Welcome Stakesaurs (Staker-saurs) 🦖 If you have not gone through the Conceptual Overview guide, I highly suggest taking some time to read it through here so that you have a better understanding of what you are doing at each step.

This guide lays out the steps required to set up a cloud-hosted Ethereum validator node using the Google Cloud services. We will be using the following technology stacks:

  1. Hardware: Google Cloud Services
  2. Operating System: Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS (x64)
  3. Network: ETH Holesky Testnet
  4. Execution Client: Geth
  5. Consensus Client: Lighthouse
  6. Web3 Wallet: Metamask

Warnings and Disclaimers

We have prepared this guide to facilitate hands-on learning via the Holeksy testnet. The steps described here are a simplified version of what professional node operators use and are meant to serve only as training materials for new learners.

Do not use this guide for setting up an ETH validator on the mainnet. You will lose any mainnet ETH you send to the Holesky test network.

A full disclaimer can be found at the bottom of this guide. This guide is prepared solely for informational purposes and shall not be relied on for actual deployment nor does it serve as professional advice. Stakesaurus does not guarantee the accuracy of the information contained in this guide and is not responsible for any damages or losses incurred by the reader from following this guide.

Recap on the Key Steps:

  1. Preparing your hardware. In this case, your server and client virtual machines on Google Cloud
  2. Prepare the operating system
  3. Securing your server and client machines - eg. setting up firewalls, SSH, anti brute force
  4. Validator key generation
  5. Set up and configure execution layer software (Geth)
  6. Set up and configure consensus layer software (Lighthouse)