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Patching your OS

Manual Security Update​

Run update/upgrade command. 

sudo apt update -y && sudo apt upgrade -y

Restart your device.

sudo reboot 0

Automatic Security Update​

sudo apt update -y
sudo apt install -y unattended-upgrades update-notifier-common
sudo nano /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades

Add the following contents to the configuration file:

APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "1";
APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "1";
APT::Periodic::AutocleanInterval "7";
Unattended-Upgrade::Remove-Unused-Dependencies "true";
Unattended-Upgrade::Remove-New-Unused-Dependencies "true";
Unattended-Upgrade::Automatic-Reboot "true";
Unattended-Upgrade::Automatic-Reboot-Time "02:00";

Once you're done, save and exit with Ctrl+Oand Enter, then Ctrl+X.

Finally, restart the service:

sudo systemctl restart unattended-upgrades

Check the logs for any warnings:​

sudo cat /var/log/unattended-upgrades/unattended-upgrades.log

If you see following warnings, proceed to the next step.

2024-02-01 04:48:24,012 WARNING System is on battery power, stopping
2024-02-01 06:19:01,972 WARNING System is on battery power, stopping
2024-02-01 17:53:48,650 WARNING System is on battery power, stopping

If your device is definitely connected to a power source, amend the 50unattended-upgrades file directly.

sudo nano /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades

Look for the following line and uncomment it by removing the // prefix.

// Unattended-Upgrade::OnlyOnACPower "false";

Once you're done, save and exit with Ctrl+Oand Enter, then Ctrl+X. Then restart your Unattended Upgrades service.

sudo systemctl restart unattended-upgrades

Configure Accurate System Time with Chrony​

Accurate system time is crucial for validators, as discrepancies can cause synchronization issues and even affect validation performance. To ensure your device maintains precise time synchronization, we recommend installing and configuring chrony, a reliable Network Time Protocol (NTP) client.

Install Chrony​

sudo apt install -y chrony

Verify Chrony is running and synchronizing​

chronyc tracking

You should see output indicating synchronization with NTP servers, including your system's time offset. A stable offset within a few milliseconds is ideal.

sudo systemctl enable --now chrony

Chrony will now automatically manage your system time, ensuring consistent validator performance and reliability.