Operator Tips & Tricks

Insert key to Keystore:

This might be useful if you decided to switch domains or already have the secret phrase. Read more about switching domain in the next section.

To insert the key, use the following command:

subspace-node domain key insert \
--base-path NODE_DATA_PATH --domain-id DOMAIN_ID --keystore-suri "<Secret phrase>"

The command above will insert the keypair in the subfolder of NODE_DATA_PATH/domains/DOMAIN_ID/keystore.

suri is the secret phrase of the operator key.

Switch domains

Any Operator can switch domain they operate on anytime. In order to switch domain:

1. Proceed to PolkadotJS
2. Make sure to select the correct network at the top-left corner.
3. Select the account you want to use in using the selected account.
4. Select domains under submit the following extrinsic and choose switchDomain(operatorId, newDomainId) in the dropdown.
5. Add your operatorId and newDomainId to the corresponding fields.

note

Only the account who registered Operator can switch the domain.

note

You need to move your keypair to a new location, if you switch domains. Follow the insert key to keystore section.

note

Stake of your Nominators won't be released, but will be moved to the new domain as well.

Useful commands

Running both validator (farmer) and operator nodes at the same time

tip

To run both operator and validator at the same time, provide required flags for both roles when starting your node.

🖼️ Windows

subspace-node run `
--chain taurus `
--farmer `
--name your_node_name `
--base-path NODE_DATA_PATH `
--sync full `
-- `
--domain-id your_domain_id `
--operator-id your_operator_id

🍎 macOS

subspace-node run \
--chain taurus \
--farmer \
--name your_node_name \
--base-path NODE_DATA_PATH \
--sync full \
-- \
--domain-id your_domain_id \
--operator-id your_operator_id

🐧 Ubuntu

subspace-node run \
--chain taurus \
--farmer \
--name your_node_name \
--base-path NODE_DATA_PATH \
--sync full \
-- \
--domain-id your_domain_id \
--operator-id your_operator_id

🐋 Docker

services:
node:
  # Replace snapshot-DATE with the latest release (like snapshot-2025-jan-07)
  image: ghcr.io/autonomys/node:snapshot-DATE
  volumes:
# Instead of specifying volume (which will store data in /var/lib/docker), you can
# alternatively specify path to the directory where files will be stored, just make
# sure everyone is allowed to write there
    - node-data:/var/subspace:rw
#      - /path/to/subspace-node:/var/subspace:rw
  ports:
# If port 30333 or 30433 is already occupied by another Substrate-based node, replace all
# occurrences of 30333 or 30433 in this file with another value
    - "0.0.0.0:30333:30333/tcp"
    - "0.0.0.0:30433:30433/tcp"
    - "0.0.0.0:40333:40333/tcp"
  restart: unless-stopped
  command: [
    "run",
    "--chain", "taurus",
    "--base-path", "/var/subspace",
    "--rpc-cors", "all",
    "--rpc-methods", "unsafe",
    "--rpc-listen-on", "0.0.0.0:9944",
    "--farmer",
   # Replace INSERT_YOUR_ID with your node ID (will be shown in telemetry)
    "--name", "INSERT_YOUR_ID",
    "--sync", "full", 
    "--",
    # Replace INSERT_YOUR_DOMAIN_ID with domain ID you want to be operator on
    "--domain-id", "INSERT_YOUR_DOMAIN_ID",
    # Replace INSERT_YOUR_OPERATOR_ID with your operator ID
    "--operator-id", "INSERT_YOUR_OPERATOR_ID",
    "--listen-on", "/ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/40333"
# Replace INSERT_YOUR_ID with your node ID (will be shown in telemetry)
  ]
  healthcheck:
    timeout: 5s
# If node setup takes longer than expected, you want to increase interval and retries number.
    interval: 30s
    retries: 60
farmer:
  depends_on:
    node:
      condition: service_healthy
  # Replace snapshot-DATE with latest release (like snapshot-2025-jan-07)
  image: ghcr.io/autonomys/farmer:snapshot-DATE
  volumes:
# Instead of specifying volume (which will store data in /var/lib/docker), you can
# alternatively specify path to the directory where files will be stored, just make
# sure everyone is allowed to write there
    - farmer-data:/var/subspace:rw
#      - /path/to/subspace-farmer:/var/subspace:rw
  ports:
# If port 30533 is already occupied by something else, replace all
# occurrences of 30533 in this file with another value
    - "0.0.0.0:30533:30533/tcp"
  restart: unless-stopped
  command: [
    "farm",
    "--node-rpc-url", "ws://node:9944",
    "--listen-on", "/ip4/0.0.0.0/tcp/30533",
# Replace WALLET_ADDRESS with your Polkadot.js wallet address
    "--reward-address", "WALLET_ADDRESS",
    # Replace PLOT_SIZE with plot size in gigabytes or terabytes, for example 100G or 2T (but leave at least 60G of disk space for node and some for OS)
    "path=/var/subspace,size=PLOT_SIZE",
  ]
volumes:
node-data:
farmer-data:

note

If you're running an operator node for AutoID domain, add the following bootstrap node to the list of domain arguments:

--bootstrap-node /dns/bootstrap-0.autoid.gemini-3h.subspace.network/tcp/30334/p2p/12D3KooWFoiz2iTkmnnSqiL2oQRhGzaqgtUjYNz2jyWKQqgPXgx9

You should see the node start successfully and begin syncing.

Switching to another server

To ensure the minimum downtime during your switch, we propose the following:

1. Sync a new operator node using a throwaway key. You can generate a new key, just not insert it into your keystore.
2. Stop the original node and rename the keystore (or whatever you feel comfortable doing to prevent you accidentally starting the original node up with the original signing key).
3. Update the keystore on the new node with the original signing key.
4. Restart the new operator node.