Supernode Deployment — It’s GO time!

Published in

APEX Network

4 min readJul 19, 2019

Recently APEX Network opened applications for community members wanting to take part in running APEX Network blockchain consensus nodes to aid with troubleshooting and testing the different features of our mainnet technology.

In just two short days we received 36 applications to run a supernode from a dedicated server, with server costs reimbursed by APEX Network — original announcement and reimbursement details here. All 36 applications were approved!

Since then our dev team and community techies have been hard at work preparing for mass supernode deployment, with server commitments spanning four continents from North America and Europe to Asia and Australia. We are still planning out the APEX Network supernode world map, but already we have 6 North American supernodes, 10 European supernodes, 5 Asian (APEX run) supernodes and 3 Australian supernodes planned. We are thrilled with the response and have loved seeing the tech community buzzing with activity lately!

It is time to fire up the engines

We request that all approved node operators do the following as soon as possible:

Sign up for your dedicated server with your chosen provider now! Make sure the server fulfills the minimum specifications. If you have not yet decided on a location, please consider a provider with datacenters in North America, Australia or Asia to promote an even global distribution of the nodes.
Before doing anything else, please carefully read all available information & resources in the pinned message of the APEX Network TechSupport Telegram group and go through the information available in the readme at our supernode deployment Github repository.
Once your server is ready and you have digested the available information, please log onto your server and perform the first 5 (FIVE) steps — details in the supernode deployment repository linked above:
1. Install git
2. Clone the repo
3. Change directory
4. Make all provided scripts executable
5. Then install the core and the client application
Once you have complied the applications you must:
1. Create an APEX public address that you can supply to the community management in the tech group and securely store the private key of the address. This can be done through our block explorer at tracker.apexnetwork.io
2. On your server, open the CLI application with the command: “sh client.sh” and follow the instructions given under “Conversion of private keys” in the supernode deployment repository. Store the private key in RAW format (this is your block producer key).

and follow the instructions given under “Conversion of private keys” in the supernode deployment repository. Store the private key in RAW format (this is your block producer key).

Once you have successfully performed the above steps you are prepared for launch. Launch time will be today, July 19th 2019 — afternoon CET. At this time all node operators will be provided with the necessary information to properly configure their nodes before launch (peer IPs and timeStamp) — and then our community supernodes go live! Please note that the provided connection information must be kept strictly confidential and is not to be distributed in public forums such as Telegram.
Note: If for whatever reason you are not able to make the necessary preparations ahead of time, it is entirely possible for you to launch later. We would however like as many node operators as possible to be able to deploy their supernodes tomorrow or during the upcoming weekend.

Supernode Bounty System

In order to motivate all applicants, the APEX core team has decided that each participant, who manages to successfully produce one block, will be granted a reward of 10,000 CPX.

While we progress, more bounties will be added for sub tasks such as deploying a smart contract and many more.

Server Costs Reimbursement Instructions

Send an email to apex-inquiry@chinapex.com using the email address you used to apply for the Supernode Deployment program and include the invoice for the dedicated server rental plus your NEO address that you submitted while applying.

Notes:

Only emails originating from email addresses that were used to apply for the Supernode Deployment program will be considered for reimbursement.
As previously stated dedicated server costs for the first month will be reimbursed. Depending on how things progress, we will consider extending the program and reimbursement of extra months.
Reimbursement will happen in CPX at the spot price (Switcheo $ per CPX) of the day on which reimbursement happens. You will get an email detailing the reimbursement and notifying you of it when it happens.

Technical support will be provided through the APEX Network Tech Support Telegram group by our community management and fellow supernode operators, with dev assistance from Shanghai when needed.

Check out the FAQ

It’s time to go global!

Thank you for your support,
APEX Core team & CM team of APEX Network