Learn more about us!
Despite the definitely higher costs, we decided to run the stake pools on high-end dedicated servers hosted in 2 different state-of-the-art datacenters in Europe: this ensures that we can guarantee high availability to reach 100% uptime.
Here the full servers specifications:
Intel Xeon-D 2141I – 8 core / 16 thread – 2.2 GHz / 3 GHz
64GB DDR4 ECC 2666MHz
Full SSD storage in RAID1 (2 x 480 GB) + 2 x 4 tb HD
Private LAN for maximum security communication between our Core Nodes and Relays
Guaranteed 1 Gbps low-latency fiber connection for high speed connectivity and lowest latency
We’re currently running 2 dedicated servers (one for the core nodes and another for the relays), hosted in 2 different datacenters in Europe but still within about 2 ms lag time to ensure the fastest block propagation. Also, our Core Nodes are connected to the Relay Nodes with a private LAN and not through normal internet to ensure maximum security and fastest block propagation.
Beside the 2 european relays, we’re currently running another relay in USA (NY area) on a different provider, and we’ll add another one soon located in Asia, probably Singapore.
Our servers run Proxmox VE Hypervisor, a Debian based virtualization platform that allows us to quickly deploy and use virtual machines and LXC containers. The servers are also clustered, so we can also migrate VMs from a server to another in case of need.
With this setup we can take system snapshots before every update and be sure to go back in case of any problem. If needed we can also spin up a new server , upload the snapshot and deploy a new node in just few minutes!
We also have a separate backup space where we regularly backup the VM snapshots, so in case of any problems we can be back in game in few minutes!
We’re of course big believers in Cardano’s philosophy and principles, that’s why we’re here today! We strongly believe that the crypto world needs higher standards and we think that Cardano is the project that will set the future standards for all the entire space.
Beside that, our pool mission at RIOT Pools is privacy and security.
We regularly donate to organizations like EFF or The TOR Project that support digital privacy, freedom of speech and fight tracking and surveillance.
We think that’s a great way to contribute to our freedom while at the same time enjoying stake rewards!
Our delegators decide with us the best organization to donate to, join us on our Telegram group!
Learn more about us!
Our Server
Despite the higher costs, we decided to run the stake pools on high-end dedicated servers hosted in 2 different state-of-the-art datacenters in Europe: this ensures that we can guarantee high availability to reach 100% uptime.
Here the full servers specifications:
Intel Xeon-E 2136 – 6cores/ 12thread – 3.3GHz/ 4.5GHz
32GB DDR4 ECC 2666MHz
Full SSD storage in RAID1 (2 x 480 GB)
Separate backup space for enhanced security
Guaranteed 1gpbs low-latency fiber connection
Our Setup
Our servers run Proxmox VE Hypervisor, a Debian based virtualization platform that allows us to quickly deploy and use virtual machines and LXC containers. Our Core Nodes are connected to the Relay Nodes with a private LAN and not through normal internet to ensure maximum security and fastest block propagation.
With this setup we can take system snapshots before every update and be sure to go back in case of any problem. If needed we can also spin up a new server , upload the snapshot and deploy a new node in just few minutes!
Our Value
We’re of course big believers in Cardano’s philosophy and principles.
Beside that, our main focus at RIOT Pools is privacy and security. We plan to post contents about Internet security with tips and suggestions.
We also plan to start donating to organizations like EFF or The TOR Project that support digital privacy, freedom of speech, tracking and surveillance. You can of course suggest other meaningfuls organizations!
Hello! My name is LordWotton and I’m the RIOT Stake Pools Operator! I’m italian and a Cardano stakeholder since 2017 and a big fan of this project! I started getting involved with Cardano in 2017 and in Summer 2019 I started being interested more about the RUST node. My stake pools VAULT and APEX were among the first ones producing blocks on the Incentivized Testnet (since Epoch 1, on Dec 14th 2019) and they had great statistics and results during the Incentivized Testnets. For the Shelley mainnet launch I decided to open just 1 pool (RIOT, the current one), to support Cardano’s decentralization.
Beside running the stake pools, I’m active daily on Cardano’s Telegram Channels to help other people and get in touch with other operators or stakeholders. To try to give something back to this wonderful community I also started translating Cardano related articles in Italian and I’m currently at over 300 articles translated. For the last 2 years I’ve been the Cardano Forum’s users with more posts created. With 2 SPOs friends we also created “Cardano Italy” the official italian telegram channel, where I’m moderator and active daily.
Good question, we think there are many reasons:
- The first one is that we’re one of the first stake pools created in the ITN and one of the best performant ones. Our pool it’s online since December, 2019 without any downtimes. This means we’ve already proved to have the needed expertize in managing a Stake Pool and the right committment to do it during a long timeframe. This alone should tell you a lot about us!
- Second, we have a good amount of Ada to put in pledge. More pledge means more committment and skin in the game by my side as I need to lock my Ada, but this also means higher rewards for stakeholders like you!
- We’re well-known and active in the community! Our pools are run by a Cardano Ambassador: while this doesn’t means anything about performances, it’s a sign that we’re fans of the Cardano project just like you, and we have the same interest in the success of this project! As Ambassador I translate Cardano related articles in Italian, my home language. I’m also active daily on the official Telegram Channels to help Ada holders or other Stake Pool operators! Also, delegating to a known Stake Pool reduce the possibility of malicious behaviours, as a known pool won’t risk his name for some little gains!
- We have a Telegram support group with lots of great delegators willing to help each other or just enjoy daily updates on the pool status and performances. Feel free to join us!
That’s an interesting question! First of all you have to realize that there are many ways of running a stake pool: you can run one on an old laptop in your basement with Core Node and Relays on the same machine, or you can run it professionally like I do, with separate dedicated servers hosted in modern and secure datacenters that are very well connected with the backbone via multiple fiber lines! This alone increase the costs a lot and that’s why our taxes aren’t the cheapest around.
Connected with this there is the time and effort spent on giving a solid and lasting service to our delegators. I’ve run my stake pool since September, 2019 before the ITN, testing all the nnode pre-releases andspending days and nights to improve and refine everything I could. Lastly, I put as pledge a significant amount of Ada, that are locked to ensure that our delegators can receive the best rewards!
We’re here for the long run, thus the stake pools needs to be economically sustainable. We’ll try to keep the fees as low as we can, but the quality of our service will always be our first priority. The pool it’s currently at more than 2 years without any downtime, this alone should tell you something.