Staking on DSD with Rhomtools

DSD are ideal way for running Rhombus full node and getting staking rewards for securing the network 24/7

A Staking Node is a full blockchain node which has been configured to stake on behalf of your wallet (aka it has been delegated staking power over your wallet). The Staking Node is a computer running Rhombus that is always on and always connected to the internet. A Raspberry Pi 3 or comparable device (DSD) makes a perfect staking node as it consumes very little energy, is compact and easy to tailor for dedicated tasks.

Before you’ll dive into this guide, familiarize yourself with Dedicated Staking Devices and Rhomtools utility.

Even though you could set up rhombusd for staking on your DSD manually, we’ll focus on using Rhomtools staking utility, thanks to all the automation and ease of use it offers.

• Rhombus wallet – your primary wallet with funds on it (Rhombus Core or Rhombus Copay)
• hardware for staking – Raspberry Pi +3, Rock64 or other (“DSD”)
  • older versions of RPi should work as well, but keep in mind that CPU performance does matter when staking, so you might not get ideal results
  • at least 32 GB of storage (SD card)
  • internet access (wifi or cable) set up and working (follow guides for your device)
  • SSH access to device or connected monitor
  • Debian/Ubuntu-based OS (you can use any other distro, but you’ll have to change following commands accordingly)

Visit Rhomtools’s Github repo for more information if needed.

1. SSH to your device (or connect your monitor)
2. Make sure your system is up-to-date:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Download Rhomtools and install its dependencies:

sudo apt-get install python git unzip pv jq dnsutils
cd ~ && git clone https://github.com/l0rdicon/rhomtools

Install Rhomtools:

cd rhomtools/
./rhomtools install

This will download, unzip and install the latest release Rhombus Core daemon (rhombusd).

Start rhombusd daemon:

./rhomtools restart now

Check rhombusd status and verify everything is running correctly (you might need to wait a minute or two, before rhombusd finishes starting up):

./rhomtools status

You should see a summary similar to this:

Great! Your node is now managed by Rhomtools and you have the latest rhombusd daemon running!

Generate a new wallet on the device by running:

./rhomtools stakingnode init

Follow instructions on screen to complete wallet setup.

Make sure you safely note node’s Recovery Phrase in a safe place!
This is the only key to your wallet in the unfortunate event that your device would got broken/stolen etc. Lose the key = lose the wallet!

Next, we’ll create the public key which we will use within the Rhombus Desktop/Core to activate Cold Staking. We’ll use Rhomtools utility for this as well.

To generate a new staking public key:

./rhomtools stakingnode new

Follow the directions to complete staking node public key creation. Public key label is just for you, so you know which key is connected to which wallet (in case you want to use multiple ones, e.g. staking on your desktop Rhombus Desktop and your mobile Rhombus Copay).

You should see a Rhombus public key similar to this:

promKVAobLsHTQpZ5LzFHcZw8LD4sEEVuUdmcuAqCjDaaNJgypRmUUpFKMxbmn1hZ5V2J9SaG1QusCrngC9iiBAA8LvxVRx9aLBPjGeY4PtrxzW

And there’s your staking public key! Make note of it somewhere, you’ll need it later (friendly reminder that CTRL+C in Terminal doesn’t copy text, so use your mouse’s right-click instead).

So far, we’ve achieved to:

• setup Rhomtools utility for managing your node via Rhomtools
• downloaded and autoconfigured latest Rhombus Core daemon on your device
• created a new Rhombus wallet on the device, dedicated to staking
• generated public key for staking (so that we can connect our main wallet to this DSD)

That concludes all the “tedious work” via Terminal on your Staking Node! Let’s now move onto your main wallet and connect it with your Staking Node.

To connect your wallet, follow our unified Cold staking setup guide.

When your node is successfully set up, here are some tips to keep your node healthy and up-to-date.

You should always keep your node up-to-date with latest Rhombus Core releases.

To update your node:

1. SSH to your device (or connect your monitor)
2. Make sure your system is up-to-date: sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
3. To update rhomtools: ~/rhomtools/rhomtools update and follow on-screen instructions
4. Wait a couple minutes for rhombusd to restart and check status of your node with ~/rhomtools/rhomtools status - look for rhombusd staking currently? : YES

In case you want to update your rhombusd to pre-release version (ie. betas, not yet stable releases), you can do so by:

cd ~/rhomtools/
git pull
./rhomtools update -prer

In case rhomtools complains about updates available, you can install them simply by going to rhomtools directory and getting the latest code from GitHub:

cd ~/rhomtools/
git pull