Operator Guide

This guide is for operators who want to deploy and run AstralBeam relayer infrastructure.

Overview

A complete bridge deployment consists of:

flowchart TB
    subgraph Relayers[Relayer Network 5 nodes]
        R1[Relayer 1]
        R2[Relayer 2]
        R3[Relayer 3]
        R4[Relayer 4]
        R5[Relayer 5]
    end

    subgraph Support[Support Services]
        API[API Server]
        DB[MySQL/Aurora]
        Prometheus[Prometheus]
        Grafana[Grafana]
    end

    R1 <--> R2
    R2 <--> R3
    R3 <--> R4
    R4 <--> R5
    R5 <--> R1

    API --> DB
    Prometheus --> Grafana

Components

Component Purpose Instances
Relayer Workers Process bridge transactions 5 (3-of-5 threshold)
P2P Network Signature exchange Built into relayers
MySQL/Aurora API transaction history 1
API Server REST API for frontend 1-2
Prometheus Metrics collection 1
Grafana Dashboards and alerts 1

Deployment Options

1. Local Development

Single-node setup for testing and development.

npm run dev

2. Docker Compose

Multi-container local deployment with all services.

docker-compose up -d

3. AWS Deployment

Production-grade deployment using Ansible playbooks.

ansible-playbook -i inventory deploy.yml

Quick Start Checklist

Prerequisites

  • [ ] Node.js 20+ installed
  • [ ] MySQL 8.0+ or Aurora (for API only)
  • [ ] RPC endpoints for all chains
  • [ ] Relayer private keys generated
  • [ ] CSPR funded for gas

Configuration

  • [ ] Create .env file with RPC URLs
  • [ ] Configure chain settings
  • [ ] Set up relayer keys
  • [ ] Configure P2P ports

Deployment

  • [ ] Deploy contracts (or use existing)
  • [ ] Register relayer addresses
  • [ ] Start relayer workers
  • [ ] Verify P2P connectivity
  • [ ] Monitor initial transactions

Architecture Overview

Relayer Workers

Each relayer runs two workers:

Worker Direction Purpose
EVM→Casper EVM to Casper Monitor locks, submit mints
Casper→EVM Casper to EVM Monitor burns, submit unlocks

P2P Network

Relayers communicate via HTTP/HTTPS with TLS encryption:

  • Protocol: HTTPS with TLS 1.3
  • Ports: 9000 (default P2P port)
  • Authentication: Mutual auth challenges with ECDSA signatures
  • Message Types: Signature requests/responses, heartbeats, status queries, state sync

See Relayer authorization refresh for on-chain membership refresh cadence, failure diagnostics, and stale-data behavior.

State Persistence

Relayers use file-based JSON persistence (no database required):

  • Processed event tracking
  • Block header submissions
  • Pending attestations

API Server uses MySQL/Aurora for:

  • Transaction history and indexing
  • Token registry
  • Chain configuration

Hardware Requirements

Minimum (Testnet)

Resource Requirement
CPU 2 cores
RAM 4 GB
Storage 50 GB SSD
Network 100 Mbps
Resource Requirement
CPU 4 cores
RAM 8 GB
Storage 100 GB SSD
Network 1 Gbps

Network Requirements

Ports

Port Protocol Purpose
8080 TCP P2P EVM→Casper
8180 TCP P2P Casper→EVM
9080 TCP Prometheus metrics
3001 TCP API server (optional)

Firewall Rules

# Allow P2P from other relayers
ufw allow from 10.0.0.0/8 to any port 8080
ufw allow from 10.0.0.0/8 to any port 8180

# Allow metrics from monitoring
ufw allow from 10.0.0.0/8 to any port 9080

Security Considerations

Key Management

  • Store private keys in secure vault (AWS Secrets Manager)
  • Never commit keys to version control
  • Rotate keys periodically
  • Use hardware security modules (HSM) for mainnet

Network Security

  • Use TLS for P2P communication
  • Restrict port access to known IPs
  • Use VPN for management access
  • Enable DDoS protection

Operational Security

  • Monitor for suspicious activity
  • Set up alerting for failures
  • Maintain audit logs
  • Regular security reviews

Support Resources

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