To help with decentralization, I think anyone who is an xgov should be qualified to run a relay node if they have the necessary equipment.
Im not technical so i dont know all the ins and outs about blockchains, but shouldnt every dapp/DAO try running a participation node or be given permission to run a relay node?
I think governance, dapps/DAO’s running nodes will help bring more security & decentralization.
Staci Warden said it is our civic duty to run participation nodes. Well that should apply to the aforementioned groups to run relay nodes and Algorand should allow them to
The relay nodes are required to handle quite a bit, and even setting up a participation node is somewhat difficult at this point. A group of 100+ were on twitter a few months back trying to drive support for participation node runners, and I must admit, after trying on two different Macs ranging from a mid-2012 model to a brand new 2021 Pro, I couldn’t get the node up and running, despite numerous google searches, changing terminal systems, various workarounds and upgrades/updates…all for naught.
All the methods I tried were using the updater method listed on the official node walkthrough, if there is a better way, I couldn’t find it nor could anyone in the twitter group formed to walk people through the process. I’ve been told there are one or more “cloud based” or protocol based solutions for this in the works, though I will admit to having been a bit put off by investing in an SSD, with the hopes that I could run a node, only to run into wall after wall trying to get it started.
This was only for a participation node. Relay node requirements are much steeper and (I’m assuming) require an even less “hand held” approach than the current methods for running a participation node. I’ll defer to any responders that can offer more insight into the tech requirements, but my overall point is, most xgovs will probably not be qualified to run a relay node, nor will they likely have the hardware on hand to do so.
Wow, i didnt know it was that difficult to set up. I agree most wont be qualified but all i am saying is if they have the hardware and the know how to run a relay node, then Algorand should give xgovs/dapps/DAO’s "permission " to.
If setting up a node is difficult for the average person then Algorand should give tutorials.
If a person has basic working knowledge of Linux and crypto wallets, running an Algorand participant node comes very easy. There’s an already tutorial.
If I would rank technical difficulty of deploying a validator node of major POS blockchains in scale of 1 (easiest) - 10 (most difficult) :
Solana 9
Cardano 6
Ethereum 4
Algorand 2 (easiest)
IMO, what we need as a community is to increase the number of participant nodes. Ethereum has a whopping ~400k validator nodes. And, I think we have ~1,000 nodes.
The cost of deploying / running a participant node is about $10 to $30 a month, depending on the setup. I think there should be an incentive to reach 5 digit participant nodes.
It isn’t impossible, but without any knowledge of linux and/or command line it becomes very hard. I only used windows my whole life, and it took me quite some time to get my node running, mostly because even following the instructions I didn’t know what my commands would do, and only after researching everything I figured out how to make it works.
Honestly I don’t know why still there are no installers with a GUI. I bet that if an installer with a graphic interface would be released for linux/iOS/windows the number of nodes will double in a week. I feel like this is really something where the foundation could invest a little, maybe even by just giving a grant to a third party to develop it if they do not want to find an in house solution.
I think the end goal for Algorand needs to be two things.
Relay Nodes: Algorand needs all universities and tech companies they are partnering with such as FIFA, Koibanx, Nigerian/Italian Government etc…should be asked to run relay nodes as part of the contract and further decentralization of these. These enterprise level partners have the bandwidth and technical know-how to deploy effectively, fast relay nodes.
Algorand needs to spend money to develop an app/program that can turn any device into a participation node with no technical experience. This includes making it easy to get registration keys (Algofi has already made this easy for users), and allowing users to have their Algorand participate in consensus.
Let enterprise level partners run the relay nodes, let Algonauts in the community run participation nodes.
I totally agree. This makes so much sense. I would love to hear someone from Algorand respond.
If it’s our civic duty, Staci, then make it simple for the non tech savvy to help decentralize the network.
I know they are against giving an incentive for running nodes, but what if the incentive was in USDC, STBL or goUSD instead of ALGO. thoughts anyone?
Maybe ALGO can make a learn to earn tool/app that pays you to learn how to run a node. (Also have a session on troubleshooting as well). Maybe take a quiz and be rewarded with a small amount of Algo.
Or all wallets that pass can get a certificate NFT stating they are a qualified node runner.