NEAR Testnet Validator Installation Guide

About NEAR testnet

NEAR testnet mirrors mainnet's mechanics: neard runs the node, validators are selected each epoch by a stake auction, and a validator that misses the seat price simply does not validate that epoch. Testnet is the right place to learn that rhythm, because the seat price moves and being dropped from the validator set is a normal event rather than an incident.

Differences from mainnet:

• test NEAR comes from the faucet, and the seat price is far lower;
• the staking-pool factory and the chain suffix differ — pools are created under the testnet factory and validator accounts end in .testnet;
• epochs are the same length in blocks, so the feedback loop for "did my change work" is still measured in hours, not minutes.

Requirements

Component	Minimum	Recommended
CPU	8 cores	8+ cores, high clock
RAM	20 GB	32 GB
Disk	500 GB SSD	1 TB NVMe
Network	1 Gbps	1 Gbps
OS	Ubuntu 22.04	Ubuntu 24.04

Prepare the host

sudo apt -y update && sudo apt -y upgrade
sudo apt -y install build-essential pkg-config libssl-dev clang llvm jq curl unzip

Install neard

Build the release tag that testnet is currently running, or use the official binary for that tag. Record the exact version — neard --version is the first thing anyone will ask when a node misbehaves:

neard --version

Initialise for testnet

neard --home ~/.near init --chain-id testnet --download-genesis --download-config

The chain ID is what decides which network you joined. Confirm it in ~/.near/genesis.json and ~/.near/config.json before starting — a node initialised with the wrong chain ID will run perfectly and be on the wrong network.

Sync from a snapshot

Syncing testnet from genesis is impractical. Use an official or reputable community snapshot for the testnet chain, and move any existing data directory aside instead of deleting it, so a bad snapshot is a rollback rather than a restart:

mv ~/.near/data ~/.near/data.pre-snapshot-$(date -u +%Y%m%dT%H%M%SZ)

Run as a service

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/neard.service > /dev/null <<'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=NEAR testnet node
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
User=near
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/neard --home /home/near/.near run
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=30
KillSignal=SIGINT
TimeoutStopSec=45
LimitNOFILE=1000000

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now neard

Open the P2P port

sudo ufw allow 22/tcp
sudo ufw allow 24567/tcp
sudo ufw enable

Keep the RPC port (3030) bound locally.

Verify

curl -s http://127.0.0.1:3030/status | jq '{chain_id, sync_info: {latest_block_height: .sync_info.latest_block_height, syncing: .sync_info.syncing}, version}'

Compare your height against a public testnet RPC:

curl -s -X POST https://rpc.testnet.near.org -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"status","params":[]}' | jq -r .result.sync_info.latest_block_height

Create the validator key and staking pool

1. Generate the validator key so that its account ID is your pool account:

neard --home ~/.near init --account-id <your-pool>.pool.f863973.m0 --chain-id testnet

2. Fund a testnet account from the faucet.
3. Deploy a staking pool through the testnet staking-pool factory, setting your commission.
4. Put the validator public key into ~/.near/validator_key.json and restart.
5. Stake, then wait: you validate from the epoch in which your stake clears the seat price, not from the moment you stake.

Verify you are actually in the set

curl -s -X POST https://rpc.testnet.near.org -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"validators","params":[null]}' \
  | jq '.result.current_validators[] | select(.account_id=="<your-pool>") | {stake, num_produced_blocks, num_expected_blocks}'

num_produced_blocks close to num_expected_blocks is the real health signal. A validator in the set that produces far fewer blocks than expected is being penalised on its reward, and the cause is usually the host, not the chain.

Monitoring

Watch: service state and restart count, block height against a public RPC, chain ID, whether you are in the current validator set, produced versus expected blocks, seat price against your stake, and disk free.

---

Created by POSTHUMAN validators

Website: https://posthuman.digital