# Difference between relay node and block producer node

**URL:** <https://forum.cardano.org/t/difference-between-relay-node-and-block-producer-node/84294>\
**Category:** Setup a Stake Pool\
**Tags:** stake-pools, pool-operator, cardano-node\
**Created:** [10 November 2021 23:15 UTC](https://forum.cardano.org/t/difference-between-relay-node-and-block-producer-node/84294 "2021-11-10T23:15:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![michele\_nuzzi](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex023/user_avatar/forum.cardano.org/michele_nuzzi/32/46078_2.png) [@michele\_nuzzi](https://forum.cardano.org/u/michele_nuzzi)\
**Post date:** [10 November 2021 23:15 UTC](https://forum.cardano.org/t/difference-between-relay-node-and-block-producer-node/84294/1 "2021-11-10T23:15:58Z")

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I’m new to setting up a stake pool and recently I’ve discovered following [the CoinCashew guide](https://www.coincashew.com/coins/overview-ada/guide-how-to-build-a-haskell-stakepool-node) the difference between the relay node and the block producer node.

reading around I’ve understood it is suggested to those nodes to be on different machines;

now my questions are:

- there are differences regards what the two nodes do?
- the two machines have different minimum requirements? If yes there is any hardware you suggest using?

thanks in advance for your help!

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**Author:** ![Alexd1985](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex023/user_avatar/forum.cardano.org/alexd1985/32/23759_2.png) [@Alexd1985](https://forum.cardano.org/u/Alexd1985)\
**Post date:** [10 November 2021 23:38 UTC](https://forum.cardano.org/t/difference-between-relay-node-and-block-producer-node/84294/2 "2021-11-10T23:38:39Z")

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> - there are differences regards what the two nodes do?

- relays are just simple nodes (public) which will connect your Producer (hidden) to the public network
- Producer will connect to the network via Relays (security purpose) and the big difference.. it will validate blocks (because it has additional files like pool certificate, vrf kes, etc

! Both nodes will process transactions, only the Producer will validate blocks (validated blocks=rewards)

> the two machines have different minimum requirements? If yes there is any hardware you suggest using?

Both nodes should have same configuration,

# Technical Specification

Minimum System Requirements

- An Intel or AMD x86 processor with two or more cores, at 1.6GHz or faster (2GHz or faster for a stake pool or relay)
- 12GB of RAM
- 20GB of free storage - here I will recommend min 100GB