Node Requirements

The Hedera Mainnet is currently comprised of permissioned consensus nodes operated by the Hedera Governing Council

The following is provided to help Hedera Governing Council members deploy their permissioned mainnet consensus node. Please note, this information is not intended to apply to Hedera's transition to a permissionless network.

Minimum Node Platform Requirements

Currently, the Hedera Mainnet will perform at a rate determined by the lowest-performing node. To ensure a common level of performance minimum hardware, connectivity, and hosting requirements have been defined for the initial permissioned, Governing Council nodes.

To ensure accurate conformity with the minimum requirements, please provide node hardware, connectivity, and hosting details to Hedera prior to purchase (devops@hashgraph.com).

CPU: X86/X64 compatible (Intel Xeon or AMD EPYC); 24 cores/48 threads meeting or exceeding the following benchmarks:
- Geekbench 6 single-core score
  - Minimum: 1000 or greater
  - Recommended: 1500 or greater
- Passmark single thread rating:
  - Minimum to remain on Mainnet: 2300 or greater
  - Recommended: 2800 or greater
Network Connectivity: Sustained 1Gb/s internet bandwidth via a single 1-Gigabit / 10-Gigabit Ethernet interface
Memory: 256 GB PC4-21300 2666MHz DDR4 ECC Registered DIMM or faster (minimum), 320GB or higher PC4-25600 3200MHz (recommended)
Storage: It is recommended to mount 240 GB SSD with Raid 1 as a root volume / and then provide usable storage via different devices later mounted during installation. This may not be possible on your hardware, so alternatively all required storage may be allocated to the root volume.
- Minimum: 5TB of SSD NVMe usable storage
- Recommended:
  - 2 x 240GB SSD with RAID 1 for OS Storage
  - 2 x NVMe devices as a 7.5TB RAID 0 (or 4x as RAID 10 array)
Storage performance: If mounted to root volume, the root volume must meet these requirements. If provisioned via RAID, the RAID array should meet these requirements:
- Sequential write sustained:
  - Minimum: 2,000 MBps
  - Recommended: 3,000 MBps
- Sequential read sustained:
  - Minimum: 3,000 MBps
  - Recommended: 6,200 MBps
- Random read, synchronous:
  - Minimum: 250,000 IOPS
  - Recommended: 1,000,000 IOPS
- Random read, AIO:
  - Minimum: 500,000 IOPS
  - Recommended: 1,000,000 IOPS
- Random write, synchronous:
  - Minimum: 100,000 IOPS
  - Recommended: 170,000 IOPS
- Less than 200µs random read latency, average
Nodes must pass the Hedera performance test suite performed at installation time

Node Operating System:

Linux
- Minimum kernel mainline versions (not distribution version)
  - 6.2.0
  - 6.1.2
  - 6.0.16
  - 5.15.86
- Actively Supported Long-Term-Support (LTS) 64-bit Linux Distributions
  - Ubuntu LTS 22.04
  - Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8 and 9
  - Oracle Linux 8 and 9

Node Software:

Docker Engine (docker-ce version 20.10.6)
- Deployed with root privileges
- Privileged container support enabled (optional)
  - If privileged container support is disabled then host machine must run the Havege Daemon
Docker Compose (docker-compose version 1.29.2)
IPTables Support (linux-kernel version 3.10+)
Havege Daemon (haveged version 1.9.14)
- If privileged container support is enabled then this requirement is optional
HashDeep Utilities (hashdeep version 4.4)
- Required for update integrity validation
Bindplane Collector (bindplane-collector version 4+)
- Required for node software log monitoring
JQ CLI (jq version 1.5+)
- Required dependency for the Node Management Tools
GNU CoreUtils (coreutils version 8.00+)
- Required dependency for the Node Management Tools
cURL CLI (curl version 7.58.0+)
- Required dependency for the Node Management Tools
InCron Daemon (incron version 0.5.12+)
- Required dependency for the Node Management Tools
- Required for automated network upgrade
Rsync CLI (rsync version 3.0.0+)
- Required dependency for the Node Management Tools
- Required for automated network upgrade
Node Management Tools (node-mgmt-tools version 0.1.0+)
- Updates deployed via the node upgrade process
- Must be installed at the following path: /opt/hgcapp/node-mgmt-tools
  - The path must be writable and executable by the hgcadmin user account

System User Accounts:

Node Software Account (mandatory)
- User Specification
  - Name: hedera
  - Unix UID: 2000
  - Group Membership
    Primary: hedera
    Secondary: admin or wheel (depending on Linux distribution)
  - Permissions:
    Read, Write, and Execute Access to the entire /opt/hgcapp folder tree
- Group Specification
  - Name: hedera
  - Unix GID: 2000

Note: Reference Configurations available in Appendices B, C, D

Proxy

Access to the node via public APIs must be mediated by an in-line proxy. Below are the specifications for establishing this proxy.

2- core-x86/x64 CPU
4GB RAM
100GB SSD storage
200Mb/s sustained internet network connectivity with public static IP address
Supported Docker (Hedera to provide Docker image with HAProxy)

Network Connectivity

Node Connectivity

1Gbps internet connectivity – sustained (not burstable)
- Unmetered preferred
- Deployed with firewalled access to other mainnet consensus nodes
Node deployed in dedicated (isolated) DMZ network
- Static IP (FQDN is not supported)
- TCP Port 50111 open to 0.0.0.0/0
- TCP Port 50211 open to 0.0.0.0/0
- TCP Port 50212 open to 0.0.0.0/0
- TCP Port 80 open egress to 0.0.0.0/0 (for OS package repository connectivity)
- TCP Port 443 open egress to 0.0.0.0/0 (for OS package repository connectivity)
- UDP Port 123 open ingress and egress to 0.0.0.0/0 (for NTP pool synchronization of system time)

Proxy Connectivity

Static IP address (FQDN not supported)
200Mb/s internet connectivity
TCP Port 80 open egress to 0.0.0.0/0 (for OS package repository connectivity)
TCP Port 443 open egress to 0.0.0.0/0 (for OS package repository connectivity)
TCP Port 50211 open to 0.0.0.0/0
TCP Port 50212 open to 0.0.0.0/0

Interface Bonding (optional)

If using interface bonding, note that mutual TLS is in use, and Layer 3 Policy Based Routing (PBR) with dual-pathways is not supported. Only Layer 2 interface bonding using mode 1 (autonomous ports using active-backup) or mode 4 (LACP 802.3ad active/active) is supported.

Hosting

Industry-standard hosting requirements for security and availability
- Tier 1 Data Center Hosting facility
- SSAE 16 /18, SOC 2 Type 2 compliant
Hedera will seek to avoid duplicating hosting providers across Council members

Network Topology /(Typical Corporate Datacenter Configuration/)

Deployment Steps

The following steps outline the process for Council Members to add their consensus node to the mainnet.

Initial contact with Council Member and node hosting entity
1. Identify key individuals and project managers
2. Establish regular deployment team meeting cadence
Conveyance of technical requirements and discussion of deployment options
Node platform acquisition
1. Hardware or virtual instance
2. Network connectivity
3. Hosting facility
Configuration of the operating system on platform
1. Provisioning of accounts as specified
2. Provisioning of network access (firewall rules/access control lists)
Conveyance of credentials to Hedera
1. Includes any special instructions for permissioned access such as VPNs
2. Discussion of support and escalation paths between organizations
Hedera undertakes configuration review
1. Platform
2. Connectivity
Deployment of Hedera consensus node software and required supporting libraries
Add connection configuration for a Hedera performance testnet
1. Hedera executes functional, stability and performance tests for all network services
Review of test results and determination of preparedness for mainnet connectivity
1. Review key management documentation related to Council Member's accounts including: fee account, proxy staking account, et al.
2. Update private keys using provided tools
Schedule mainnet connection
Mainnet live

PreviousMainnet Consensus Nodes NextFAQ

Last updated 1 month ago