Node Provider Documentation

Introduction

The Internet Computer is a decentralized network of nodes running the Internet Computer protocol. These nodes are owned by Node Providers who receive rewards for their nodes' useful work. Individuals or organizations can become Node Providers through submitting a proposal to the Network Nervous System (NNS), the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that governs the Internet Computer. The ICP community then votes on whether to include the Node Provider.

Node Providers invest in and operate the node hardware that powers the Internet Computer. Running these nodes in data centers provides the high performance and the cost-effectiveness of the Internet Computer.

The more diverse the set of Node Providers who supply node machines, the more resilient the Internet Computer is. You can support the Internet Computer and the IC community by becoming a Node Provider and increasing its decentralization.

This article is the hub for ICP Node Provider documentation.

Roadmap

To become a Node Provider, follow the Node Provider Roadmap, which explain the costs, rewards, responsibilities, and steps required to become a Node Provider.

Target topology reached - no new node machines being onboarded

Last year, the community has voted on an IC target topology with a maximum number of node machines, as well as on an optimization model to validate candidate node machines against this IC target topology. The IC target topology has been reached by December of 23, see for more information this forum post.. This means that the IC network currently does not require any additional node machines in order to reach its decentralization targets. Therefore, DFINITY will not vote to adopt any proposals for new node machines being added to the IC network. Once the subnets are reaching capacity and more subnets are required to run all applications, the community may decide to increase the target topology again and allow additional node machines to the network.

Resources

• Node deployment guides:
  • Legacy (Gen-1) Node Deployment Guide (with an HSM)
  • Current (Gen-2) Node Deployment Guide (without an HSM)
• Node Provider onboarding
  • Node Provider Onboarding
  • Node Provider Self-declaration
  • Validation of Candidate Node Machines
  • Node Provider Reward Configuration Guide
  • Troubleshooting Failed NNS proposals
• Troubleshooting and maintenance:
  • Node Provider Troubleshooting guides
  • Node Provider Matrix channel
  • Node Provider Maintenance Guide
  • Node Provider NNS proposals
  • Removing a Node From the Registry
  • Changing Your Data Center Principal
  • Adding additional node machines to existing Node Allowance
  • Updating your node's IPv4 and domain name
• Guides and resources
  • Node Provider Machine Hardware Guide
  • Node Provider Networking Guide
  • Node Provider Alerting Options
  • Node Provider Data Center and ISP Guide
  • Node Provider Decentralization and Security Guide
  • Node Provider Legal Guide
  • Node Provider Remuneration
  • Node Provider Domain Name Guide
  • BMC Password Reset Guide
  • Gen1 Node Provider onboarding Gen2 node machines
  • Guide for Gen-1 to Gen-1.5 RMU build
• Other resources:
  • Node Provider FAQ