RPC Node Infrastructure Guide

Complete guide to deploying production-grade RPC infrastructure for Nexis Appchain. Learn how to run op-geth, configure proxyd load balancer, implement caching, and scale horizontally.

What is an RPC Node?

RPC (Remote Procedure Call) nodes serve blockchain data to applications without participating in consensus:

Serve dApps

Provide data to decentralized applications

No Staking Required

Run without capital requirements

Scalable

Easily scale horizontally

Monetizable

Offer as a service to developers

RPC Node vs Validator

Feature	RPC Node	Validator Node
Purpose	Serve API requests	Validate blocks
Stake	None	10,000 NZT minimum
Slashing Risk	None	Yes
Uptime	95%+	99%+
Revenue	API fees	Block rewards + fees
Hardware	Medium	High
Scaling	Easy (horizontal)	Limited by stake

Architecture Overview

Hardware Requirements

Per RPC Node

Component	Minimum	Recommended	Notes
CPU	4 cores	8+ cores	Modern x86-64
RAM	16 GB	32+ GB	More cache = better
Storage	500 GB SSD	1 TB NVMe	Archive needs 2-4 TB
Network	100 Mbps	1+ Gbps	Symmetric up/down
Bandwidth	2 TB/month	5+ TB/month	Monitor usage

Load Balancer Server

Component	Specification
CPU	2 cores
RAM	4 GB
Storage	50 GB SSD
Network	1 Gbps

Cost Estimates

Single RPC Node (Hetzner):

Server: CPX31
CPU: 4 vCPU
RAM: 8 GB
Storage: 160 GB NVMe
Traffic: 20 TB
Cost: ~$20/month

Production Setup (3 RPC nodes + Load Balancer):

3x RPC nodes: $60/month
1x Load balancer: $10/month
Redis cache: $15/month
Monitoring: $10/month
Total: ~$95/month

Installation

1. System Preparation

# Update system
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Install dependencies
sudo apt install -y \
  build-essential \
  git \
  curl \
  wget \
  jq \
  nginx \
  redis-server \
  certbot \
  python3-certbot-nginx

# Install Docker
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh

# Install Docker Compose
sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/v2.20.0/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

# Create user
sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash nexis-rpc
sudo usermod -aG docker nexis-rpc

# Setup directories
sudo mkdir -p /opt/nexis-rpc/{data,config,logs}
sudo chown -R nexis-rpc:nexis-rpc /opt/nexis-rpc

2. Install op-geth

# Clone and build op-geth
cd /opt/nexis-rpc
git clone https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/op-geth.git
cd op-geth
git checkout v1.101315.1

make geth
sudo cp build/bin/geth /usr/local/bin/op-geth

# Verify
op-geth version

3. Install op-node

# Clone optimism
cd /opt/nexis-rpc
git clone https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/optimism.git
cd optimism
git checkout op-node/v1.7.0

# Build
cd op-node
make op-node
sudo cp bin/op-node /usr/local/bin/

# Verify
op-node --version

4. Install proxyd (Load Balancer)

# Clone proxyd
cd /opt/nexis-rpc
git clone https://github.com/ethereum-optimism/optimism.git
cd optimism/proxyd

# Build
go build -o proxyd ./cmd/proxyd

# Copy to system
sudo cp proxyd /usr/local/bin/

# Verify
proxyd --version

Configuration

RPC Node Configuration

op-geth Config

# /opt/nexis-rpc/config/geth.toml
cat > /opt/nexis-rpc/config/geth.toml << 'EOF'
[Eth]
NetworkId = 84532
SyncMode = "snap"
NoPruning = false  # Set true for archive node

[Eth.TxPool]
Locals = []
NoLocals = false
Journal = "transactions.rlp"
Rejournal = 3600000000000
PriceLimit = 1
PriceBump = 10
AccountSlots = 16
GlobalSlots = 5120
AccountQueue = 64
GlobalQueue = 1024

[Node]
DataDir = "/opt/nexis-rpc/data/geth"
HTTPHost = "0.0.0.0"
HTTPPort = 8545
HTTPVirtualHosts = ["*"]
HTTPModules = ["eth", "net", "web3", "txpool"]
HTTPCors = ["*"]
HTTPPathPrefix = ""

WSHost = "0.0.0.0"
WSPort = 8546
WSModules = ["eth", "net", "web3"]
WSOrigins = ["*"]

[Node.P2P]
MaxPeers = 100
NoDiscovery = false
ListenAddr = ":30303"

[Node.HTTPTimeouts]
ReadTimeout = 30000000000
WriteTimeout = 30000000000
IdleTimeout = 120000000000

[Metrics]
Enabled = true
HTTP = "0.0.0.0"
Port = 6060
EOF

op-node Config

# /opt/nexis-rpc/config/node.env
cat > /opt/nexis-rpc/config/node.env << 'EOF'
# Network
OP_NODE_NETWORK=nexis-testnet
OP_NODE_L1_ETH_RPC=https://sepolia.base.org
OP_NODE_L1_BEACON=https://sepolia-beacon.base.org

# L2 Engine
OP_NODE_L2_ENGINE_RPC=http://localhost:8551
OP_NODE_L2_ENGINE_AUTH=/opt/nexis-rpc/data/geth/geth/jwtsecret

# Rollup Config
OP_NODE_ROLLUP_CONFIG=/opt/nexis-rpc/config/rollup.json

# P2P
OP_NODE_P2P_LISTEN_IP=0.0.0.0
OP_NODE_P2P_LISTEN_TCP_PORT=9222
OP_NODE_P2P_LISTEN_UDP_PORT=9222
OP_NODE_P2P_BOOTNODES=<BOOTNODE_ENRS>

# RPC (disabled for RPC-only nodes)
OP_NODE_SEQUENCER_ENABLED=false

# RPC Server
OP_NODE_RPC_ADDR=0.0.0.0
OP_NODE_RPC_PORT=9545

# Metrics
OP_NODE_METRICS_ENABLED=true
OP_NODE_METRICS_ADDR=0.0.0.0
OP_NODE_METRICS_PORT=7300

# Logging
OP_NODE_LOG_LEVEL=info
EOF

Load Balancer Configuration (proxyd)

# /opt/nexis-rpc/config/proxyd.toml
[server]
rpc_host = "0.0.0.0"
rpc_port = 8080
ws_host = "0.0.0.0"
ws_port = 8081
max_body_size_bytes = 10485760  # 10MB
max_concurrent_rpcs = 1000
log_level = "info"

[metrics]
enabled = true
host = "0.0.0.0"
port = 9090

[backend]
response_timeout_seconds = 30
max_retries = 3
out_of_service_seconds = 600

[redis]
url = "redis://localhost:6379"

[cache]
enabled = true

[rate_limit]
enabled = true
max_requests_per_second = 100
exemptions = []

# Define backend groups
[backend_groups]
[backend_groups.main]
consensus_aware = true
consensus_ban_period_seconds = 120
consensus_max_block_lag = 10
consensus_max_block_range = 1000

# Backend RPC nodes
[[backends]]
rpc_url = "http://rpc1.internal:8545"
ws_url = "ws://rpc1.internal:8546"
max_retries = 3
max_response_time_seconds = 5
group = "main"

[[backends]]
rpc_url = "http://rpc2.internal:8545"
ws_url = "ws://rpc2.internal:8546"
max_retries = 3
max_response_time_seconds = 5
group = "main"

[[backends]]
rpc_url = "http://rpc3.internal:8545"
ws_url = "ws://rpc3.internal:8546"
max_retries = 3
max_response_time_seconds = 5
group = "main"

# Method routing
[[rpc_method_mappings]]
method = "*"
backend_groups = ["main"]

# Caching rules
[[cache.method_overrides]]
method = "eth_blockNumber"
ttl = "1s"

[[cache.method_overrides]]
method = "eth_getBlockByNumber"
ttl = "never"  # Only cache if historical block

[[cache.method_overrides]]
method = "eth_getBalance"
ttl = "5s"

[[cache.method_overrides]]
method = "eth_call"
ttl = "1s"

# Consensus polling
[consensus]
enabled = true
poll_interval = "2s"
consensus_method = "eth_getBlockByNumber"

Redis Configuration

# /etc/redis/redis.conf
# Memory
maxmemory 2gb
maxmemory-policy allkeys-lru

# Persistence (optional)
save 900 1
save 300 10
save 60 10000

# Network
bind 127.0.0.1
port 6379
tcp-backlog 511

# Performance
tcp-keepalive 300
timeout 0

Running with Docker Compose

# /opt/nexis-rpc/docker-compose.yml
version: '3.8'

services:
  # RPC Node 1
  geth-1:
    image: us-docker.pkg.dev/oplabs-tools-artifacts/images/op-geth:v1.101315.1
    container_name: nexis-geth-1
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8545:8545"
      - "8546:8546"
      - "8551:8551"
    volumes:
      - ./data/geth-1:/data
      - ./config/geth.toml:/config/geth.toml:ro
      - ./data/geth-1/jwtsecret:/jwtsecret:ro
    command:
      - --config=/config/geth.toml
      - --datadir=/data
      - --authrpc.addr=0.0.0.0
      - --authrpc.port=8551
      - --authrpc.jwtsecret=/jwtsecret
    logging:
      driver: "json-file"
      options:
        max-size: "100m"
        max-file: "10"

  node-1:
    image: us-docker.pkg.dev/oplabs-tools-artifacts/images/op-node:v1.7.0
    container_name: nexis-node-1
    restart: unless-stopped
    depends_on:
      - geth-1
    volumes:
      - ./config/rollup.json:/rollup.json:ro
      - ./data/geth-1/jwtsecret:/jwtsecret:ro
    env_file:
      - ./config/node.env
    environment:
      - OP_NODE_L2_ENGINE_RPC=http://geth-1:8551

  # RPC Node 2
  geth-2:
    image: us-docker.pkg.dev/oplabs-tools-artifacts/images/op-geth:v1.101315.1
    container_name: nexis-geth-2
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8645:8545"
      - "8646:8546"
      - "8651:8551"
    volumes:
      - ./data/geth-2:/data
      - ./config/geth.toml:/config/geth.toml:ro
      - ./data/geth-2/jwtsecret:/jwtsecret:ro
    command:
      - --config=/config/geth.toml
      - --datadir=/data
      - --authrpc.addr=0.0.0.0
      - --authrpc.port=8551
      - --authrpc.jwtsecret=/jwtsecret

  node-2:
    image: us-docker.pkg.dev/oplabs-tools-artifacts/images/op-node:v1.7.0
    container_name: nexis-node-2
    restart: unless-stopped
    depends_on:
      - geth-2
    volumes:
      - ./config/rollup.json:/rollup.json:ro
      - ./data/geth-2/jwtsecret:/jwtsecret:ro
    env_file:
      - ./config/node.env
    environment:
      - OP_NODE_L2_ENGINE_RPC=http://geth-2:8551

  # RPC Node 3
  geth-3:
    image: us-docker.pkg.dev/oplabs-tools-artifacts/images/op-geth:v1.101315.1
    container_name: nexis-geth-3
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8745:8545"
      - "8746:8546"
      - "8751:8551"
    volumes:
      - ./data/geth-3:/data
      - ./config/geth.toml:/config/geth.toml:ro
      - ./data/geth-3/jwtsecret:/jwtsecret:ro
    command:
      - --config=/config/geth.toml
      - --datadir=/data
      - --authrpc.addr=0.0.0.0
      - --authrpc.port=8551
      - --authrpc.jwtsecret=/jwtsecret

  node-3:
    image: us-docker.pkg.dev/oplabs-tools-artifacts/images/op-node:v1.7.0
    container_name: nexis-node-3
    restart: unless-stopped
    depends_on:
      - geth-3
    volumes:
      - ./config/rollup.json:/rollup.json:ro
      - ./data/geth-3/jwtsecret:/jwtsecret:ro
    env_file:
      - ./config/node.env
    environment:
      - OP_NODE_L2_ENGINE_RPC=http://geth-3:8551

  # Load Balancer
  proxyd:
    build:
      context: ./proxyd
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
    container_name: nexis-proxyd
    restart: unless-stopped
    depends_on:
      - redis
      - geth-1
      - geth-2
      - geth-3
    ports:
      - "80:8080"
      - "443:8081"
      - "9090:9090"
    volumes:
      - ./config/proxyd.toml:/etc/proxyd.toml:ro
    command: ["/usr/local/bin/proxyd", "/etc/proxyd.toml"]

  # Redis Cache
  redis:
    image: redis:7-alpine
    container_name: nexis-redis
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "6379:6379"
    volumes:
      - ./data/redis:/data
    command: redis-server --maxmemory 2gb --maxmemory-policy allkeys-lru

  # Monitoring
  prometheus:
    image: prom/prometheus:latest
    container_name: nexis-prometheus
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "9091:9090"
    volumes:
      - ./config/prometheus.yml:/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml:ro
      - ./data/prometheus:/prometheus
    command:
      - '--config.file=/etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml'
      - '--storage.tsdb.path=/prometheus'
      - '--storage.tsdb.retention.time=30d'

  grafana:
    image: grafana/grafana:latest
    container_name: nexis-grafana
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - ./data/grafana:/var/lib/grafana
      - ./config/grafana:/etc/grafana/provisioning:ro
    environment:
      - GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD=admin
      - GF_INSTALL_PLUGINS=grafana-clock-panel

  # Node Exporter (system metrics)
  node-exporter:
    image: prom/node-exporter:latest
    container_name: nexis-node-exporter
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "9100:9100"
    command:
      - '--path.procfs=/host/proc'
      - '--path.sysfs=/host/sys'
      - '--collector.filesystem.mount-points-exclude=^/(sys|proc|dev|host|etc)($$|/)'
    volumes:
      - /proc:/host/proc:ro
      - /sys:/host/sys:ro
      - /:/rootfs:ro

networks:
  default:
    name: nexis-rpc-network

Start the Infrastructure

cd /opt/nexis-rpc

# Generate JWT secrets for each node
mkdir -p data/geth-{1,2,3}
openssl rand -hex 32 > data/geth-1/jwtsecret
openssl rand -hex 32 > data/geth-2/jwtsecret
openssl rand -hex 32 > data/geth-3/jwtsecret

# Download genesis
curl -o config/genesis.json \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nexis-network/nexis-base-appchain/main/genesis.json

# Download rollup config
curl -o config/rollup.json \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nexis-network/nexis-base-appchain/main/rollup.json

# Initialize each geth instance
docker run --rm \
  -v $(pwd)/data/geth-1:/data \
  -v $(pwd)/config/genesis.json:/genesis.json \
  us-docker.pkg.dev/oplabs-tools-artifacts/images/op-geth:v1.101315.1 \
  init --datadir=/data /genesis.json

# Repeat for geth-2 and geth-3...

# Start all services
docker-compose up -d

# Check logs
docker-compose logs -f proxyd
docker-compose logs -f geth-1

SSL/TLS Configuration

Using Certbot (Let’s Encrypt)

# Install Nginx
sudo apt install nginx

# Configure Nginx as reverse proxy
cat > /etc/nginx/sites-available/nexis-rpc << 'EOF'
upstream nexis_rpc {
    server localhost:8080;
}

upstream nexis_ws {
    server localhost:8081;
}

# HTTP redirect to HTTPS
server {
    listen 80;
    server_name rpc.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

# HTTPS RPC endpoint
server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name rpc.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/rpc.example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/rpc.example.com/privkey.pem;

    ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
    ssl_ciphers HIGH:!aNULL:!MD5;
    ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://nexis_rpc;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;

        # Timeouts
        proxy_connect_timeout 60s;
        proxy_send_timeout 60s;
        proxy_read_timeout 60s;

        # Buffer
        proxy_buffering off;
        proxy_request_buffering off;
    }
}

# WebSocket endpoint
server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name ws.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/ws.example.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/ws.example.com/privkey.pem;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://nexis_ws;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;

        # Timeouts for WebSocket
        proxy_connect_timeout 7d;
        proxy_send_timeout 7d;
        proxy_read_timeout 7d;
    }
}
EOF

# Enable site
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/nexis-rpc /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl reload nginx

# Get SSL certificate
sudo certbot --nginx -d rpc.example.com -d ws.example.com

# Auto-renewal
sudo certbot renew --dry-run

Advanced Caching Strategies

Multi-Level Caching

# Enhanced proxyd caching configuration
[cache]
enabled = true
ttl = "5s"

# Method-specific caching
[[cache.method_overrides]]
method = "eth_blockNumber"
ttl = "1s"

[[cache.method_overrides]]
method = "eth_chainId"
ttl = "never"  # Never expires

[[cache.method_overrides]]
method = "eth_getBlockByNumber"
# Cache historical blocks forever, recent blocks 5s
ttl_fn = """
function(params) {
  local block = params[1]
  if block == "latest" or block == "pending" then
    return "5s"
  else
    return "never"
  end
}
"""

[[cache.method_overrides]]
method = "eth_getBalance"
ttl = "10s"

[[cache.method_overrides]]
method = "eth_call"
# Cache by block number
ttl = "5s"
cache_key_fn = """
function(params) {
  return params[1].to .. params[1].data .. (params[2] or "latest")
}
"""

Redis Optimization

# /etc/redis/redis-optimized.conf
# Memory
maxmemory 4gb
maxmemory-policy allkeys-lru

# Eviction
maxmemory-samples 10

# Persistence (disable for pure cache)
save ""
appendonly no

# Performance
tcp-backlog 511
timeout 0
tcp-keepalive 300

# Threading (Redis 6+)
io-threads 4
io-threads-do-reads yes

# Lazy freeing
lazyfree-lazy-eviction yes
lazyfree-lazy-expire yes
lazyfree-lazy-server-del yes

Rate Limiting

Per-IP Rate Limiting

# proxyd.toml rate limiting
[rate_limit]
enabled = true
max_requests_per_second = 100

# IP-based limits
[[rate_limit.ip_limits]]
ip = "0.0.0.0/0"  # Default for all IPs
max_requests_per_second = 10

[[rate_limit.ip_limits]]
ip = "192.168.1.0/24"  # Internal network
max_requests_per_second = 1000

# Exemptions (whitelisted IPs)
exemptions = [
  "203.0.113.1",
  "203.0.113.2"
]

API Key Rate Limiting

# Custom API key middleware
cat > /opt/nexis-rpc/middleware/ratelimit.lua << 'EOF'
local redis = require "resty.redis"
local red = redis:new()

red:set_timeout(1000)
red:connect("127.0.0.1", 6379)

-- Extract API key from header
local api_key = ngx.var.http_x_api_key

if not api_key then
    ngx.status = 401
    ngx.say('{"error":"API key required"}')
    return ngx.exit(401)
end

-- Check rate limit
local key = "ratelimit:" .. api_key
local current = red:incr(key)

if current == 1 then
    red:expire(key, 60)  -- 1 minute window
end

-- Get tier limits
local limit = 100  -- Default
if api_key == "premium_key" then
    limit = 1000
end

if current > limit then
    ngx.status = 429
    ngx.say('{"error":"Rate limit exceeded"}')
    return ngx.exit(429)
end

-- Allow request
ngx.header["X-RateLimit-Limit"] = limit
ngx.header["X-RateLimit-Remaining"] = limit - current
EOF

Monitoring and Alerting

Prometheus Configuration

# /opt/nexis-rpc/config/prometheus.yml
global:
  scrape_interval: 15s
  evaluation_interval: 15s

alerting:
  alertmanagers:
    - static_configs:
        - targets: ['localhost:9093']

rule_files:
  - "alerts.yml"

scrape_configs:
  # RPC Nodes
  - job_name: 'geth-1'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['geth-1:6060']
        labels:
          node: 'geth-1'

  - job_name: 'geth-2'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['geth-2:6060']
        labels:
          node: 'geth-2'

  - job_name: 'geth-3'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['geth-3:6060']
        labels:
          node: 'geth-3'

  # Load Balancer
  - job_name: 'proxyd'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['proxyd:9090']

  # System Metrics
  - job_name: 'node-exporter'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['node-exporter:9100']

  # Redis
  - job_name: 'redis'
    static_configs:
      - targets: ['redis-exporter:9121']

Alert Rules

# /opt/nexis-rpc/config/alerts.yml
groups:
  - name: rpc_alerts
    interval: 30s
    rules:
      # Node sync alerts
      - alert: RPCNodeOutOfSync
        expr: op_node_sync_lag > 10
        for: 2m
        labels:
          severity: critical
        annotations:
          summary: "RPC node {{ $labels.node }} out of sync"
          description: "Node is {{ $value }} blocks behind"

      # High latency
      - alert: HighRPCLatency
        expr: histogram_quantile(0.95, rate(rpc_request_duration_seconds_bucket[5m])) > 1
        for: 5m
        labels:
          severity: warning
        annotations:
          summary: "High RPC latency on {{ $labels.node }}"
          description: "95th percentile latency is {{ $value }}s"

      # Error rate
      - alert: HighErrorRate
        expr: rate(rpc_errors_total[5m]) > 0.1
        for: 5m
        labels:
          severity: warning
        annotations:
          summary: "High error rate on {{ $labels.node }}"
          description: "Error rate is {{ $value }} errors/second"

      # Cache hit rate
      - alert: LowCacheHitRate
        expr: rate(cache_hits_total[5m]) / rate(cache_requests_total[5m]) < 0.5
        for: 10m
        labels:
          severity: warning
        annotations:
          summary: "Low cache hit rate"
          description: "Cache hit rate is {{ $value }}"

      # Disk space
      - alert: LowDiskSpace
        expr: (node_filesystem_avail_bytes / node_filesystem_size_bytes) < 0.2
        for: 5m
        labels:
          severity: warning
        annotations:
          summary: "Low disk space on {{ $labels.instance }}"
          description: "Only {{ $value | humanizePercentage }} available"

      # Memory usage
      - alert: HighMemoryUsage
        expr: (1 - (node_memory_MemAvailable_bytes / node_memory_MemTotal_bytes)) > 0.9
        for: 5m
        labels:
          severity: warning
        annotations:
          summary: "High memory usage on {{ $labels.instance }}"
          description: "Memory usage is {{ $value | humanizePercentage }}"

Grafana Dashboards

# Import pre-built dashboards
curl -o /opt/nexis-rpc/config/grafana/dashboards/rpc-overview.json \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nexis-network/monitoring/main/grafana/rpc-dashboard.json

curl -o /opt/nexis-rpc/config/grafana/dashboards/geth-metrics.json \
  https://grafana.com/api/dashboards/15364/revisions/1/download

Horizontal Scaling

Adding More RPC Nodes

# Add new node to docker-compose.yml
cat >> docker-compose.yml << 'EOF'
  geth-4:
    image: us-docker.pkg.dev/oplabs-tools-artifacts/images/op-geth:v1.101315.1
    container_name: nexis-geth-4
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8845:8545"
    volumes:
      - ./data/geth-4:/data
      - ./config/geth.toml:/config/geth.toml:ro
    command:
      - --config=/config/geth.toml
      - --datadir=/data
EOF

# Add to proxyd config
cat >> config/proxyd.toml << 'EOF'
[[backends]]
rpc_url = "http://geth-4:8545"
ws_url = "ws://geth-4:8546"
max_retries = 3
max_response_time_seconds = 5
group = "main"
EOF

# Restart
docker-compose up -d geth-4
docker-compose restart proxyd

Kubernetes Deployment

# k8s/rpc-deployment.yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: nexis-rpc
  namespace: nexis
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: nexis-rpc
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: nexis-rpc
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: op-geth
        image: us-docker.pkg.dev/oplabs-tools-artifacts/images/op-geth:v1.101315.1
        ports:
        - containerPort: 8545
          name: rpc
        - containerPort: 8546
          name: ws
        volumeMounts:
        - name: data
          mountPath: /data
        resources:
          requests:
            memory: "16Gi"
            cpu: "4"
          limits:
            memory: "32Gi"
            cpu: "8"
      volumes:
      - name: data
        persistentVolumeClaim:
          claimName: nexis-rpc-pvc
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: nexis-rpc-service
  namespace: nexis
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  selector:
    app: nexis-rpc
  ports:
  - name: rpc
    port: 8545
    targetPort: 8545
  - name: ws
    port: 8546
    targetPort: 8546

Performance Tuning

op-geth Optimization

# High-performance geth config
[Eth]
DatabaseCache = 8192  # 8GB cache
TrieCache = 2048
TrieTimeout = 60

[Eth.TxPool]
GlobalSlots = 10240
GlobalQueue = 2048

[Node.P2P]
MaxPeers = 100

[Node.HTTPTimeouts]
ReadTimeout = 30000000000
WriteTimeout = 30000000000
IdleTimeout = 120000000000

System-level Optimization

# /etc/sysctl.d/99-nexis-rpc.conf
# Network
net.core.rmem_max = 134217728
net.core.wmem_max = 134217728
net.ipv4.tcp_rmem = 4096 87380 134217728
net.ipv4.tcp_wmem = 4096 65536 134217728
net.core.netdev_max_backlog = 5000

# File handles
fs.file-max = 1000000

# Apply
sudo sysctl -p /etc/sysctl.d/99-nexis-rpc.conf

# Increase limits
cat >> /etc/security/limits.conf << 'EOF'
nexis-rpc soft nofile 1000000
nexis-rpc hard nofile 1000000
EOF

Backup and Disaster Recovery

Automated Backup Script

#!/bin/bash
# /opt/nexis-rpc/scripts/backup.sh

BACKUP_DIR="/backup/nexis-rpc"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)
RETENTION_DAYS=7

# Stop services
docker-compose stop geth-1 geth-2 geth-3

# Backup databases
for i in 1 2 3; do
    echo "Backing up geth-$i..."
    tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/geth-${i}_${DATE}.tar.gz \
        /opt/nexis-rpc/data/geth-$i/geth/chaindata
done

# Backup config
tar -czf $BACKUP_DIR/config_${DATE}.tar.gz /opt/nexis-rpc/config

# Restart services
docker-compose start geth-1 geth-2 geth-3

# Upload to S3
aws s3 sync $BACKUP_DIR s3://my-backup-bucket/nexis-rpc/

# Clean old backups
find $BACKUP_DIR -mtime +$RETENTION_DAYS -delete

echo "Backup completed: $DATE"

Cost Optimization

Reduce Bandwidth Costs

# Implement aggressive caching
# Use CloudFlare or Fastly CDN
# Compress responses

# Nginx compression
gzip on;
gzip_types application/json;
gzip_min_length 1000;

Archive Node Optimization

# For archive nodes, use separate disk
[Node]
DataDir = "/mnt/archive/geth"  # Use cheaper HDD for older data

# Separate ancient data
AncientDir = "/mnt/archive/ancient"

Troubleshooting

High Latency

# Check cache hit rate
redis-cli INFO stats | grep hit_rate

# Check backend health
curl localhost:9090/metrics | grep backend_latency

# Check system resources
htop
iotop

# Check network
iftop

Out of Sync

# Check sync status
curl -X POST http://localhost:8545 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_syncing","params":[],"id":1}'

# Check peer count
curl -X POST http://localhost:8545 \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"net_peerCount","params":[],"id":1}'

# Force resync
docker-compose stop geth-1
docker-compose start geth-1

Resources

Validator Node

Run a validator node

RPC API Reference

Complete RPC methods

Infrastructure Overview

Architecture details

Discord Support

Get help from operators

Performance Tip: Use SSD/NVMe storage and allocate at least 8GB to geth cache for optimal performance.

For production deployments, consider using managed Kubernetes services (GKE, EKS, AKS) for easier scaling and maintenance.

Monitor your bandwidth usage closely. RPC nodes can use 5-10 TB/month under heavy load. Use caching aggressively!

​RPC Node Infrastructure Guide

​What is an RPC Node?

Serve dApps

No Staking Required

Scalable

Monetizable

​RPC Node vs Validator

​Architecture Overview

​Hardware Requirements

​Per RPC Node

​Load Balancer Server

​Cost Estimates

​Installation

​1. System Preparation

​2. Install op-geth

​3. Install op-node

​4. Install proxyd (Load Balancer)

​Configuration

​RPC Node Configuration

​op-geth Config

​op-node Config

​Load Balancer Configuration (proxyd)

​Redis Configuration

​Running with Docker Compose

​Start the Infrastructure

​SSL/TLS Configuration

​Using Certbot (Let’s Encrypt)

​Advanced Caching Strategies

​Multi-Level Caching

​Redis Optimization

​Rate Limiting

​Per-IP Rate Limiting

​API Key Rate Limiting

​Monitoring and Alerting

​Prometheus Configuration

​Alert Rules

​Grafana Dashboards

​Horizontal Scaling

​Adding More RPC Nodes

​Kubernetes Deployment

​Performance Tuning

​op-geth Optimization

​System-level Optimization

​Backup and Disaster Recovery

​Automated Backup Script

​Cost Optimization

​Reduce Bandwidth Costs

​Archive Node Optimization

​Troubleshooting

​High Latency

​Out of Sync

​Resources

Validator Node

RPC API Reference

Infrastructure Overview

Discord Support

RPC Node Infrastructure Guide

What is an RPC Node?

RPC Node vs Validator

Architecture Overview

Hardware Requirements

Per RPC Node

Load Balancer Server

Cost Estimates

Installation

1. System Preparation

2. Install op-geth

3. Install op-node

4. Install proxyd (Load Balancer)

Configuration

RPC Node Configuration

op-geth Config

op-node Config

Load Balancer Configuration (proxyd)

Redis Configuration

Running with Docker Compose

Start the Infrastructure

SSL/TLS Configuration

Using Certbot (Let’s Encrypt)

Advanced Caching Strategies

Multi-Level Caching

Redis Optimization

Rate Limiting

Per-IP Rate Limiting

API Key Rate Limiting

Monitoring and Alerting

Prometheus Configuration

Alert Rules

Grafana Dashboards

Horizontal Scaling

Adding More RPC Nodes

Kubernetes Deployment

Performance Tuning

op-geth Optimization

System-level Optimization

Backup and Disaster Recovery

Automated Backup Script

Cost Optimization

Reduce Bandwidth Costs

Archive Node Optimization

Troubleshooting

High Latency

Out of Sync

Resources