Identity Transition

Transition identity from one voting Solana validator to another

Based on Identity Transition Demo by mvines

Live identity transition demo (video starts at actual transition timestamp)

Hot Swap Configuration Requirements

• Two non-delinquent validator nodes

• Junk identities on both validators to use when not actively voting

• Validator startup scripts both modified to use symbolic link as the identity

• Validator startup scripts both modified to include staked identity as authorized voter

Generating Junk Identities

Both validators need to have secondary identities to assume when not actively voting. You can generate these "junk" identities on each of your validators like so:

solana-keygen new -s --no-bip39-passphrase -o unstaked-identity.json

Validator Startup Script Modifications

The identity flag and authorized voter flags should be modified on both validators.

Note that identity.json is not a real file but a symbolic link we will create shortly - so don't worry about whether or not that file exists. However, the authorized voter flag does need to point to your staked identity file (your main identity). I renamed mine to staked-identity.json for clarity and simplicity. You can certainly name yours whatever you'd like, just make sure they are specified as authorized voters as shown below.

exec /home/sol/bin/solana-validator \
    --identity /home/sol/identity.json \
    --vote-account /home/sol/vote.json \
    --authorized-voter /home/sol/staked-identity.json \

Summary:

• Identity is a symbolic link we will create in the next section. It may point to your staked identity or your inactive "junk" identity.

• Vote account is exactly what you think it is. No changes. Just shown for context.

• Authorized voter points to your main, staked identity.

Creating Identity Symlinks

An important part of how this system functions is the identity.json symbolic link. This link allows us to soft link the desired identity so that the validator can restart or stop/start with the same identity we last intended it to have.

On your actively voting validator, link this to your staked identity

ln -sf /home/sol/staked-identity.json /home/sol/identity.json

On your inactive, non-voting validator, link this to your unstaked "junk" identity

ln -sf /home/sol/unstaked-identity.json /home/sol/identity.json

Transition Preparation Checklist

At this point on both validators you should have:

• Generated unstaked "junk" identities

• Updated your validator startup scripts

• Created symbolic links to point to respective identities

If you have done this - great! You're ready to transition!

Transition Process

Active Validator

• Wait for a restart window

• Set identity to unstaked "junk" identity

• Correct symbolic link to reflect this change

• Copy the tower file to the inactive validator

#!/bin/bash

# example script of the above steps - change IP obviously
solana-validator -l /mnt/ledger wait-for-restart-window --min-idle-time 2 --skip-new-snapshot-check
solana-validator -l /mnt/ledger set-identity /home/sol/unstaked-identity.json
ln -sf /home/sol/unstaked-identity.json /home/sol/identity.json
scp /mnt/ledger/tower-1_9-$(solana-keygen pubkey /home/sol/staked-identity.json).bin sol@68.100.100.10:/mnt/ledger

(At this point your primary identity is no longer voting)

Inactive Validator

• Set identity to your staked identity (requiring the tower)

• Rewrite symbolic link to reflect this

#!/bin/bash
solana-validator -l /mnt/ledger set-identity --require-tower /home/sol/staked-identity.json
ln -sf /home/sol/staked-identity.json /home/sol/identity.json

Verification

Verify identities transitioned successfully using either monitor or solana catchup --our-localhost 8899