Sign Up to Run an Ontology Node
Last updated
Last updated
To sign up, download Ontology’s OWallet here. OWallet supports Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.
On the left column, select the “Wallets” tab and add a staking wallet and operation wallet as required by the node. The staking wallet stores the ONT required by the node to stake, while the operation wallet is used to start the node. The node wallet does not require ONT to operate.
Note: The current node staking mechanism does not support a “Shared Wallet”.
To create a new personal wallet address, please enter a name and password. Follow the prompts to back up the wallet file during the creation process.
OWallet supports both new and existing wallets. Users can import existing wallets through private keys and mnemonics. OWallet also supports connecting to Ledger Wallet. The Ontology community now provides node operation via proxy. Click here to find out more.
Select the “Node Staking” tab on the left side of OWallet and click the “New Node Apply” option.
Select the node staking wallet and the node operation wallet, and fill in the amount of ONT you would like to stake. The node operation wallet can be the public key obtained from the community node operation service. Based on the current configuration of the Ontology network, the minimum amount required for a staking node is set at 10,000 ONT.
Please note that 500 ONG plus a small amount of gas fee will be charged for starting a candidate node.
When the registered node’s staked amount is in the top 343 nodes, the node becomes a candidate node; when the registered node’s staked amount is in the top 15, the node becomes a consensus node.
Next, entered details must be confirmed. Following confirmation, the staking wallet can be used to sign the transaction.
After the transaction is successfully transmitted to the blockchain, the node registration is complete. You may proceed with filling in any further relevant details regarding the node.
Select the “Node Staking” tab on the left side of OWallet and click the “Node Management” option.
This displays the existing registered nodes of the user on the current OWallet account. Select the node to enter the management page.
Select the “Node Staking” tab to increase or decrease the initial staked amount of the node.
This also gives an option to remove a node. Upon completion of two consensus cycles, you may withdraw the staked amount of the canceled node. Before the next consensus cycle, the node will continue to operate, and any modifications shall take effect after the end of the current cycle. If the added stake has taken effect, after reducing the initial stake, the reduced amount will be unlocked in the next consensus cycle (for consensus nodes the amount will be unlocked after two consensus cycles).
For example, say the initial staked amount of a node is 100,000 ONT and the node has accepted an additional stake of 1,000,000 ONT from other users. If the node decides to add another 100,000 ONT to its initial stake, the upper limit of the staked amount is increased to 2,000,000 ONT. Then, say the node receives another stake of 500,000 ONT from users. Now, the node decides to reduce the initial stake. Since it has accepted another 500,000 ONT from other users, it can only reduce the initial staked amount by 50,000 ONT. The other 50,000 ONT must wait for other users to withdraw part of their staked amount before the node can reduce it’s initial stake further.
The node owner may choose to cancel the node entirely and return all the initial staked amounts to the respective staking parties. The candidate node can get the stake returned one cycle after exiting, and the consensus node can get it returned two cycles later.
The fee sharing ratios: The previous refers to the percentage of the ONG incentives from ONT staked by the node owner distributed to the node owner. The latter refers to the percentage of the ONG incentives from the ONT staked by the stakers distributed to the node owner.
By configuring the “User Stake Authorization” tab, you can set the maximum permitted staking amount authorized for other users on the node, set the network fees collected by the node, and the distribution ratio of the released ONG for that node. In addition, the node can withdraw their staked amount here.
The maximum user authorized staked amount that a node can accept is capped at ten times the node’s own initial staked amount.
The node can set the processing fee received by the node and the distribution of the released ONG received by that node, and this part of the revenue will be shared and distributed among the authorized staking users. This setting will take effect after a delay. If the configuration is set in the current cycle, it will take effect after two cycles.
Select the “Node Info” tab to update the relevant node details. You can choose whether to make the information public or not. The staking wallet is required to sign the action of updating any node-related information.
Select the “Wallets” tab on the left side of OWallet, select the operation wallet, and click “More” to export the wallet into a ‘wallet.dat’ file that can be used to deploy the node.
