Running a node
Full node: pd
Requirements

Requirements for running a node

In order to run a Penumbra fullnode, you'll need a machine with sufficient resources. See specifics below.

System requirements

We recommend using a machine with at least:

  • 8GB RAM
  • 2-4 vCPUS
  • ~200GB persistent storage (~20GB/week)
  • Non-virtualized SSD storage

Virtualized SSDs found on many cloud providers have poor IOPS and will cause unpredictable performance. This may be fine for personal use, but RPC nodes should use non-virtualized storage.

You can host your node on hardware, or on your cloud provider of choice.

Network requirements

A Penumbra fullnode should have a publicly routable IP address to accept P2P connections. It's possible to run a fullnode behind NAT, but then it won't be able to receive connections from peers. The relevant network endpoints for running Penumbra are:

  • 26656/TCP for CometBFT P2P, should be public
  • 26657/TCP for CometBFT RPC, should be private
  • 26660/TCP for CometBFT metrics, should be private
  • 26658/TCP for Penumbra ABCI, should be private
  • 9000/TCP for Penumbra metrics, should be private
  • 8080/TCP for Penumbra gRPC, should be private
  • 443/TCP for Penumbra HTTPS, optional, should be public if enabled

You can opt in to HTTPS support for Penumbra's gRPC service by setting the --grpc-auto-https <DOMAIN> option. See pd start --help for more info.

Custody considerations

Validators should review the pcli key custody recommendations for protecting the validator identity.

CometBFT settings

When bootstrapping a new network connection via pd network join, pd will create initial CometBFT settings for the node. Node operators should review that configuration, stored at ~/.penumbra/network_data/node0/cometbft/config/config.toml by default, and adapt it to their needs.

In particular, node operators should ensure that the following values are set:

[mempool]
broadcast = true
keep-invalid-txs-in-cache = false
max_tx_bytes = 98304
max_txs_bytes = 10485760
recheck = true
size = 5000
 
[consensus]
timeout_propose = "3000ms"
timeout_propose_delta = "500ms"
timeout_prevote = "1000ms"
timeout_prevote_delta = "500ms"
timeout_precommit = "1000ms"
timeout_precommit_delta = "500ms"
timeout_commit = "5000ms"
create_empty_blocks = true
create_empty_blocks_interval = "0ms"

The mempool settings are consensus-critical, and should not be changed without coordination.

Security limits

The OS defaults for maximum number of open file descriptors is typically 1024, which is too low for running a Penumbra node. The example systemd configs raise this value to 65536 via the LimitNOFILE declaration. Node operators should set this value system-wide, by editing /etc/security/limits.conf.

Deployment strategies

We expect node operators to manage the lifecycle of their Penumbra deployments. Some example configs for systemd can be found in the Penumbra repo's deployments/ (opens in a new tab) directory. Other community solutions include:

You should consult these configurations as a reference, and write your own scripts to maintain your node.

Consider joining the Penumbra Discord to receive announcements about new versions and required actions by node operators.

TutorialInstalling pd