Quickly deploy an Ethereum node for RPC provision, using docker for easy setup and management, Nethermind and Nimbus clients.

Ethereum node is an instance that contains a full copy of the blockchains transaction history and state, this is connected to other nodes on the network for security and decentralisation.

This guide is without a validator client (for staking), and exposing the node externally to be used as an endpoint for connecting to the Ethereum blockchain.

Nimbus: is a super light-weight client to save on space and resources.

Node may take a few days to sync depending on Hardware, its recommended to have 2TB of storage (SSD or NVMe).

1.  Install Dependencies

Install Docker

Update system, then install docker and docker compose plugin

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install curl -y

curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sh get-docker.sh

sudo rm -r get-docker.sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

check installed with

docker --version
docker compose version

Make working directory

mkdir -p /home/$USER/eth-node/el-client
mkdir /home/$USER/eth-node/cl-client

2. Create JWT secret

JWT authentication token, to allow EL-client to communicate with CL-client

mkdir /home/$USER/eth-node/jwtsecret

openssl rand -hex 32 | tr -d "\n" > "/home/$USER/eth-node/jwtsecret/jwtsecret.hex"

3. Configure Docker-Compose Script

cd eth-node
nano docker-compose.yml

Paste the following docker-compose configuration

version: "3.9"
services:
  execution:
    stop_grace_period: 30s
    container_name: execution-client
    restart: always
    image: nethermind/nethermind:latest
    networks:
    - eth-node-net
    volumes:
    - ./el-client:/el-client/data
    - ./jwtsecret:/jwtsecret
    - /etc/timezone:/etc/timezone:ro
    - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
    ports:
    - 30303:30303/tcp
    - 30303:30303/udp
    expose:
    - 8545
    - 8551
    command:
    - --datadir=/el-client/data
    - --log=INFO
    - --Sync.SnapSync=false
    - --JsonRpc.Enabled=true
    - --JsonRpc.Host=0.0.0.0
    - --JsonRpc.Port=8545
    - --JsonRpc.EnabledModules=[Web3,Eth,Subscribe,Net,]
    - --JsonRpc.JwtSecretFile=/jwtsecret/jwtsecret.hex
    - --JsonRpc.EngineHost=0.0.0.0
    - --JsonRpc.EnginePort=8551
    - --Network.DiscoveryPort=30303
    - --HealthChecks.Enabled=false
    - --Pruning.CacheMb=2048
    logging:
      driver: json-file
      options:
        max-size: 10m
        max-file: "10"
  consensus:
    stop_grace_period: 30s
    container_name: consensus-client
    restart: always
    image: statusim/nimbus-eth2:amd64-latest
    user: $USER:$USER
    networks:
    - eth-node-net
    volumes:
    - ./cl-client:/data/beacon_node/mainnet_0
    - ./jwtsecret:/jwtsecret
    ports:
    - 9000:9000/tcp
    - 9000:9000/udp
    - 127.0.0.1:5052:5052/tcp
    - 127.0.0.1:8008:8008/tcp
    expose:
    - 9000
    command:
    - --data-dir=/data/beacon_node/mainnet_0
    - --web3-url=http://execution:8551
    - --jwt-secret=/jwtsecret/jwtsecret.hex
    - --nat=extip:<YOUR_EXTERNAL_IP>
    - --log-level=info
    - --tcp-port=9000
    - --udp-port=9000
    - --rest
    - --rest-address=0.0.0.0
    - --rest-port=5052
    - --metrics
    - --metrics-address=0.0.0.0
    - --metrics-port=8008   
    logging:
      driver: json-file
      options:
        max-size: 10m
        max-file: "10"
networks:
  eth-node-net:
    name: eth-node-network

more info on Nimbus here:

Replace <YOUR_EXTERNAL_IP> with public IP address

4. Open Ports

open in firewall settings

sudo ufw allow 8545     # rpc port 
sudo ufw allow 9000     # cl-p2p
sudo ufw allow 30303    # el-p2p

Port forward these ports also from your router settings.

This should allow connection the node as an RPC endpoint, with http:<public-ip-address-of-node>:8545

If connecting to this node from the same device, http:localhost:8545

5. Start Node

sudo docker compose up -d

check logs

sudo docker compose logs -f execution
sudo docker compose logs -f consensus

Execution- nethermind

Consensus

Other commands

Check running containers

sudo docker ps -a

Stop/Restart node

sudo docker stop <container-name> && sudo docker rm <container-name>
sudo docker start <container-name>

with docker compose, from working directory

sudo docker compose down
sudo docker compose up -d