Run a Node

VPS One-Liner Install

Zero-to-validator on Ubuntu · Estimated read time: 6 minutes

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Coming soon

The VPS one-liner installer is planned for Q2 2026. Today, VPS operators use the general CLI installer plus a systemd unit. This guide documents the shipping one-liner design so you know what to expect.

TL;DR

One command, Ubuntu 22.04+, 10 minutes from empty box to active validator:

curl -fsSL https://testnet.asentum.com/install/validator | sh

The installer handles dependencies, wallet creation, chain sync, funding from the faucet, and bonding. A systemd unit is installed and enabled so the node keeps running after you disconnect.

Provision the VPS

Any Ubuntu 22.04+ VPS meeting the validator minimums works. The reference cluster runs on Hetzner CX22 (€4/mo) — that's the canonical spec.

Spin up an Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 box with at least 2 cores, 4 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD.
SSH in as root or a sudoer.
Run the one-liner.

The one-liner

curl -fsSL https://testnet.asentum.com/install/validator | sh

The script:

Installs Node 22, pnpm, and build-essential if not present.
Downloads the validator binary for your architecture.
Creates a systemd user and service file.
Drops you into the interactive onboarding.

Interactive onboarding

Once dependencies are in place, the installer runs a wizard in your terminal:

Create wallet. Password prompt with masked input. Dilithium3 keypair is generated and encrypted with scrypt + AES-GCM-256.
Sync blockchain. ASCII progress bar with ETA: ████████░░░░ 65% block 54,321 / 85,000 · ~3m remaining.
Fund wallet. Shows your validator address and polls balance until ASE arrives. Use the faucet to drip testnet ASE.
Stake. Auto-builds the bond transaction, signs, submits. Watches the chain until your validator transitions pending → active.
Done. systemd unit is enabled so the node survives reboots.

The `asentum-validator` command

After install, a dedicated asentum-validator command is on your $PATH:

Subcommand	What it does
status	Address, stake, active/pending, block height, uptime.
balance	Current wallet balance.
earnings	Block rewards + priority tips since staking.
transfer <to> <amount>	Send ASE from the validator wallet.
keys	Export private key (prompts for password).
unstake	Unbond and withdraw staked ASE.
logs	Tail journalctl for the validator service.
stop / start	Stop/start the systemd service.

systemd & background run

The installer drops a systemd unit at /etc/systemd/system/asentum-validator.service. It runs under a dedicated system user, restarts on failure, and starts on boot. asentum-validator logs is a wrapper around journalctl. For the full monitoring story see Monitoring & Logs.

Firewall

The installer configures ufw with the minimum open ports:

22 — SSH.
8545 — Asentum JSON-RPC (used for client requests and for peer block sync + vote gossip between validators — all networking runs over this single HTTP port).

No other ports are opened. If you plan to serve RPC publicly, put a reverse proxy like Caddy in front of 8545 with rate limiting.