Using the answers given by the 101 responders to the BetaNet Questionnaire which closed on Tuesday, March 27th, 2020 and after extensive testing in the NodeLab, the xx network Node Team has fine tuned the BetaNet node and gateway specifications as follows:
Node:
CPU: 8 core modern CPU with Hyperthreading such as AMD Ryzen 7 2700x
GPU: Nvidia Turing or Tesla GPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 or greater
RAM: 16GB DDR4 or more (an upgrade path to 32GB is recommended)
Storage: 1TB Professional High Speed NVME (PCI) SSD (Example: Samsung 970 PRO SSD 1TB - M.2 NVMe)
Bandwidth: 100mbit up / 100mbit down with Static IP
Other configurations may also work and will be approved on a case by case basis. The software does support full CPU nodes, but higher core counts are required. As the software becomes more mature and more power is extracted from the GPU, it is likely the hardware requirements for such nodes will increase.
We are actively testing setups with multiple high end (5+) Nvidia Pascal GPUs and expect to report in the next few weeks if such setups can meet requirements. That being said, it is likely that support will be dropped from such configurations as the platform matures.
Gateway:
Gateways are low powered machines which act as the public face for a node. Every node must have a gateway. Most gateways are expected to run in the cloud, but it is possible to run them as physical devices. They offer protection to the node if they are on a seperate IP address and network connection.
CPU: modern dual core (Example: AMD Ryzen 3 2200g)
GPU: None
RAM: 2GB or more
Storage: 250GB (database instance)
Bandwidth: 100mbit up / 100mbit down (Must be separate from node bandwidth) with Static IP
On the BetaNet forum, you can find the exact specifications we have been testing to better inform your decisions. Although, it is important to note that our test nodes do not have reliable SSDs.
These specifications may change over the life of the BetaNet, but we will strive to keep them as consistent as possible. Please note these specifications are highly likely to change going into the MainNet.
Node Registration
On Friday, the xx network will begin registering the first 150 nodes in the BetaNet! As discussed in our April 16th blog, The Road to BetaNet, we are partnering with Tokensoft on “registration” to meet the Cayman, and U.S. regulatory requirements to protect nodes and the network from legal issues and to allow as many nodes as possible to receive xx coin compensation.
Starting on May 1st at 24:00 GMT we will begin registration based on your color group (previously selected in May 2019). The Blue Group will be invited to register first at 24:00 GMT May 1st. The White group will be invited to fill any open slots on May 6th at 24:00 GMT and finally registration will open to the Teal group on May 11th at 24:00 GMT.
On July 1st, the xx network BetaNet will launch with the first 150 nodes, and by September will mature to invite all 600 nodes, and beyond!