Step-by-Step Validator guide for Asgard CC3 reward program on Kubernetes

This is a step-by-step guide for running a node on Bifrost Asgard CC3 Testnet and applying for a validator seat during the campaign. Following the Bifrost CC2 Incentive Testnet on July 21, the Bifrost Asgard CC3 Testnet launched on September 24.

Index:
1) Create a BNC wallet
2) Setup Kubernetes cluster on Digital Ocean
3) Setup your cluster
4) Get your session key
5) Grab your seat as validator

Note: setting up a node requires a certain Linux background, please be familiar with the nodes and computer knowledge before participating. It is not recommended for novice computer users.

Need support:
Telegram: https://t.me/asgtestnet
Discord: https://discord.gg/bWbGGqv

Create a BNC wallet

You need to have a BNC address to take part in this program.

1/ Go to https://dash.bifrost.finance/#/explorer
It can take some time before the dashboard is connected to Bifrost Testnet.
When you see a blue header, you are ready to go!

2/ Click on: Accounts | Accounts
3/ On the left you can ‘Add account’

4/ A form pops-up. Choose a name and password. The most important part of this form is your mnemonic seed! Write this down, take a screenshot, … just don’t lose it.
5/ Click on ‘Next’ and ‘Save’. Store your *.json file somewhere on your computer, cloud, … In case you lose your mnemonic seed you can always restore your account with this file.
6/ Locate your BNC address, click on your BNC wallet name. Double click on your address and copy it to your clipboard. In this case: dE3UYB34ULriLBv6eB9hym3Cb7HAKW219rKWRsoQJzzbwky

7/ Load up your account with some tokens to be used on Bifrost Testnet. Join: https://t.me/bifrost_faucet | Typ this command /want YOUR_BNC_ADDRESS (note: it’s possible you have to try several times before receiving your tokens)

8/ Check your balance:

Setup Kubernetes Cluster

Let’s set up a Kubernetes Cluster for running a Bifrost node. Follow this link to register your account Digital Ocean: https://m.do.co/c/fa4d0b8d4584

Use my referral link so you get $100 credits. So you can run your node for free for 60 days! This should cover the reward program period.

Confirm your email address | Add a payment method | Now you have $100 credits

1/ Click on ‘Create’ and choose ‘Cluster’.

2/ Let’s config the cluster: try to create a cluster close to $80/month to get the best results. For this tutorial, I created a cluster with 2 nodes. Each node has 8 Gb RAM and 4 CPUs and a disk of 160 Gig.

Installing a Kubernetes cluster takes some time. After installation visits your ‘Droplets’, these will be the Droplets to run your nodes.

3/ Before installing your node, you must open your SSH port. This will be needed at a later stage. In the menu on the left click on ‘Networking’ and choose ‘Firewall’. Select your Kubernetes Cluster:

Now you need to add ‘SSL’ in your ‘Inbound Rules’. After selecting SSH, you must click on ‘Save’.

4/ Let’s go to our first Droplet. Open your Droplet, go to ‘Access’ and ‘Reset Root Password’. You will get an email with your password.

5/ Go to your ‘Console’ and log in.

6/ You don’t need to install the docker because it’s already installed in your Kubernetes Cluster. You can immediately start with running the node on port 9933. Typ in the place of NodeName, how you would like to call your node.

docker run -it -p 30333:30333 -p 9944:9944 -p 9933:9933 bifrostnetwork/bifrost:asgard-v0.5.0 --name "NodeName" --rpc-cors 'all' --unsafe-ws-external --rpc-methods 'Unsafe' --unsafe-rpc-external --validator

7/ Let the node fully sync before going after the session key.
8/ Now you need to grab your session key. To grab your session key, your node has to run. It’s not possible to keep your node running and open a different terminal on Digital Ocean for entering another command.

Just download and install PuTTy for the workaround:
https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html

• Open PuTTY
• Typ in the field of ‘Host Name’ the IP of your server on Digital Ocean, you will find this in your Droplets page.
• The terminal will open and you can login with your username and password like you did with the console.

9/ Typ the following command:

curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"id":1, "jsonrpc":"2.0", "method": "author_rotateKeys", "params":[]}' http://localhost:9933

Copy the long string of numbers and letters 0x9917….b85a and paste it in a text editor so you have it when you apply for a validator field.

Let’s grab a validator seat!

NOTE: The best thing to do now is to restart your node without opening the 9933 port. This can be dangerous but if you are only running your node during the reward period, you can leave it.

Grab your seat as a validator

Let’s get ourselves now on the waitlist for becoming a validator in Bifrost Testnet.

1/ Go back to Bifrost Dashboard: https://dash.bifrost.finance/#/explorer
2/ Click on ‘Network’ | ‘Staking’

3/ Click on ‘Account Actions’ | ‘+ Validator’

4/ A pop-up form will show. Select your Stash and Controller account. Just leave the field value bonded as it is and click on ‘Next’.

5/ Paste your session key in the first field and leave the reward commission as it is.

6/ Click on ‘Bond & Validate’.
Unlock your account and click on ‘Sign and Submit’.

Congrats! That’s it!

Written by PromoTeam

What is PromoTeam?
PromoTeam — is the international team of Polkadot fans with experience in different activities: sales growth, business communications and strategy, promotion, advertising, mathematics, programming, entrepreneurship, and many others. Our main task — increase the value of the Substrate ecosystem by involving many people focused on scaling the product and community. Our goal — to give the Polkadot and Substrate community the real utility to promote Substrate projects.

What is Bifrost
Bifrost is the DeFi project for PoS tokens, which include both staking and liquidity. It is developed based on Substrate and built on the Polkadot network. As a DeFi project in the Polkadot ecosystem, Bifrost users can swap PoS Tokens into vTokens through the Bifrost Protocol at any time to obtain Staking rewards and liquidity. Getting rewards from the first day, without any locking periods. BNC is Bifrost native token.