl-token-owner \
    --account-index spl-token-mint \
    --accounts-db-cache-limit-mb 102400 \
    --accounts-index-memory-limit-mb 40960 \
    --accounts-index-scan-results-limit-mb 40960 \
    --limit-ledger-size 500000000 \
    --expected-genesis-hash VALIDATOR_GENESIS_HASH \
    --wal-recovery-mode skip_any_corrupted_record \
    --log ./logs/validator.log &

Make sure to replace YOUR_PUBLIC_IP with your actual public IP address, and replace VALIDATOR_ID and VALIDATOR_GENESIS_HASH with the right values.

Testnet V1 Variables:

• VALIDATOR_ID: Ci2TRaVpJoNmTUVhw5tkTVnskXVJ7FQHCMKRFGrQSHJB

• VALIDATOR_GENESIS_HASH : E8nY8PG8PEdzANRsv91C2w28Dbw9w3AhLqRYfn5tNv2C

Devnet Variables (Deprecated):

• VALIDATOR_ID: CQqu5MsTpH1mTwEsZ75QzPtXGTz9ziEvKwpcAstKG9WJ

• VALIDATOR_GENESIS_HASH : BsJstMXKW4DpjzHPsSCdEcAn4YtpNiLFRFa5M5L7UxFx

Configuring Domain Name for your RPC Node

At this point, you should be ready to configure a domain name for your service. You may use Nginx or any reverse proxy of your choice.

Running the Node

./start_node.sh

Shutting Down the Node

You can gracefully shut down the node by running the following command inside the ~/sonic_nodedirectory

./stop_node.sh

Operator Guides

It is recommended to read the guides and operator best practices outlined in the official Solana documentation.

Support

For support or questions, contact the Sonic Operators team at [email protected] or DM @codebender828 on X.