Validator runbook for Quantara Devnet-0

1.1 — Operator profile

• • Comfortable with Linux, systemd, and basic networking.
• • Can read logs and reason about resource usage.
• • Responds to incidents and upgrade windows in hours, not days.
• • Documents their own setup and playbooks internally.

1.2 — Time commitment

• • Join 1–2 planned upgrade windows per month.
• • Check metrics dashboards at least once per day.
• • Run at least one failure / recovery drill per quarter.
• • Share feedback on docs, tooling, and rough edges.

1.3 — Communication

• • Keep at least one active contact channel with Quantara.
• • Acknowledge incident pings and upgrade announcements.
• • Report anomalies with timestamps and log snippets.
• • Treat Devnet-0 as practice for mainnet-grade discipline.

3.1 — Follow the launch checklist

1. 1) Complete the Devnet-0 preflight checks.
2. 2) Install the pinned Quantara node binary.
3. 3) Generate controller, stash, and session keys.
4. 4) Wire monitoring and basic alerts.

The Devnet-0 launch checklist is the canonical, step-by-step version of this flow. Pair it with Localnet guide if you want to practice on a private network first.

3.2 — Sanity checks before validating

• • Node fully synced and tracking the canonical chain.
• • Comparing height against reference RPC and explorer.
• • Logs show healthy peers and no repeated errors.
• • Metrics / alerts visible and not firing. Check Status for any active incidents.

4.1 — Daily

• • Check dashboards for height, peers, and CPU/RAM.
• • Confirm your validator is in the active set.
• • Scan logs for new warnings or errors.
• • Glance at Status for incident notes.

4.2 — Weekly

• • Verify disk space and database growth.
• • Review alert history for noisy rules.
• • Rotate logs and snapshot configs if needed.
• • Read any new Devnet-0 / testnet announcements.

4.3 — Monthly

• • Run a small recovery or restart drill.
• • Re-read key sections of this runbook.
• • Update internal docs with any changes, using the postmortem template after any incident or drill.
• • Share feedback with the Quantara team.

5.1 — Upgrade announcements

• • Upgrades are announced on Status and validator channels.
• • Each announcement includes target time window.
• • We specify whether restart is hard-required or rolling.
• • You should acknowledge you've seen the plan.

See Release artifacts and Spec signing & verification for how we publish binaries, specs, and signatures for each network.

5.2 — Node upgrade flow

1. 1) Download new binary / container and verify checksum.
2. 2) Stop the node cleanly via systemd.
3. 3) Swap binaries and restart with the same flags.
4. 4) Monitor height, peers, and logs for anomalies.

6.1 — First response

• • Check if Status reports an incident.
• • Capture a short log snippet and timestamp.
• • Note the current block height and peer count.
• • Share this in the validator / ops channel.

For classification, communication, and templates, see the Incident response doc and Postmortem template.

6.2 — Rollback & recovery

• • Follow any rollback instructions in incident notes.
• • Be prepared to restart from a known-good version.
• • Document what you did and how long it took.
• • After resolution, review monitoring and alerts.

The Rollback runbook and Backup & restore docs go deeper on database restores, state snapshots, and cutover plans.

7.1 — Key hygiene

• • Store mnemonics offline in a password manager or HSM.
• • Separate stash, controller, and session roles.
• • Never run validators directly from mnemonic phrases.
• • Regularly review who has access to what.

For deeper guidance, see Security checklist and Key management & backups.

7.2 — Slashing mindset

• • Devnet-0 slashing is mostly simulated / experimental.
• • Use it to understand what behaviors would be risky later.
• • Assume mainnet will strictly penalize downtime & equivocation.
• • Design infra as if real capital were at stake.

7.3 — Long-term posture

• • Plan for public testnet and mainnet from day one.
• • Keep a private repo with your infra configs and notes.
• • Periodically review access logs and sudo history.
• • Treat every drill as preparation for real incidents.

If you're unsure about terminology, the Quantara glossary covers common Devnet-0 and validator concepts.