Nodevember Interview - Insights from LTO Community Node Operators.

Blockchain • Published on: Nov 22, 2023 • Last updated: Nov 22, 2023

INTRODUCTION.
In our quest to unravel the tales of dedication, innovation, and community spirit, we had the honor of interviewing some of the brilliant minds behind the nodes powering the LTO Network blockchain.

Today, we bring you firsthand accounts from the front lines as our node owners generously share their experiences, insights, and the driving forces that fuel their commitment to the LTO Network.

INTERVIEW WITH EDGE NODE.

QUESTION: How do you get leasers on your node?

EDGE NODE: "I am running nodes and validators for multiple blockchains, so finding leasers for my nodes involves tapping into existing networks and leveraging the trust established through my node operations on the different platforms.

I regularly (virtually) interact with people involved in any of my nodes and occasionally organize promotional activities that bring benefits/incentives to the community members.”

QUESTION: What improvements or additions would you like to see in future LTO Network updates?

EDGE NODE: “The Edge node community, including myself, are eager to see the introduction of a new transaction type that would enable a seamless process for node owners to payout rewards and simultaneously lease them back to the node. Such functionality would enhance the way for people to stake their LTO, as they don't have to start new leases manually anymore. As far as I know, this is on the backlog to implement!

Furthermore, there is a strong desire from my end to improve the security of the wallet that is configured on the node software. A suggested approach would, for example, allow a node owner to apply a signed message in the configuration of the node, eliminating the need to configure the private key directly in the config file(s).”

INTERVIEW WITH LOWSEA LEASING NODE.

QUESTION: If you could add one new feature for stakers / leasers, what would it be?

LOWSEA LEASING NODE: “There are a couple of things that would be very useful, some of which are on the waiting list to be implemented as far as I know. For one thing, it would be super handy to clearly see the unbonding time in the form of a countdown when you stop your lease. Most people know by now that you have to wait 50 hours before you can access the tokens of your canceled lease, but some people are still unaware.

Another idea is a node/wallet messaging system so people can contact the node owner they are leasing to in case they do not know any other official channels. And yet another could be to make a wallet statement on-chain to give your node an on-chain name. That way, any third-party wallets in the future could still see node names in their interface without being dependent on the team-managed community node list.”

QUESTION: In your opinion, what sets LTO Network apart from other blockchain projects?

LOWSEA LEASING NODE: “The obvious difference is the hybrid approach of a public and a private layer. This allows LTO to approach projects differently and makes it easier for companies/projects to utilize blockchain solutions under privacy protection laws like the European GDPR.

Besides that, I like how LTO Network understands that crypto and blockchain solutions must work together with regulations and governmental structures to be accepted and blossom. The way they build practical and flexible Web3 solutions, taking user’s privacy and ownership into account while also keeping the obstacles for companies in mind, is really well thought out.

They know their strengths and weaknesses and are fully aware that the future is all about cross-chain solutions, for which they aim to be part of the base-layer necessity for all to use.”

INTERVIEW WITH STAKELY NODE.

QUESTION: What motivated you to become an LTO Network node owner?

STAKELY NODE: “My interest in becoming an LTO Network node owner sparked off in 2019. We had been closely tracking the LTO network's launch and were eager to participate. Our motivation was a mix of becoming a part of the community and network, learning about setting up and monitoring blockchain nodes while simultaneously getting rewards from it. Not to mention, it facilitated us in building a community of people who staked to our node. After nearly two years of running the LTO node, we established a professional node operator business under the Stakely brand. Today, we secure over $900M of staked value across multiple networks.”

QUESTION: Can you discuss the technical specifications of your LTO Network node setup?

STAKELY NODE: “Our LTO node is hosted with UpCloud, a cloud provider. The virtual machine resides in a data center based in Madrid, Spain. Equipped with 8GB of RAM, 4 CPU cores, and 160GB of NVMe SSD, the server is currently underutilized, using only 1.6GB of RAM, 0.2 load average, and 39GB of disk space. We always maintain substantial margins to handle any potential load surges that might occur in the network.

Additionally, we've scheduled weekly backups for our node to ensure it can be retrieved at any time in case of any unexpected incidents or forks.”

QUESTION: What challenges have you encountered in maintaining and operating your LTO Network node? Also, what solutions have you adopted to solve them?

STAKELY NODE: “Operating an LTO Network node has been relatively simple compared to other nodes and doesn't demand significant maintenance. The primary challenge we faced pertained to user reward distribution, as LTO doesn't have a built-in "claim rewards" function. To tackle this, we developed a custom Telegram bot that tracks users' staked balances and calculates their compounding rewards. This tool lets users view their pending rewards and claim them via Telegram. We came across other community-made tools that performed similar tasks, but they didn't meet our needs.”

INTERVIEW WITH BLACKTURTLE NODE.

QUESTION: How long has your node been running, and how has the journey been so far?

BLACKTURTLE NODE: “I’m not sure how long I’ve been running my node. It must’ve been some years now, as it was a Waves fork. Sadly, getting a share of leasers has always been a fight since users usually follow the masses. And the top nodes in most chains will become the heavy ones.”

QUESTION: How do you ensure the security and reliability of your node?

BLACKTURTLE NODE: “Running multiple instances, active monitoring for uptime, proper firewall setup.”

INTERVIEW WITH LTOnod.es NODE.

QUESTION: Do you engage with your leasers on socials?

LTOnod.es Node: “A little bit on Telegram, but not as much as I should.”

QUESTION: What advice do you have for individuals or entities interested in becoming LTO Network node owners?

LTOnod.es Node: “Just follow one of the community guides and set one up! It's a great way to learn, and the LTO Tech Channel is always very eager to help. Participating in the LTO ecosystem is what bootstrapped a career in crypto for many people!”

QUESTION: What key performance metrics do you monitor to assess the health and efficiency of your LTO node? And what measures do you take to optimize your node's performance?

LTOnod.es Node: “I don’t just keep an eye on my own node but on all of them via ltonod.es - performance mostly boils down to uptime, so I mainly monitor that. There are loads of other metrics that define a node, particularly a public leasing node. I try to include them all on ltonod.es, and I'm always open to suggestions for more/other metrics, even though I sadly have had little time to implement them recently. Lots of stuff in the backlog, though, and someday I’ll get to it!”

CONCLUSION.

We sincerely thank the node owners who graciously accepted our interview invitation to share their insights. We also thank all node owners for being the cornerstones of LTO Network's success! Your commitment and passion are the driving forces that propel LTO Network forward, shaping it into the robust and dynamic ecosystem it is today.

Node Setup Guide: blog.ltonetwork.com/a-quick-guide-to-setting-up-a-node-on-the-lto-network/

To get extra node-related support, you can join the LTO Techlab Telegram channel.

About LTO Network.

LTO Network is a Layer 1 blockchain with a Public and Private layer to bridge the gap between real-world and digital ownership, decentralized identities, and privacy.