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This guide walks through installing and starting a Polygon PoS full node using binaries. For system requirements, see the prerequisites guide.
Steps in these guide involve waiting for the Heimdall and Bor services to fully sync. This process takes several days to complete.Please use snapshots for faster syncing without having to sync over the network. For detailed instructions, see Sync node using snapshots.

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Overview

It is essential to follow the outlined sequence of actions precisely, as any deviation may lead to potential issues.
  • Prepare the machine.
  • Install Heimdall and Bor binaries on the full node machine.
  • Set up Heimdall and Bor services on the full node machine.
  • Configure the full node machine.
  • Start the full node machine.
  • Check node health with the community.

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Install build-essential

This is required for your full node. In order to install, run the below command: 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential

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Install binaries

Install both Heimdall and Bor in order. Both must be running to operate a full node.

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Heimdall

Install the latest version of Heimdall and related services. Make sure you checkout to the correct release version. To install Heimdall, run the following commands: 
curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/0xPolygon/install/heimdall-v2/heimdall-v2.sh | bash -s -- <heimdall_version> <network> <node_type>
You can run the above command with the following options: This will install the heimdalld binary. Then, edit the configuration files under /var/lib/heimdall/config
The templates for each supported network are available here
Download the genesis.json file and place it under /var/lib/heimdall/config/ Use the following commands based on your target network: 
cd /var/lib/heimdall/config
curl -fsSL <BUCKET_URL> -o genesis.json
Where BUCKET_URL is Verify the installation by checking the Heimdall version on your machine: 
heimdalld version
It should return the version of Heimdall you installed.

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Bor

Install the latest version of Bor, based on valid v2.0+ released version. 
curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/0xPolygon/install/main/bor.sh | bash -s -- <bor_version> <network_type> <node_type>
You can run the above command with following options: That will install the bor binary. Verify the installation by checking the Bor version on your machine: 
bor version

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Configure Heimdall and Bor seeds

The latest bor and heimdall seeds can be found here. To configure them, update the following lines:
  • If not done previously, set the seeds and persistent_peers values in /var/lib/heimdall/config/config.toml
  • Set the bootnodes in /var/lib/bor/config.toml
This will ensure your node connects to the peers.

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(Optional) Start Heimdall from snapshot

In case you want to start Heimdall from a snapshot,
you can download it, and extract in the data folder. Examples of snapshots can be found here https://all4nodes.io/Polygon, and they are managed by the community. e.g.: 
lz4 -dc polygon-heimdall-24404501-25758577.tar.lz4 | tar -x

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Update service config user permission

sed -i 's/User=heimdall/User=root/g' /lib/systemd/system/heimdalld.service
sed -i 's/User=bor/User=root/g' /lib/systemd/system/bor.service

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Start services

Run the full Heimdall node with these commands on your Sentry Node: 
sudo service heimdalld start
Ensure that Heimdall is fully synced before starting Bor. Initiating Bor without complete synchronization of Heimdall may lead to frequent issues.
To check if Heimdall is synced:
  1. On the remote machine/VM, run curl localhost:26657/status.
  2. In the output, catching_up value should be false.
Once Heimdall is synced, run the following command: 
sudo service bor start

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Logs

Logs can be managed by the journalctl linux tool. Here is a tutorial for advanced usage: How To Use Journalctl to View and Manipulate Systemd Logs.

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Check Heimdall node logs

journalctl -u heimdalld.service -f

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Check Bor node logs

journalctl -u bor.service -f