AWS Setup Guide

This guide provides detailed instructions for setting up a Shardeum Validator using Amazon Web Services (AWS) EC2 instances.

Prerequisites

An active AWS account with billing enabled
Basic familiarity with AWS EC2 service and AWS Console navigation
Understanding of SSH connections and key pair management
A terminal application for SSH access
The minimum hardware requirements for running a validator

Instance Setup

1. Launch EC2 Instance

Log in to the AWS Management Console at https://console.aws.amazon.com
Navigate to EC2 Dashboard:
- Click on "Services" in the top navigation bar
- Select "EC2" under Compute services
- Ensure you're in your preferred region (top-right corner)
Click the orange "Launch Instance" button
Configure your instance:
- Name your instance (e.g., "shardeum-validator")
- Under "Application and OS Images":
  - Select "Ubuntu" as the AMI
  - Choose "Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS (HVM)"
- Under "Instance Type":
  - Select an instance that meets minimum requirements
  - Recommended: t3.xlarge (4 vCPU, 16 GB RAM)
  - For production: Consider t3.2xlarge for better performance
- Create or select a key pair:
  - Click "Create new key pair" if you don't have one
  - Name your key pair
  - Select RSA and .pem format
  - Download and securely store your key pair file
Configure storage:
- Click "Configure Storage"
- Set root volume to at least 250 GB gp3 SSD

2. Configure Security Group

Create a new security group with the following rules:

SSH (Port 22): Your IP
Custom TCP (Port 8080): Anywhere (Dashboard)
Custom TCP (Port 9001): Anywhere (P2P)
Custom TCP (Port 10001): Anywhere (P2P)

3. Connect to Your Instance

Use SSH to connect to your instance:

chmod 400 your-key-pair.pem
ssh -i your-key-pair.pem ubuntu@your-instance-public-dns

Once your AWS instance is ready, follow our Base Guide for Running a Shardeum Validator Node for detailed installation instructions, including the steps to open the validator dashboard, stake SHM, start the validator, and more.