Using systemd for the Validator Node
You can run your validator as a systemd process so that it will automatically restart on server reboots or crashes (and helps to avoid getting slashed!).
Before following this guide you should have already set up your validator by following the How to validate article.
First create a new unit file called polkadot-validator.service in /etc/systemd/system/.
touch /etc/systemd/system/polkadot-validator.service
In this unit file you will write the commands that you want to run on server boot / restart.
[Unit]
Description=Polkadot Validator
[Service]
ExecStart=PATH_TO_POLKADOT_BIN --validator --key YOUR_SEED --name SHOW_ON_TELEMETRY
Restart=always
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
To enable this to autostart on bootup run:
systemctl enable polkadot-validator.service
Start it manually with:
systemctl start polkadot-validator.service
You can check that it's working with:
systemctl status polkadot-validator.service
You can tail the logs with journalctl like so:
journalctl -f -u polkadot-validator