Is it safe to have your block producing node connect to public relay nodes instead of your own private relay?

Developers Cardano Projects
1

Running a relay node in the cloud is expensive. I see there’s a list of publicly available relay nodes to connect to. So my question is: is it safe to connect my block producing node (hosted at my home) to these publicly listed relay nodes, instead of my own private relay node that connects to them?

2

I think u already know the answer :slight_smile:

For security reasons it’s not recommended
to connect the Producer directly to other public nodes

Connect to ur relay and connect the relay to the public network

3

But if you only have one private relay that your block producer connects to, what benefits do you get? Would it perhaps be better to connect block producer to your private relay, and the same block producer to other public relays, all together?

4

U have 2 nodes at home right? What is the difference between connecting the Producer to the public network or connecting the relay … it’s not the same thing?

5

Actually on a totally unrelated topic, is there a way to know if your block producer node has been selected for a slot to produce a block ahead of time before it actually does the work (to actively double check that all systems are healthy)?

6

U can know with 1.5 days before the next epoch if u have blocks assigned

The script is caled CNCLI

U will need also chrony on all servers for a better time syncronization with the blockchain

1 Like
7

Does anyone else on the forum know how this list is curated? At the time of this writing this file was generated 10 hours ago… so I’m guessing it’s built daily and not generated dynamically when the URL is visited:

https://explorer.cardano-testnet.iohkdev.io/relays/topology.json

There are currently 166 hosts including IOHK itself so it doesn’t include all registered & responsive public relays. Yet there appear to be hosts in every continent & a wide variety of countries, even a few in our Asian relay country that generally doesn’t get hits on topology generator tools that use geographical distance.

I would really like to know if someone has a definitive answer about how this file is generated. While waiting for the P2P governor it can be hard to find good public relays to substitute for others that fail out of production use.