Stereum Ethereum Node Setup

Project Title

Stereum

Description

A free, easy to use GUI tool to install / maintain an Ethereum node, using the client of your choice, all in one place.

Manifesto/Vision

The vision of our team is that everyone (families, businesses & institutions) is going to run an Ethereum node in the future to verify on chain data themselves. Our goal is to give the users a base to use the Ethereum Node as their access point, similar to (https://getumbrel.com/#build) & opening up options to use the Ethereum network in so far unimagined capacities.

Problem

The problem we are tackling is that while technically knowledgeable users have no problem interacting with a CLI, for the average person on the street this is not feasible. Most businesses are owned by brilliant people with no experience in the IT industry & no available funds to hire someone in this role. An example would be Pharmacists that know every single ingredient that goes into a medicine, but are too afraid to use Excel sheets. Them choosing an external source in our envisioned future is not in the interest of the Ethereum network.

Solution

To achieve this we are building a SECURE, PRIVACY FOCUSED & easy to use tool in Stereum for the average person to set up and maintain an Ethereum node on the server infrastructure of their choice and to give them, if they wish so, the ability to stake as well. The varied choice of possible clients also makes the network more secure in the sense that well distributed client diversity is necessary to speed up the process of the merge - being able to test all avaiable product clients .

Product Features

An overview of our current feature is available at (https://stereum.net/ethereum-node-setup/). We invite you to try out Stereum yourself, if you should need help, please join our Discord - we can help you out

Automated Upgrades

Stereum checks automatically for new software updates, notifying the user, with the option to apply them unattended.

Encrypted Configuration & Validator Export

Migrate configuration & validators from machine to machine with the simplified Validator Import & Export Function.

Supports advanced Execution Client (ETH1) functionality

Easy to use your own Eth1 node (Geth) and/or use external services (e. g. Infura). Use multiple ETH Execution Client Node URLs as failsafe & sort them priority. If one fails just let the next in line pick up their duty. You can also run your node with an external service from the get go.

SSV

We support Blox’s SSV implementation on testnet Prater in Stereum! Make sure to use a web socket connection as your first Ethereum 1 URL and the normal http Ethereum 1 API URL as second in the url endpoint list when you try it out with your own Stereum Ethereum Node Setup. We also have a verified SSV operator up and running – feel free to try it out by using it with your own Prater testnet validator account! Of course you can run it on Ubuntu as well as on CentOS. The Operator keys are automatically generated on setup.

FAST SYNC for every client

This feature boosts the sync speed significantly. Select it when installing a Stereum Node. On selection the setup downloads a daily updated blockchain database snapshot from our cloud infrastructure to your server and installs it for your node. This reduces sync time of your beacon chain clients significantly and enables users to spin up a fully synced beacon chain client in less than 30 minutes depending on your hardware and bandwidth.

Grafana Support

includes client specific & pre-configured Grafana Dashboards showing e.g. hardware metrics (cpu, memory, disk, …), network participation, etc.

-) Client Distribution Dashboard

includes a pre configured Grafana dashboard with the goal to show the clients of connected peers over time. Collect your own data on the topic of Ethereum Client Diversity!

-) Advanced Key Management Options

  • simplified key management options
  • voluntary exit through all clients
  • drag & drop import of validator keys
  • remove specific validator keys from your node.

Task Viewer

We know that the space, despite the community’s best efforts, is riddled with scams, snake oil sellers & rug pulls. To combat this our installer makes it possible for you to trace what tasks the setup is working on in the background and what changes it is implementing to make the configuration process as transparent as possible.

MONITORING APP

A simple privacy focused application for your Android, iOS phone to monitor your Ethereum node from anywhere (a basic version of this is soon to be released). You can already download the app from the Android app store (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cloud.stereum.monitor). IOS will soon follow, and with the upcoming version of Stereum it will be usable.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Graffiti configurable for all clients.
  • API binding address configurable. Bind the APIs for connecting to geth and beacons to a different address than localhost (127.0.0.1). This allows you to use the client’s api with your own application (bots, block explorers, …).
  • Geth prune on demand. Just click a button to free up the disk space geth fills up over time and free up Geth’s clogged database.

Validation

You can validate our efforts so far yourself. We are inviting you to give Stereum a try by setting up an Ubuntu or Cent OS server on the Ethereum testnet yourself (https://stereum.net/ethereum-node-setup/) to see how far we have come. If you need help doing it or have feedback for us, please reach out to us on our Discord server.

Progress

Our last 6 months roadmap for the Ethereum Foundation is currently running out, and we have managed to develop every single goal we have set out to do. Our next one is soon to be announced, as soon as we have had talks with different partners in the ETH staking subsection of the Ethereum ecosphere to bring new staking innovations in the space to Stereum.

Differentiation (from other projects)

There is dApp Node which currently only supports one or two of the available consensus clients. ETH Stakers - Wagyu Installer, which is still early in development and ChainSafe’s Installer, which as far as we know solely focuses on their product line.

Team

Behind the development of Stereum is the RockLogic GmbH. Our project team is made up of 7 people. 4 of which are comfortable sharing their faces (including me - David) at (https://stereum.net/team/)

Grant Request

50k

What the Funds are used for

Gain additional funding for the project to ramp up / secure development & solidify the projects short term future.

Help Requested

Additional help in marketing would be greatly appreciated to accelerate our testing efforts to give the community the software they deserve

Additional Resources, Links, Portfolio

-) website (https://stereum.net/ethereum-node-setup/)

-) GitHub (https://github.com/stereum-dev)

-) YouTube - Stereum Ethereum Node Setup v1.6 | :mushroom: | SEPTEMBER 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0SxQWv0S68&ab_channel=Stereum)
(note that this shows the 1.6 version - new video release coming soon)

2 Likes

Sounds like a good project. Can you clarify where you are on the roadmap, and how much additional progress you expect to make with the requested funds?

2 Likes

Hi, we finished the past roadmap just now and starting a new roadmap.

Roadmap excerpt for the next months

Continuous work:

  • Flexible selection of Ethereum services
  • Fully automated testing (integration tests)
  • Technical documentation
  • Maintenance:
    • Updating services and adapt to changes
    • Continuous manual testing
    • Bugfixes
    • Prepare for further security audits (we plan to do one next year again to review big and small changes we made)
    • Small features and improvements
    • Support on Discord
    • Supporting network updates (“The Merge”, etc.)

Milestones

  • UI Redesign
  • Switch consensus clients easily
  • Express installation (user selects use-case and setup installs necessary services)
  • Switch network easily (e. g. migrate from testnet to mainnet)
  • i18n support
  • Support more execution clients
  • Slashing protection on validator import (check if validator is already running)
  • Naming validators

Additional features with Moloch DAO funding

  • Grouping validators (requested feature by users)
  • Strengthen stability by further implementing automated integration testing, beneficial for testing execution/consensus client compatibility
  • Mobile app enhancements:
    • Send graphs with alerts
    • Pre-configured alerts in grafana for mobile app
  • Securit audit of refactoring & additional features as well as mobile app
  • Further focus on service integration for not incentivised efforts (e. g. EY Nightfall)
  • Embedded video tutorials in Stereum Launcher
  • Update manager: update services (e. g. execution/consensus clients) without updating Stereum itself
2 Likes

this seems like an excellent fit for moloch to fund.

full support from me, conditional on whether the product will always remain open source and free to use?

1 Like

Of course Stereum Node Setup is committed to stay open source and free to use for everybody.

Very cool project. Looking forward to the UI redesign :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
I think this is much needed.

2 Likes

I don’t have time to properly review this proposal and but will be voting Yes since all other members that have reviewed it seem to support it with little qualms.

@daGscheid how is it going? Is it possible to provide an update on if the additional features were developed with the MolochDAO funding?

1 Like

Hey @stellar_magnet, I will follow your questions up on Friday with a short write up!

Hey @stellar_magnet!

Through the expansion of our team and the necessary onboarding time (and the merge support) we are currently behind on our roadmap - current version: beta2.0-stack, but I want to give you some status updates to every single feature point:

  • Embedded video tutorials in Stereum Launcher

The videos can already be selected in application - currently there is a placeholder. The topics for videos are planned out, scripts & graphics for them created and all preparation steps recorded (f.e. initial server setup for node). All that is missing is getting closer to 2.0 to record the application itself for the video material (we decided to wait, not to have to change the video material too often).


  • Mobile app enhancements: Send graphs with alerts

This is complete. We built up the Stereum Monitor application to receive graphs with the alerts on your phone (and it is pretty cool :smile:)


  • Mobile app enhancements: Pre-configured alerts in grafana for mobile app

This is partially completed. Currently we are thinking about how the selection of the pre-configured inside the application will look like. We have some early designs, however it is late in our priority when it comes to implementing.


  • Strengthen stability by further implementing automated integration testing, beneficial for testing execution/consensus client compatibility

This is completed. We build up JEST unit & system integration tests.


  • Security audit of refactoring & additional features as well as mobile app

A complete security audit for Stereum is organized for November with SBA Research.


  • Update manager: update services (e. g. execution/consensus clients) without updating Stereum itself

This works as of two weeks ago in the current dev version. Not only is the user capable of updating the execution/consensus/validator clients independently via UI, but Plug-Ins like Grafana and Prometheus as well. A real, all encompassing update manager. Currently the only thing left to do about it, is to change the UI to fit the backend (it is still a non impressive, dummy one for testing). The finalized UI to do this, is already designed and we expect it to be finished & integrated with the next milestone.


  • Grouping validators (requested feature by users)

It is planned in & designed out, what it will look like. This feature is still mostly work in progress. The validator import, as well as its stats screen (balance, used client to stake, etc.) is completed, however with the merge approaching fast, we have to integrate additional steps into it, which forced us to push our work on this feature back in priority.


  • Further focus on service integration for not incentivised efforts (e. g. EY Nightfall)

We decided to focus on more broader staker utility for this feature point, after following the last 6 months discussions on MEV. Our team started to research how to integrate MEV Flashbots into Stereum. This is in a really early phase, and a testnet ready version should not be expected with the full 2.0 version, however we hope to deliver a capable Stereum utilizing flashbots with 2.1 or 2.2.


We could also show some screenshots of designs to specific points or videos of the current status, if you are interested :blush:

If would like to see our progress in person – you can download the last Beta version on github. The version in question: beta2.0-stack should be ready in a couple of days. This will also enable mainnet staking support in, however we do not recommend using it (yet).