Getting Started
Running an Operator is currently only available on the Chronos Testnet. On mainnet, only Subspace Labs and the Subspace Foundation are running operators. Community access to running operators on mainnet will be available in the future.
Decoupled Execution Framework
Autonomys introduces the Decoupled Execution Framework (DecEx) to tackle the state-bloat issue by separating transaction ordering from execution. Farmers confirm and order transactions, while staked operator nodes execute them, allowing different hardware requirements for each role. This keeps farming accessible and lays the groundwork for scalable execution. Users submit transactions to operators who batch them into bundles. Farmers verify and order them, with operators executing the transactions in this order. The process forms a deterministic receipt chain, with an initial implementation using an optimistic fraud-proof validation scheme.
For more information on how Subspace separates consensus and computation, check out Autonomys Academy.
Farming vs. Operators: Key Differences
耕种
- Consensus: This is the primary role of Farmers, and provides security and consensus for the network. Our Farmers are what ensure we don't trust, but verify.
- 订单排序：农民负责确认交易有效并负责排序。
- 轻量要求：耕种所需硬件设计为轻量，任何人都可以获得。
- 验证：农民只验证选举证明并确保数据可用。
- 交易：农民不执行交易；他们的专注于排序并将他们包含在区块链中。
Being an Operator
- 交易提交和执行：操作者负责将交易分批成交易包并提交给共识链， 执行共识区块中的交易，并维护由此产生的链状态。
- Higher Hardware Requirements: Operators require more substantial hardware capabilities, as they must execute complex transactions.
- Require Initial Investment: Operators are required to stake a certain amount of AI3. If an operator acts maliciously, their stake is at risk of being slashed. Engaging in such malicious behavior carries significant penalties, providing crypto-economic security to execution.
- 预先验证和批处理：操作者通过质押加权选举程序对交易进行预先验证和分批处理成交易包。
- 确定性执行：操作者以具体的确定性的顺序执行交易，产生执行收据形式的确认状态。
- 次要网络角色：监视域链中的恶意活动并将欺诈证明提交给共识链。
- 支持各种环境：可以支持不同的智能合约执行环境，如以太坊虚拟机(EVM) 或Web-Assembly(WASM)。
Operators 
Testnet
Requirements
Hardware requirements are lowered for testing but will likely increase on mainnet.
操作系统
| Application | Ubuntu | Windows | macOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| CLI | 22.04 | 11 | 14 (Sonoma) |
- Note that these are the officially supported minimum versions. For example, Windows 10 will not be officially supported but is likely to work. Team will not prioritise supporting issues that are only present on Windows 10.
硬件
| CPU | RAM | Storage | 网络 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Cores+ @ 3.4GHz ¹ | 16 GB | 300 GB NVMe ² | 50 Mbps ³ |
¹ Intel Ice Lake or newer (Xeon or Core series), and AMD Zen 3 or newer (EPYC or Ryzen), with a preference for single-threaded performance over a higher core count.
² Latency is more important than throughput.
³ Bandwidth throughput listed refers to the required upload speed.
Directory Structure
The operator key pair is stored in the keystore directory within your domain folder. In the example below, 0 represents the domain ID, which will vary based on which domain you're operating on.
质押
The Autonomys Network relies on staking from both domain operators and farmers to secure the network and provide resources. Autonomys implements a Nominated Proof-of-Stake algorithm where token holders endorse operators who execute transactions and produce blocks.
我们的质押模式由两级组成：
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Farmers earn rewards proportional to their pledged storage. Farmers can choose to nominate operators and back them with their own stake, increasing their chance of being elected as a slot leader. Farmers, who have earned storage rewards, nominate operators to execute transactions. This nomination system balances the power between farmers who nominate and operators with both parties sharing the execution fees and the potential penalties (slashing).
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Operators stake to gain the right to produce bundles within a domain. They are responsible for validating and executing transactions, producing execution receipts, applying state transitions, submitting a storage fee for bundle execution and earning fees for their work. The operator's chances to be elected as a slot leader and produce a bundle are weighted by their stake. Operators can be nominated by farmers or other AI3 holders.
The nomination pools in Autonomys are "lazy": any fees earned by the operator are assigned to the pool and are not deposited to the nominators wallet unless they ask for a withdrawal. Unless withdrawn, the fees are "auto-staked" - they count towards the total stake of the pool, increasing its chance of being elected to produce bundles.
Nominations
Any $AI3 token holder with the required nominator MinStake can join an operator's nomination pool by submitting a nomination transaction with their desired $AI3 stake deposit. The workflow is then as follows:
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The nominator's $AI3 deposit is added to the list of pending deposits in the nomination pool.
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At the end of the epoch, the nominator's deposit is processed.
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20% of each nominator's deposit is reserved in the operator's storage fee fund to pay for bundles the operator creates. This does not affect the stake distribution and is proportionally refunded with each withdrawal. The remaining 80% is locked in the nominator's wallet.
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The nominator's share of the total pool is calculated based on their deposit as a percentage of the total stake and their length of time staked. This is used to calculate the nominator's share of the operator's execution fees.
质押纪元
The stake epoch is a designated period in domain blocks within a blockchain system that marks each stake allocation re-adjustment period. Occurring every StakeEpochDuration blocks (at the moment, it's set to every 100 blocks or ~10 minutes), an epoch transition triggers specific actions such as finalizing operator domain switches, deregistering operators, unlocking operators and their associated funds, and recalculating stake distribution for the Verifiable Random Function (VRF) election. These transitions are designed to adjust the stake distribution dynamically, finalize various staking-related operations, process rewards, and manage deposits and withdrawals. The uniform duration across all domains helps maintain consistency in the network, while the specific starting point for each domain's epoch transition may vary based on when it is registered, helping to amortize the load of these transitions.
Withdrawals
Withdrawals have a locking period of 14,400 domain blocks (~1 day), after which withdrawn tokens are unlocked in users' wallets. All withdrawals requested in the same stake epoch are aggregated together, and the total amount is unlocked at once. This locking period is necessary to ensure that the domain block executing the withdrawal is confirmed and not challenged by a fraud proof, increasing the economic stability of domains.