SLV - The Toolkit for Solana Devs

FAQ - General

Q. What are the server requirements?

While it is possible to deploy a Solana client on a VPS or virtual machine (VM), achieving full performance and stable operation is challenging. RPC nodes and validators are especially demanding in terms of system resources, making it crucial to prepare an appropriate server environment.
Solana officially recommends using bare-metal servers.
  • Minimum Requirements: 24-core CPU, 512GB RAM or more
  • Recommended Requirements for Indexed Nodes: 32-core CPU, 1152GB RAM or more
Additionally, CPU clock speed is particularly critical for Solana nodes. As noted in the official documentation, having not only a high core count but also a high clock speed with the latest generation CPUs maximizes performance. Recently, Firedancer recommends using 32-core CPUs, especially to handle large volumes of RPC requests efficiently.
Since testnet environments have lower load compared to mainnet, we recommend the following:
  • 16-core Ryzen CPU
  • 128GB DDR5 RAM
We have confirmed stable operation with this configuration, which helps to reduce operational costs. SLV Metal offers this setup starting from €180 per month.
For stable operation and profitability on the mainnet, the following specifications are recommended:
  • Agave recommended: 24-core CPU, 256GB RAM or more
  • Firedancer recommended: 32-core CPU, 512GB RAM or more
Considering cost-performance, using Agave with a 24-core CPU and 384GB RAM is ideal. These specs are not merely sufficient for minimal operation; they ensure stable performance and profitability. SLV Metal provides this configuration starting from €580 per month.
If you have not yet prepared a bare-metal server, please refer to our Bare Metal Server Setup Guide.
Further reading:
Based on operational experience from Validators DAO and ERPC, we provide optimal default settings that achieve high performance across many environments. Especially for mainnet setups, optimizations such as thread counts and other parameters are configured assuming the use of 32-core CPUs.
Configuration files are open-sourced on GitHub and can be freely customized for your specific needs. Contributions to improving these configurations or proposing new enhancements are warmly welcomed. Please join the Validators DAO community to participate.

Q. I've started my validator, and it appears caught up to the latest slot, but it's still marked as "Delinquent".

Even if your validator has caught up with the latest slot, it will remain marked as "Delinquent" if it isn't casting votes. The most common reason for this issue is insufficient SOL in your Identity Key account, which is needed to cover voting costs. Typically, voting consumes around 1.1 SOL per day. Please ensure your Identity Key has a sufficient balance.
For detailed requirements, refer to the following: