When I originally set out to build blockchain ​servers, I had very little experience with servers ​and systems administration. I had experience ​writing simple programs and using Unix-like ​machines for my math and statistics research. ​These projects are as much a story of my journey ​into Linux Server Admin work as they are about ​the particular servers I have built.

Build to learn. Learn to build.

Enjoy the process!

I have built many blockchain servers for various energy-​efficient projects. I’ll be documenting my process of ​building a Cardano stake pool in the following sections.

I took my time building my Cardano nodes so I could ​learn more about Linux servers and build other ​projects as I went along. My process focused on ​gaining a deeper understanding of the systems I ​worked with. I used the Linux Bible written by ​Christopher Negus extensively.

I’m at the stage now where I can move my proof-of-​concept nodes to long-term machines and network ​the individual components together to have a live ​stake pool on Cardano Mainnet. The project is ​paused until I have time to find some suitable (and ​affordable) hardware, since almost all of my proof-​of-concept nodes were built on donated laptops.

Documenting sever builds in a way that is helpful to ​myself and others is a slow process, but I’ll keep ​updating this page as I work.

Methods and Error Messages

The Cardano builds are organized into six projects, ​which correspond to numbered sections that follow:

Built a block-producing node on Ubuntu, but needed to setup a ​more secure network before going live

Attempted to build a replacement block-producing node on ​Debian Bullseye

Successfully built a block-producing node and ran on testnet

Successfully built an offline node for generating wallets and ​stake pools

Attempted to refurbish and build a node on a machine I picked ​up at the thrift store, but the hardware wasn’t salvageable

Successfully built a key and stake pool generator

Built a block-producing node, but needed to ​setup a more secure network before going live

The Hardware

I am passionate about repurposing old tech, but when I started on this journey, since I ​was so new, I decided to build a solid machine with new parts. I looked up videos on ​YouTube and came across a tutorial from Kaizen Crypto for building a Cardano ​machine (only the hardware, no networking or programming in the tutorial). While you ​don’t have to have such an expensive machine, it was perfect for my needs and it was ​really nice to have the speed and storage to make the process move along smoothly.

Link to Kaizen’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KaizenCrypto

I will say that the giant cooling unit Kaizen uses caused me no end of physical pain on ​install and I ended up using the CPU fan that came with the CPU for a while. I have ​read that if you can make it work, it’s very quiet and very affordable. Currently I’m ​using a water cooling unit, because I wanted an excuse to buy one.

The Software

The first Linux flavor I used for my Cardano projects was Ubuntu. It was an easy choice ​because it’s a great starter-distro and the Cardano instructional materials were designed ​with it in mind.

To be continued...

Attempted to build a replacement block-​producing node on Debian Bullseye

The Hardware

Information about hardware will go here.

The Software

I chose Debian Bullseye with the CLI-only version, which I expected would be more ​similar to Ubuntu than it was. Many of the tools that Ubuntu included with the initial ​install had to be added to Bullseye.

I struggled with CURL errors (among many other errors) and decided my time would be ​better spent moving to a different distro.

To be continued...

I used to think, “If only I could do this right ​the first time and not run into any errors,

I could have had this done yesterday!”

But that’s not the job.

The job is working through the error codes.

3. Successfully built a block-producing relay node on testnet

4. Successfully built an offline node for generating wallets and stake pools

5. Attempted to refurbish and build a node on a machine I picked up at the thrift ​store, but the hardware wasn’t salvageable... learned about legacy versions of ​operating systems for legacy BIOS

6. Successfully built a key and stake pool generator.