Hardware Requirements

Node Server

headless, always-online computer, running Ubuntu Server and the Ethereum node software
Mini PC form factor is ideal for its power efficiency
NVMe primary disk is required for its high I/O speed
- see Yorick Downe’s Great and less great SSDs for Ethereum nodes
cheaper/slower 2.5” HDD or SSD as a secondary drive is sufficient for less-demanding “ancient” blockchain data
for example:
- Intel NUC 10 Performance Kit – Intel Core i7 Processor (Tall Chassis)
  - only drawback of this chassis is that, despite being the “tall” model, it will not fit a 15mm 2.5” 5TB HDD, so you’re stuck with purchasing an expensive SSD despite not needing SSD speeds, such as the 4TB linked below
- 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4 2666 RAM
- Western Digital SN750 2TB
- SAMSUNG 870 EVO 4TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD
  - 2.5” SSDs > 4TB are astronomically more expensive, but 4TB as secondary is plenty for the foreseeable future. Worst-case scenario: switching to external USB secondary storage in a few years (inelegant, but the I/O reqs are low enough where this would work)
- keyboard, mouse, monitor
  - these will only be needed during the initial setup

your laptop or desktop computer, connected to the same LAN as the node server
will be used to administer the node server via SSH, secured by key+passphrase authentication
this guide presupposes that you have Mint installed. With minor modifications, you could use another Linux distro, Windows 10+ via WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), or Mac OS, but that is beyond the scope of this guide

will be used to generate seed phrases, and to sign transactions by typing in seed phrases
any old, retired PC will do so long as it can run Linux Mint
once commissioned, must NEVER be connected to the internet or any networked device
should not have a storage disk installed; a live Linux USB flash drive will be used to boot into RAM
should not have wireless capabilities (e.g. WiFi/4G/5G), or should at least have these functions disabled in the BIOS or by physical toggle/removal if available

the hub of your LAN which connects the node server & client PC together and to the internet
must have decent CPU and RAM, able to run OpenWRT and handle the node server’s high traffic
for example:
- Linksys WRT3200ACM (Èl Classicò Americàno)
  - long in the tooth, but still works well. It has dual-partition storage to house two firmware installs simultaneously and switches between them automatically during flashing, which makes tinkering safer. It’s also widely supported with a huge userbase, so finding help on the various forums is easy
- a more powerful (and expensive) alternative would be an official pfSense or OPNSense appliance, and running its respective operating system for routing & firewall duties instead of OpenWRT, but that is beyond the scope of this guide
- there are newer WiFi 6+ routers which are open source-friendly, including a variety of cheap Chinesium appliances which are popular in the “tech bro” community, but they have spotty hardware support, suffer occasional zero-day exploits (exhibit A), supply-chain attacks (exhibit B), and backdoors (exhibit C), but that is beyond the scope of this guide
- I recommend sticking with Èl Classicò Americàno for now. If better WiFi is needed, disable its WiFi radios and connect a separate AP

provides surge & sag protection, extending the life of the node server and router
keeps the node server and router running during brief power outtages
gracefully shuts-down the node server during extended power outtages
for example:
- CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD