Running Core Full Nodes on Core Mainnet
A Core full node stores the entire history of the Core blockchain, enabling anyone to verify the state of any account. A Core full node can take many forms:
- Normal full node: for private use.
- Validator full node: acts as a validator on Core, validating blocks and transactions.
- RPC full node: provides RPC services and responds to HTTP requests.
This document provides a detailed guideline on running Normal Full Nodes on the Core network.
System Requirements​
There are several system requirements for setting up a Full Node on Core.
Software Specifications for Full Nodes on Core Mainnet​
- Currently, a Core Full Node can only run on Mac OS X and Linux.
Hardware Specifications for Full Nodes on Core Mainnet​
Core nodes perform several resource-intensive tasks, which can include storing blockchain data, verifying blocks or transactions, communicating with peer nodes, and answering network requests, depending on their configuration. For full nodes on Core mainnet, we recommend the following minimal hardware specs:
| Requirements | Details |
|---|---|
| Storage | 1 TB of free disk space |
| CPU | 4 CPU cores |
| RAM | 32 Gigabytes |
| Internet Speed | A broadband Internet connection with upload/download speeds of 5 Mbps |
Build and Run Full Node on Core Mainnet​
1. We recommend using the core-chain GitHub repository to directly build and run your full node, running your full node directly from our blockchain codebase. Instructions for building the source code can be found in the repository's README.
2. Download the node binary from the releases page of the core-chain repository. The node binary includes the relevant mainnet and testnet configuration files. This is the latest version.
3. Write the genesis state locally by executing the following command from your project directory:
geth --datadir node init genesis.json
You should see the following output:
INFO [07-18|14:57:20.715] Maximum peer count ETH=25 LES=0 total=25
INFO [07-18|14:57:20.721] Allocated cache and file handles database=/Users/jackcrypto/go/core-chain/node/geth/chaindata cache=16 handles=16
INFO [07-18|14:57:20.724] Writing custom genesis block
INFO [07-18|14:57:20.725] Persisted trie from memory database nodes=25 size=87.18kB time=226.129µs gcnodes=0 gcsize=0.00B gctime=0s livenodes=1 livesize=0.00B
INFO [07-18|14:57:20.725] Successfully wrote genesis state database=chaindata hash=d90508…5c034a
INFO [07-18|14:57:20.725] Allocated cache and file handles database=/Users/jackcrypto/go/core-chain/node/geth/lightchaindata cache=16 handles=16
INFO [07-18|14:57:20.729] Writing custom genesis block
INFO [07-18|14:57:20.729] Persisted trie from memory database nodes=25 size=87.18kB time=178.332µs gcnodes=0 gcsize=0.00B gctime=0s livenodes=1 livesize=0.00B
INFO [07-18|14:57:20.730] Successfully wrote genesis state database=lightchaindata hash=d90508…5c034a
4. Our full node is ready, let's start running it!
If you plan to run a normal node, you can just run the following geth command directly:
## start a full node
geth --config ./config.toml --datadir ./node --cache 8000
5. As our full node runs, we can monitor its logs to make sure that everything is operating correctly. The log file is located at /node/logs/core.log by default, but can be changed to another location if desired.