This guide provides instructions on how to run an orchestrator using the Go Livepeer client. In order to use Go Livepeer, the software must first be installed. There are several ways Go Livepeer can be installed depending on the operating system and the user’s choice of installation method, for example using a container or building from source. Instructions for installing Go Livepeer can be found on the “Install” guide. The instructions on this page assumes Go Livepeer and its associated binaries have been installed successfully.

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Prerequisites

  • How to work with a command-line interface
    • wget is recommended (alternatively, cURL can be used)
    • grpcurl for interacting with gRPC servers for testing and monitoring
  • Basic familiarity with installing binaries directly or with Docker
  • Familiarity with networking concepts and configuration (URLs, ports and port forwarding, static IPs, etc)
  • Access to a hosted or self-hosted Arbitrum node
  • Decent bandwidth. Low bandwidth will result in poor performance on the network
  • Go Livepeer and its associated binaries have been installed successfully

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Run the Go Livepeer client in orchestrator mode.

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Get a list of your accessible GPUs

Before running the Go Livepeer client in orchestrator mode you must first get a list of your accessible GPUs. Once you have checked your Nvidia driver is installed, your Nvidia GPUs on your machine should be accessible.

Note: Instructions for non-Nvidia GPUs will be added in the future.

  • Use the nvidia-smi (installed with the Nvidia driver) to print a list of GPUs:

For example:

The following output indicates that there are 5 GPUs accessible on the machine with IDs from 0 through 4.

nvidia-smi -L
GPU 0: GeForce GTX 1070 Ti (UUID: GPU-fcbaffa0-38ae-02d0-5c47-f8fd9922eb75)
GPU 1: GeForce GTX 1070 Ti (UUID: GPU-d46a085e-0d66-0214-34d3-96860a5c778f)
GPU 2: GeForce GTX 1070 Ti (UUID: GPU-32b7c120-c2c9-0069-6130-cb67afd89642)
GPU 3: GeForce GTX 1070 Ti (UUID: GPU-9e4163c3-a120-3cbb-7869-1223b322eab2)
GPU 4: GeForce GTX 1070 Ti (UUID: GPU-3370975a-f669-e108-6428-602be9eba7d4)

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Run the livepeer command

You’re now ready to run Go Livepeer in orchestrator mode.

livepeer \
    -network arbitrum-one-mainnet \
    -ethUrl <ETH_URL> \
    -ethAcctAddr <ETH_ACCT_ADDR> \ # Only required if you already have an ETH account you want to use
    -orchestrator \
    -transcoder \
    -nvidia <NVIDIA_DEVICE_IDs> \ # Only required for transcoding with Nvidia GPUs
    -pricePerUnit <PRICE_PER_UNIT> \
    -serviceAddr <SERVICE_ADDR> # Hostname/IP:port

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Flags

  • Use the -ethUrl flag to connect to the arbitrum network using a hosted or self hosted Arbitrum node.

  • Use the -ethAcctAddr flag to specify the ETH account address that you want the node to use.

Note: This flag is only required if you already have an account that you want to use.

  • Be sure the private key for the account address is stored in the keystore directory.

This defaults to ~/.lpData/arbitrum-one-mainnet/keystore.

Note: It is paramount that you securely manage the private key, as it controls your wallet and funds.

  • Use both the -orchestrator and -transcoder flags to run the binary in orchestrator mode transcoding video.

  • -nvidia is used to specify a comma delimited string of Nvidia GPU IDs. The flag is only required when transcoding with Nvidia GPUs

  • -pricePerUnit is used to specify the price (wei per pixel) for transcoding. The flag is required on startup, but the value can be changed later.

  • -serviceAddr is used to specify the publicly accessible address that the orchestrator should receive requests at. Changing this requires a blockchain transaction, so it’s preferable to use a hostname for a domain you own, not an IP address that may change.

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Automatic ETH account creation

If you did not use the -ethAcctAddr flag, an ETH account will automatically be created and you will be prompted for a passphrase:

I0302 15:26:06.886115   25387 accountmanager.go:49] No Ethereum account found. Creating a new account
I0302 15:26:06.886134   25387 accountmanager.go:50] This process will create a new Ethereum account for this Livepeer node
I0302 15:26:06.886138   25387 accountmanager.go:51] Please enter a passphrase to encrypt the Private Keystore file for the Ethereum account.
I0302 15:26:06.886143   25387 accountmanager.go:52] This process will ask for this passphrase every time it is launched
I0302 15:26:06.886147   25387 accountmanager.go:53] (no characters will appear in Terminal when the passphrase is entered)
Passphrase:

This account will be used to identify your orchestrator on the network. By default, the private key for the account will be stored under:

~/.lpData/arbitrum-one-mainnet/keystore

Note: It is very important to safeguard both the private key and the passphrase because together they allow someone to sign messages and send transactions using the account.

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Check the node is accessible

Once your node completes the start up process, you should see the following logs indicating that the node is publicly accessible:

I0302 15:27:26.456804   25418 rpc.go:167] Listening for RPC on :8935
I0302 15:27:28.463151   25418 rpc.go:207] Received Ping request

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Fund your account with ETH and LPT

In order to activate on Livepeer, your account should have:

  • arbETH to pay for transaction fees
    • Recommendation: Start with a small amount and add more when needed. livepeer and livepeer_cli will inform you if your account’s ETH balance is insufficient to pay for transaction fees when attempting to submit the transactions
  • LPT to stake in order to activate
    • Recommendation: Check the explorer and find the 100th orchestrator with the most stake. This is the amount of stake required for you to activate. Note that more stake will help you receive more work.

If your orchestrator drops out of the active set (top 100 in stake), it will not be reactivated by the protocol unless (1) you re-register or (2) your stake amount (delegated or self-stake) changes such that you are in the top 100 again. If you are inactive and your stake amount places you in the top 100 but your stake does not change, your orchestrator will not be automatically added to the active set.

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Activate

The active orchestrator set consists of the top 100 orchestrators with the most LPT stake on the network. You can check this on the Livepeer Explorer.

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Activate using livepeer_cli

Once the orchestrator has been started and is connected to Arbitrum you can activate the orchestrator:

  1. Run livepeer_cli

  2. Enter the number corresponding to the Invoke multi-step "become an orchestrator" option.

  3. Set the percentage of LPT rewards that you will keep (the rest will be shared with your delegators):

    Enter block reward cut percentage (current=0 default=10) - >

  4. Set the percentage of ETH fees that you will keep (the rest will be shared with your delegators):

    Enter fee cut percentage (current=100 default=95) - >

  5. Set the number of pixels in a single unit of work you will charge a price for (You can use the default (1) and change this later if needed):

    Enter amount of pixels that make up a single unit (default: 1 pixel) >

  6. Set the price (in Wei) that you will charge per unit of work. This can be the same as or different from the value used with the -pricePerUnit flag when starting your orchestrator:

    Enter the price for 1 pixels in Wei (required) >

  7. Set the publicly accessible service address that your orchestrator will receive requests. This should be the same as the value used with the -serviceAddr flag when starting your orchestrator, i.e.:

    Enter the public host:port of node (default: 1.1.1.1:8935)>

  8. Set the amount of LPTU (1 LPT = 1e18 LPTU) that you want to stake. It is important this amount is denominated in LPTU; if you want to bond 5 LPT, you would enter 5000000000000000000.

For example:

You must bond to yourself in order to become a orchestrator
Enter bond amount - >

Note: If the active orchestrator set is full (i.e. at 100 orchestrators), the minimum stake you need to stake to activate is the lowest total stake of an orchestrator in the active set found on the Livepeer Explorer.

  1. Wait for transactions to confirm. You should see the logs of your orchestrator indicating transactions are submitted and confirmed on-chain. Once the transactions have confirmed, your orchestrator will join the active set in the following round.

Once you have activated your orchestrator on the Arbitrum Mainnet, you should be able to see it on the Livepeer Explorer.