🛠️ Systemd Setup (Binary Installation)

To run the Holesky node as systemd services using binary installations:

1. Install Binaries

Install Geth

# Add Ethereum repository
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:ethereum/ethereum
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y ethereum
# Check geth installed
geth --version

Install lighthouse

cd $HOME
# Install Rust
curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh

# Source
source $HOME/.cargo/env

# Install lighthouse from source
git clone https://github.com/sigp/lighthouse.git
cd lighthouse
make

# Check if successfully install
ls -l /root/.cargo/bin/lighthouse

# Output expected
# -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root ... /root/.cargo/bin/lighthouse

2. Create Directory Structure

# Create node directories
mkdir -p /root/holesky-node/data
mkdir -p /root/holesky-node/data/geth
mkdir -p /root/holesky-node/data/lighthouse

3. Generate JWT Secret

# Generate JWT secret
openssl rand -hex 32 > /root/holesky-node/data/jwtsecret
chmod 600 /root/holesky-node/data/jwtsecret

4. Create Service Files

Create Geth service file:

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/geth-holesky.service > /dev/null <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=Go Ethereum Client - Holesky Testnet
After=network.target
Wants=network.target

[Service]
User=root
Type=simple
EnvironmentFile=/root/holesky-node/.env

ExecStart=/usr/bin/geth \
  --holesky \
  --port ${P2P_GETH_PORT} \
  --authrpc.addr ${LISTEN_ADDRESS} \
  --authrpc.port ${AUTHRPC_PORT} \
  --authrpc.vhosts=* \
  --authrpc.jwtsecret ${JWT_SECRET} \
  --http \
  --http.addr ${LISTEN_ADDRESS} \
  --http.port ${HTTP_GETH_PORT} \
  --http.api eth,net,web3 \
  --http.corsdomain "*" \
  --syncmode "snap" \
  --gcmode=full \
  --datadir ${GETH_DATADIR} \
  --verbosity 3 \
  --cache=1024 \
  --maxpeers=25 \
  --txlookuplimit=0 \
  --ipcdisable

Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
LimitNOFILE=65535

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
EOF

Create lighthouse service file:

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/lighthouse-holesky.service > /dev/null <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=Lighthouse Ethereum Client - Holesky Testnet
After=network.target geth-holesky.service
Wants=network.target geth-holesky.service

[Service]
User=root
Type=simple
EnvironmentFile=/root/holesky-node/.env

ExecStart=/root/.cargo/bin/lighthouse bn \
  --network holesky \
  --datadir ${LIGHTHOUSE_DATADIR} \
  --execution-endpoint ${EXECUTION_ENDPOINT} \
  --execution-jwt ${JWT_SECRET} \
  --checkpoint-sync-url ${CHECKPOINT_SYNC_URL} \
  --http \
  --http-address ${LISTEN_ADDRESS} \
  --http-port ${HTTP_LIGHTHOUSE_PORT} \
  --port ${P2P_LIGHTHOUSE_PORT} \
  --target-peers 25 \
  --logfile ${LIGHTHOUSE_LOGFILE} \
  --logfile-compress

Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
LimitNOFILE=65535

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
EOF

5. Create .env file

sudo tee /root/holesky-node/.env > /dev/null <<EOF
# Address settings
LISTEN_ADDRESS=0.0.0.0

# Geth ports
P2P_GETH_PORT=30303
AUTHRPC_PORT=8551
HTTP_GETH_PORT=8545

# Geth parameters
JWT_SECRET=/root/holesky-node/data/jwtsecret
GETH_DATADIR=/root/holesky-node/data/geth

# Lighthouse ports
HTTP_LIGHTHOUSE_PORT=5052
P2P_LIGHTHOUSE_PORT=9000

# Lighthouse parameters
LIGHTHOUSE_DATADIR=/root/holesky-node/data/lighthouse
EXECUTION_ENDPOINT=http://127.0.0.1:8551

# https://github.com/eth-clients/checkpoint-sync-endpoints/tree/main/endpoints
CHECKPOINT_SYNC_URL=https://checkpoint-sync.holesky.ethpandaops.io
LIGHTHOUSE_LOGFILE=/root/holesky-node/data/lighthouse/beacon/logs/beacon.log

# check_sync.sh apy key from https://docs.etherscan.io/etherscan-v2/getting-started/getting-an-api-key
ETHERSCAN_API_KEY=
EOF

6. Enable and Start Services

# Reload systemd
sudo systemctl daemon-reexec
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

# Enable services
systemctl enable geth-holesky.service
systemctl enable lighthouse-holesky.service

# Start services
systemctl start geth-holesky.service
sleep 10  # Wait for Geth to initialize
systemctl start lighthouse-holesky.service

7. Monitor Services

# Check service status
systemctl status geth-holesky.service
systemctl status lighthouse-holesky.service

# View logs
journalctl -u geth-holesky.service -f
journalctl -u lighthouse-holesky.service -f

# Restart services
systemctl restart geth-holesky.service
systemctl restart lighthouse-holesky.service

# Stop services
systemctl stop geth-holesky.service
systemctl stop lighthouse-holesky.service

# Disable services
systemctl disable geth-holesky.service
systemctl disable lighthouse-holesky.service

🔐 (Optional) Open Firewall Ports

If you use ufw or another firewall, run:

sudo ufw allow 22
sudo ufw allow ssh
sudo ufw allow $P2P_GETH_PORT/tcp
sudo ufw allow $P2P_GETH_PORT/udp
sudo ufw allow $GETH_HTTP_PORT/tcp
sudo ufw allow $HTTP_LIGHTHOUSE_PORT/tcp
sudo ufw allow $AUTHRPC_PORT/tcp

sudo ufw reload

Once opened, you can access RPC or Beacon API from other machines via:

• Geth RPC: http://<your-ip>:$HTTP_GETH_PORT
• Beacon API: http://<your-ip>:$HTTP_LIGHTHOUSE_PORT

8. Monitor Sync

1. Check Beacon Node Sync Status (Lighthouse)

curl -s http://localhost:${HTTP_LIGHTHOUSE_PORT}/eth/v1/node/syncing | jq

# Expected Output
{
  "data": {
    "is_syncing": false,
    "is_optimistic": false,
    "el_offline": false,
    "head_slot": "*******",
    "sync_distance": "0"

2. Check Execution Layer Sync Status (Geth)

geth attach http://localhost:${HTTP_GETH_PORT}

# Expected Output
Welcome to the Geth JavaScript console!

instance: Geth/v1.15.11-stable-36b2371c/linux-amd64/go1.24.2
at block: ******** (*** *** ** **** **:**:** ***+**** (****))
 modules: eth:1.0 net:1.0 rpc:1.0 web3:1.0

To exit, press ctrl-d or type exit
> eth.syncing
false # Expected result
> exit

3. Automated Script for Sync Check (Holesky Node)

# Download the script
cd holesky-node
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Ravnica44/Holesky-Ethereum-and-Beacon-Chain-RPC-Node-Setup/main/check_sync.sh

# Make the script executable
chmod +x check_sync.sh

# Run the script
./check_sync.sh