Validator Monitoring Service User Guide

Welcome to the Validator Monitoring Service User Guide. This comprehensive guide is designed to help you effortlessly set up and navigate through our monitoring service, ensuring you have all the tools and knowledge to monitor your validator's performance effectively. Find our Monitoring tool by using a tg bot.

Telegram bot

The heart of the Validator Monitoring System lies within its Telegram bot, your direct line to real-time Grafana dashboard insights and blockchain event alerts for your validator. Its intuitive subscription feature stands out for its ease of customization, allowing you to tailor alerts to your needs.

Getting Started

Upon your first interaction with the Telegram bot, initiate the conversation with a "Start" command or refresh your session with /start. This action will reveal the main interface of the monitoring tool.

The main interface presents three pivotal options:

1. Open Grafana: This button grants immediate access to live Grafana dashboards, enabling you to monitor validator performance across various filters.
2. Manage Subscriptions: This option leads to a menu for subscribing to validator-related events, highlighting the service's flexibility in tracking performance metrics.
3. Help: Users can contact our support team here for service-related queries.

Grafana dashboard

Our service encompasses specialized dashboards for networks like Polkadot/Kusama and Moonbeam/Moonriver, among other parachains, providing a comprehensive view of your validator's activities.

Also, a user can easily switch between the parachains dashboard to track the collators' performance. 

Mastering Subscriptions

Subscribing to on-chain events is simplified through our customizable alerting templates. Begin by adding accounts to monitor under "My accounts" and proceed to "Add account" for specific tracking.

Add accounts to track

To subscribe to the alerts, the first thing you need to do is to add accounts that you would like to track. Click "My accounts" and "+ Add account" on the next screen to do it.

Our service covers Polkadot, Kusama, Acala, Karura, Moonbeam, and Moonriver networks, allowing for the addition of up to 15 accounts. Once your accounts are set, delve into specific alert configurations to fine-tune your monitoring needs. When adding new accounts, you can either search the accounts based on the first letters or paste the whole address:

You can scroll your accounts, adding new ones and deleting old ones. When you are ready, press "Back" and continue configuring specific alerts.

Configure the alert

Configuring alerts is straightforward. Choose an alert from the list under "My Subscription" and follow the prompts to tailor the alert parameters to your preferences. The system facilitates the testing of alerts to ensure operability and allows for easy management of active or critical alerts through visual indicators.

Example of Polkadot Finality pre-commits ratio alert:

Example of Moonbeam blocks production metric:

Test alert example (to check if everything works):

After configuring alerts, on the screen with the alerts list, you may see which alerts are active (green button) or fire emoji (meaning that the threshold is violated). 

Emoji explanations:

➕ - Set alert
⏳ - Waiting for activation
🟢 - Alert is ready
⁉️ - Alert added, but activation failed for some reasons (Contact US)
🔥 - Alert expecting
🔥🔥🔥 - FIRE!!! You will receive an alert soon

Support

The feedback section allows users to share their thoughts or issues with the administration team. Although it's a one-way communication channel, rest assured that necessary follow-ups will be made if required.

We eagerly anticipate your feedback and are excited to help you leverage our Validator Monitoring Tool for optimal performance oversight.

Getting Started with Your Own Instance

To provide you with a seamless experience, we have developed a fully self-sufficient, dockerized container for you to run your own instance of the monitoring service. Detailed technical instructions are available in the README section of our GitHub repository. Here’s a brief overview to get you started:

1. Install Docker and Docker Compose: Ensure these are set up on your system to proceed with the installation.
2. Configure RPC Endpoints: Verify and adjust the RPC endpoints in the provided .env files to match your setup (for polkadot, kusama, acala, karura, moonbeam, mooriver).
3. Set Up the bot .env File: Create a Telegram bot through @botfather and set up an admin Telegram group, including all team members. This bot will funnel user queries to the admin group.
4. Launch the Service: Use the following command to start the service for the desired networks: You can extend the service to other networks by adding additional .yml files such as -f acala.yml, -f karura.yml, etc.

1. Explore the Telegram Bot: The bot provides access to your Grafana dashboard and allows you to subscribe to events related to validator performance.
2. Access the Grafana Dashboard: Visit http://127.0.0.1:3000 to view your dashboard (default credentials: admin / admin, with a prompt to change on the first login).

P2P Validator is a world-leading non-custodial staking provider, securing over $2 billion by over 10,000 delegators/nominators across 25+ high-class networks. We have been actively participating on the Polkadot network since the beginning.

Do not hesitate to ask questions in our Telegram chat or contact Alex via [email protected]. We are always open for communication.

Web: https://p2p.org

Stake DOT with us: https://p2p.org/polkadot

Twitter: @p2pvalidator

Telegram: https://t.me/P2Pstaking