Validator Profile: Colinka

Validators Validator Profiles
1

Validator Name: Colinka

Valoper Address: agoricvaloper1llcs6xwp6gdv4t2krmyupfjjr0xyuwk9npyhzs
Self Delegate Address: agoric1llcs6xwp6gdv4t2krmyupfjjr0xyuwk9reh773
Commission rate: 5%
Location (Country): Germany, Poland, Finland
Description/Bio: Mainnet Agoric validator, received delegations from the DCF and from the OpCo foundation. We also have more than 500 delegators from the a Agoric community.

The node is configured in accordance with the recommendations of the Agoric team, all aspects are taken into account, such as powerful dedicated servers, security recommendations, timely updates, alerts and monitoring.
The validator team consists of two engineers located in different time zones.
Participated in the Agoric testnet that worked before the launch of the Agoric mainnet. Now we support the Emerynet and Devnet.

Other networks that we validate:
Solana, Mina Protocol, Velas, Quicksilver, Rebus, AssetMantle, Passage

Services provided to delegators : We operate a highly available public RPC for users and developers of the Agoric network. It is also planned to launch an IBC-relayer (WIP).

Contact Info/Socials

Contributions

2 Likes
2

Analysis of the reasons for getting the Colinka validator into jail.

On April 23, the validator Colinka was jailed. The reason for this was a combination of circumstances in which 2 Horcrux cosigner servers out of 3 were unavailable.

At the time of going to jail, the validator Colinka was working with one engineer. Validator was configured according to the security guidelines using horcrux remote signer:

  • Horcrux cosigner 1 (Hetzner)
  • Horcrux cosigner 2 (Home server)
  • Horcrux cosigner 3 (Mevspace)
  • Centry 1 (Hetzner)
  • Centry 2 (Interserver)
  • Centry 3 (Mevspace)

Key Shards Parameters:

  • Number of shards: 3
  • Threshold: 2

On April 22, Horcrux cosigner 3, located on Mevspace, stopped responding because there was a problem with disks on the server, which required a complete replacement of NVME drives. The support indicated a replacement within 24 hours, because the necessary components are not available right now.

The validator remained working with two horcrux cosigners:

  • Horcrux cosigner 1 (Hetzner)
  • Horcrux cosigner 2 (Home server)

The reconfiguration of Horcrux cosigner 3 to another server was not performed due to the complexity of the work, the probability of double signing and the relatively low time interval of unavailability of the Horcrux cosigner 3 server (maximum 24 hours).

On the night of April 22 to April 23, there was bad weather in our country, due to which the equipment of my internet provider failed and Horcrux cosigner 2 lost connection. Also, due to the lack of internet, i did not receive notifications that Agoric node is delinquent.

In the morning, turning on the mobile internet, i saw a large number of alerts. Observing all the rules of security and protection against double signing, the validator was started on backup machine that was synchronized.In total, the validator Colinka stayed in jail for about 15 minutes.

The work carried out to improve the reliability of the validator:

The following measures have been taken to ensure that the situation with my validator going to jail does not happen again:

  1. Horcrux cosigner 2 has been migrated from a home server to a reliable Vultr provider.
  2. A mobile device has been installed with the mobile internet constantly turned on for round-the-clock alerting (in case of a fiber-optic internet outage).
  3. Collaboration with an engineer from another time zone.

These steps will allow my validator to no longer get into jail, because the infrastructure for signing and infrastructure for alerts has been improved. Cooperation with the engineer will allow for urgent work during my absence.

3 Likes
3

Analysis of the reasons for the Colinka validator being jailed.

On December 7, 2023, the Colinka validator was jailed. The cause was a human factor. Due to a mistake, a full unstake of the validator’s tokens was accidentally executed, resulting in instant jailing. Thanks to the monitoring system, the validator’s entry into jail was quickly detected, and measures were taken to ensure the normal operation of the validator.

The validator spent approximately 20 minutes in jail.

Efforts have been made to improve the reliability of the validator:

Internal instructions for working with the validator now require a mandatory check of the selfie stake balance. This will help prevent a similar situation in the future.

We strive to ensure the stable and reliable operation of our validator, and we will continue to improve our processes to avoid such incidents in the future.

2 Likes