Generate Key Shares

How to Initiate a DKG Ceremony

1. Select Operators

Select your preferred group of operators from the operator registry of the SSV network.

For each chosen operator, you must obtain its network assigned id, operator key and DKG endpoint (which are not provided by the ssv-dkg tool)

The required Operators data can be collected via the SSV API and SSV Explorer.

Operators data can be supplied to the ssv-dkg tool as an argument or through a json file, as shown in the example below:

operators_info.json

[
  {
    "id": 143,
    "public_key": "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",
    "ip": "https://141.94.143.182:3030"
  },
  {
    "id": 219,
    "public_key": "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",
    "ip": "https://209.35.77.243:12015"
  },
  {
    "id": 33,
    "public_key": "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",
    "ip": "https://51.81.109.67:3030"
  },
  {
    "id": 190,
    "public_key": "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",
    "ip": "https://80.181.85.114:3030"
  },
  {
    "id": 34,
    "public_key": "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",
    "ip": "https://148.113.20.206:3030"
  }
]

2. Start DKG Initiator

It is advised launching the tool as a Docker image as it is the most convenient way and only requires to have Docker installed. The team builds a Docker image with every release of the tool.

Caution for Windows Users

Due to Windows operating system's limitation on handling file paths exceeding 260 characters, please verify the length of output file paths to avoid potential issues, as this could render them inaccessible.

Launch with Docker and YAML file

All of the necessary configuration information can be provided in a YAML file (referenced as init.yaml from now on).

With this configuration, a typical configuration file would look like this:

init.yaml

validators: 10 # amount of validators to generate (nonce incrementing by 1) (default: 1)
operatorIDs: [143, 219, 33, 34] # array of Operator IDs which will be used for a DKG ceremony
withdrawAddress: "0xa1a66cc5d309f19fb2fda2b7601b223053d0f7f4" # address where reward payments for the validator are sent
owner: "0xb64923DA2c1A9907AdC63617d882D824033a091c" # address of owner of the Cluster that will manage the validator on ssv.network
nonce: 0 # owner nonce for the SSV contract (default: 0)
network: "holesky" # network name (default: mainnet)
operatorsInfo: '[{"id": 1,"public_key": "LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBSU0....","ip": "https://localhost:3030"}, {"id": 2,"public_key": "LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBSU0....","ip": "http://localhost:3030"},...]' # raw content of the JSON file with operators information
# Alternatively:
# operatorsInfoPath: /data/initiator/operators_info.json
outputPath: /data/output #  path to store the resulting staking deposit and ssv contract payload files
logLevel: info # logger's log level (default: debug)
logFormat: json # logger's encoding (default: json)
logLevelFormat: capitalColor # logger's level format (default: capitalColor)
logFilePath: /data/debug.log # path to file where logs should be written (default: ./data/debug.log)

In the config file above, /data/ represents the container's shared volume created by the docker command itself with the -v option.

A special note goes to the nonce field, which represents how many validators the address identified in the owner parameter has already registered to the ssv.network.

You can keep track of this counter yourself, or you can use the ssv-scanner tool made available by the SSV team to source it. For more information, please refer to the related user guide or to its SDK documentation page.

Note: For more details on operatorsInfoPath parameter, head over to the Operators data section above

You can run the tool using the command below, just make sure to substitute <PATH_TO_FOLDER_WITH_CONFIG_FILES> with the actual folder containing all the files:

docker run --rm \
-v "<PATH_TO_FOLDER_WITH_CONFIG_FILES>":/data -it \
"bloxstaking/ssv-dkg:latest" init \
--configPath /data/config/init.yaml

You can, of course, change the configuration above to one that suits you better, just be mindful about changing the path references in the docker command and in the init.yaml file as well.

Make sure to have the most recent image tagged with latest. You can make sure of that by running the docker pull bloxstaking/ssv-dkg:latest command.

Build from source

A prerequisite for this is to have go version 1.22 installed on the system, and an optional requirement is to have the make tool installed as well (alternatively you could run the corresponding command defined in the Makefile).

Clone repository

Clone the ssv-dkg repository in your local machine:

git clone [e-mail]:ssvlabs/ssv-dkg.git

Build

From the project's root folder, run the following command:

make install

Launch with command line parameters

The Initiator creates the initial details needed to run DKG between all operators via the init command. You can launch the following command with the appropriate values to each parameter:

ssv-dkg init \
          --validators 10
          --operatorIDs 1,2,3,4 \
          --operatorsInfo: '[{"id": 1,"public_key": "LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBSU0....","ip": "https://localhost:3030"}, {"id": 2,"public_key": "LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBSU0....","ip": "http://localhost:3030"},...]'
           # Alternatively:
           # --operatorsInfoPath ./operators_info.json \
          --owner 0x81592c3de184a3e2c0dcb5a261bc107bfa91f494 \
          --nonce 4 \
          --withdrawAddress 0xa1a66cc5d309f19fb2fda2b7601b223053d0f7f4  \
          --network "holesky" \
          --outputPath ./output \
          --logLevel info \
          --logFormat json \
          --logLevelFormat capitalColor \
          --logFilePath ./initiator_logs/debug.log

Here's an explanation of each parameter:

Argument	Type	Description
--validators	int	Amount of validators to generate (nonce incrementing by 1) (default: 1)
--operatorIDs	int[]	Operator IDs which will be used for a DKG ceremony
--operatorsInfoPath	string	Path to the file containing operators information
--operatorsInfo	string	Raw content of the JSON file with operators information
--owner	address	Address of owner of the Cluster that will manage the validator on ssv.network
--nonce	int	Owner nonce for the SSV contract
--withdrawAddress	address	Address where reward payments for the validator are sent
--network	mainnet | prater | holesky	Network name (default: mainnet)
--outputPath	string	Path to store results (default ./output)
--configPath	string	Path to config file, i.e. init.yaml. If not supplied command line parameters are being used.
--logLevel	debug | info | warning | error | critical	Logger's log level (default: debug)
--logFormat	json | console	Logger's encoding (default: json)
--logLevelFormat	capitalColor | capital | lowercase	Logger's level format (default: capitalColor)
--logFilePath	string	Path to file where logs should be written (default: ./data/debug.log)

A special note goes to the nonce field, which represents how many validators the address identified in the owner parameter has already registered to the ssv.network.

You can keep track of this counter yourself, or you can use the ssv-scanner tool made available by the SSV team to source it. For more information, please refer to the related user guide or to its SDK documentation page.

Note: For more details on operatorsInfoPath parameter, head over to the Operators data section.

Launch with YAML config file

It is also possible to use YAML configuration file. Just pay attention to the path of the necessary files, which needs to be changed to reflect the local configuration.

If the initiator.yaml file is created in the same folder as the other files, and the folder structure looks like this:

ssv@localhost:~/ssv-dkg # tree initiator-config
config
├── init.yaml
└── operators_info.json

1 directory, 2 files

Then the content of the YAML file should be changed to this:

initiator.yaml

validators: 10 # amount of validators to generate (nonce incrementing by 1) (default: 1)
operatorIDs: [143, 219, 33, 34] # array of Operator IDs which will be used for a DKG ceremony
withdrawAddress: "0xa1a66cc5d309f19fb2fda2b7601b223053d0f7f4" # address where reward payments for the validator are sent
owner: "0xb64923DA2c1A9907AdC63617d882D824033a091c" # address of owner of the Cluster that will manage the validator on ssv.network
nonce: 0 # owner nonce for the SSV contract (default: 0)
network: "holesky" # network name (default: mainnet)
operatorsInfo: '[{"id": 1,"public_key": "LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBSU0....","ip": "https://localhost:3030"}, {"id": 2,"public_key": "LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBSU0....","ip": "http://localhost:3030"},...]' # raw content of the JSON file with operators information
# Alternatively:
# operatorsInfoPath: /data/initiator/operators_info.json
outputPath: /data/output #  path to store the resulting staking deposit and ssv contract payload files
logLevel: info # logger's log level (default: debug)
logFormat: json # logger's encoding (default: json)
logLevelFormat: capitalColor # logger's level format (default: capitalColor)
logFilePath: /data/debug.log # path to file where logs should be written (default: ./data/debug.log)

A special note goes to the nonce field, which represents how many validators the address identified in the owner parameter has already registered to the ssv.network.

You can keep track of this counter yourself, or you can use the ssv-scanner tool made available by the SSV team to source it. For more information, please refer to the related user guide or to its SDK documentation page.

Note: For more details on operatorsInfoPath parameter, head over to the Operators data section.

Then the tool can be launched from the root folder, by running this command:

ssv-dkg init --configPath ./initiator-config/initiator.yaml

If the --configPath parameter is not provided, ssv-dkg will be looking for a file named config.yaml in ./config/ folder at the same root as the binary (i.e. ./config/config.yaml)

Ceremony Output Summary

After launching the ssv-dkg tool as shown above, it will commence a DKG ceremony with the selected operators.

Following the successful completion of the DKG ceremony, several files have been generated and placed in the directory where the command was launched from:

ceremony-[timestamp]
├── 0..[nonce]-0x...[validator public key]
    ├── deposit_data.json
    ├── keyshares.json
    └── proof.json
├── 0..[nonce]-0x...[validator public key] ...
    ├── deposit_data.json
    ├── keyshares.json
    └── proof.json
.....
├── deposit_data.json # aggregated
├── keyshares.json # aggregated
└── proofs.json  # aggregated

Files:

• deposit_data.json - this file contains the deposit data necessary to perform the transaction on the Deposit contract and activate the validator on the Beacon layer

• keyshares.json - this file contains the keyshares necessary to register the validator on the ssv.network

• proof.json - crucial for resharing your validator to a different set of operators in the future.

Troubleshooting

[ERROR] dial tcp timeout

2023-10-11T16:36:26.745937Z     FATAL   dkg-initiator   😥 Failed to initiate DKG ceremony:     {"error": "Post \"http://79.44.117.213:3030/init\": dial tcp 79.44.117.213:3030: i/o timeout"}

When this error appears, it means that the ssv-dkg tool cannot connect to one of the selected operators.

This could be temporary, but if it persists, we recommend changing one of the operators.

[ERROR] invalid URI for request

2023-10-11T16:29:47.226138Z     FATAL   dkg-initiator   😥 Failed to load operators:    {"error": "invalid operator URL parse \"80.181.85.114:3030\": invalid URI for request"}

When this error appears, it means that the endpoint information for one of the operators is incorrect.

You could manually verify the operators_info.json or the initiator command generated by the webapp, or simply change one of the operators.

[ERROR] connection refused

2023-10-13T15:21:54.597429Z     FATAL   dkg-initiator   😥 Failed to initiate DKG ceremony:     {"error": "Post \"http://80.181.85.114:3030/init\": dial tcp 80.181.85.114:3030: connect: connection refused"}

When this error appears, it means that the ssv-dkg tool cannot connect to one of the selected operators, and the reason could be because their ssv-dkg operator node has shut down.

This could be temporary, as they will likely start the node again, but if it persists, we recommend changing one of the operators.

[ERROR] Please provide either operator info string or path

2023-10-18T12:14:52.667985Z     FATAL   dkg-initiator   😥 Please provide either operator info string or path, not both

This error appears when the operatorsInfo argument has been used in conjunction with the operatorsInfoPath. These options are mutually exclusive, so please remove one or the other from your YAML config file, or from the command used to launch the initiator.