lighthouse-pulse/book/src/validator-create.md
Paul Hauner e504645767 Update validator guide for mainnet (#1951)
## Issue Addressed

NA

## Proposed Changes

Updates the validator guide to provide instructions for mainnet users.

## Additional Info

- ~~Blocked on #1751~~
2020-11-24 04:42:17 +00:00

92 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown

# Create a validator
[launchpad]: https://launchpad.ethereum.org/
>
> **Note: we recommend using the [Eth2 launchpad][launchpad] to create validators.**
Validators are fundamentally represented by a BLS keypair. In Lighthouse, we
use a [wallet](./wallet-create.md) to generate these keypairs. Once a wallet
exists, the `lighthouse account validator create` command is used to generate
the BLS keypair and all necessary information to submit a validator deposit and
have that validator operate in the `lighthouse validator_client`.
## Usage
To create a validator from a [wallet](./wallet-create.md), use the `lighthouse
account validator create` command:
```bash
lighthouse account validator create --help
Creates new validators from an existing EIP-2386 wallet using the EIP-2333 HD key derivation scheme.
USAGE:
lighthouse account_manager validator create [FLAGS] [OPTIONS]
FLAGS:
-h, --help Prints help information
--stdin-inputs If present, read all user inputs from stdin instead of tty.
--store-withdrawal-keystore If present, the withdrawal keystore will be stored alongside the voting keypair.
It is generally recommended to *not* store the withdrawal key and instead
generate them from the wallet seed when required.
-V, --version Prints version information
OPTIONS:
--at-most <AT_MOST_VALIDATORS>
Observe the number of validators in --validator-dir, only creating enough to reach the given count. Never
deletes an existing validator.
--count <VALIDATOR_COUNT>
The number of validators to create, regardless of how many already exist
-d, --datadir <DIR>
Used to specify a custom root data directory for lighthouse keys and databases. Defaults to
$HOME/.lighthouse/{network} where network is the value of the `network` flag Note: Users should specify
separate custom datadirs for different networks.
--debug-level <LEVEL>
The verbosity level for emitting logs. [default: info] [possible values: info, debug, trace, warn, error,
crit]
--deposit-gwei <DEPOSIT_GWEI>
The GWEI value of the deposit amount. Defaults to the minimum amount required for an active validator
(MAX_EFFECTIVE_BALANCE)
--network <network>
Name of the Eth2 chain Lighthouse will sync and follow. [default: mainnet] [possible values: medalla,
altona, spadina, pyrmont, mainnet, toledo]
--secrets-dir <SECRETS_DIR>
The path where the validator keystore passwords will be stored. Defaults to ~/.lighthouse/{network}/secrets
-s, --spec <DEPRECATED>
This flag is deprecated, it will be disallowed in a future release. This value is now derived from the
--network or --testnet-dir flags.
-t, --testnet-dir <DIR>
Path to directory containing eth2_testnet specs. Defaults to a hard-coded Lighthouse testnet. Only effective
if there is no existing database.
--wallet-name <WALLET_NAME> Use the wallet identified by this name
--wallet-password <WALLET_PASSWORD_PATH>
A path to a file containing the password which will unlock the wallet.
--wallets-dir <wallets-dir>
A path containing Eth2 EIP-2386 wallets. Defaults to ~/.lighthouse/{network}/wallets
```
## Example
The example assumes that the `wally` wallet was generated from the
[wallet](./wallet-create.md) example.
```bash
lighthouse --network pyrmont account validator create --name wally --wallet-password wally.pass --count 1
```
This command will:
- Derive a single new BLS keypair from wallet `wally` in `~/.lighthouse/{network}/wallets`, updating it so that it generates a
new key next time.
- Create a new directory in `~/.lighthouse/{network}/validators` containing:
- An encrypted keystore containing the validators voting keypair.
- An `eth1_deposit_data.rlp` assuming the default deposit amount (`32 ETH`
for most testnets and mainnet) which can be submitted to the deposit
contract for the Pyrmont testnet. Other testnets can be set via the
`--network` CLI param.
- Store a password to the validators voting keypair in `~/.lighthouse/{network}/secrets`.