More specifically, how does one know or how does one check if a cardano-node process is acting/functioning as a relay versus a producer?
4 Answers
BP settings ->
- folder files : topology.json will be on BP only your realys
- from BP we dont run topologyUpdater
- to run a BP, you need minimum 3-4 files (hot.skey, op.cert, vrf.skey, vrf.vkey) - the rest of the files, need to be stored and secured in a private offline node for your security.
Relay Settings ->
- you run script "topologyUpdater" so that you have every hour new peers.
- in the "topologyUpdater" you have to define specific Nodes, you want to be connected additionally to the list of the Nodes from the script
It depends on how you configure your nodes, there are few things that changes between a block producer and a relay node. In the block producer's topology.json you should only have your 1/2 "private" relays. Another thing that you can check is the start up script of the node, the block producer need to include different keys: kes, vrf, ecc inside of it. The last thing that comes to my mind is that if everything is configured in the corrected way, you should be able to see different things by opening the liveview of the node, first of all, it tells you if you are running a core or a relay node. If you are watching the core node, you should be able to see processed tx and mempool tx/bytes, plus the kes expiration date, if not, you should be able to see peers/other's pools relay nodes.
all answers a great for general infos...
i think based on your questions, you want to find if a node is BP or Relay, please execute the command below
sudo systemctl status cnode
if you find the 3 files below on the executed command, means it is running a BP
- hot.skey
- vrf.skey
- op.cert
if you need more info / support, let us know TTS17
The presence of
- --shelley-kes-key
- --shelley-vrf-key
- --shelley-operational-certificate
startup parameters, makes cardano-node acts as a Block Producer.