You can run your validator as a systemd process so that it will automatically restart on server reboots or crashes (that helps to avoid getting slashed!). Before following this guide you should have already set up your validator.
First create a new unit file called geode-validator.service in /etc/systemd/system/.
touch /etc/systemd/system/geode-validator.service
In this unit file you will write the commands that you want to run on server boot / restart.
[Unit]
Description=Geode Validator
[Service]
ExecStart=PATH_TO_GEODE_BIN –validator –name SHOW_ON_TELEMETRY
Restart=always
RestartSec=120
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
⚠️ DANGER
It is recommended to delay the restart of a node with RestartSecin the case of node crashes. It’s possible that when a node crashes, consensus votes in GRANDPA aren’t persisted to disk. In this case, there is potential to equivocate when immediately restarting. What can happen is the node will not recognize votes that didn’t make it to disk, and will then cast conflicting votes. Delaying the restart will allow the network to progress past potentially conflicting votes, at which point other nodes will not accept them.
To enable this to autostart on bootup run:
systemctl enable geode-validator.service
Start it manually with:
systemctl start geode-validator.service
You can check that it’s working with:
systemctl status geode-validator.service
You can tail the logs with journalctl like so:
journalctl -f -u geode-validator
All done!