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ssv-dkg

DKG

Distributed Key Generation is a cryptographic process that aims to solve the problem of coordinating N parties to cryptographically sign and verify signatures without relying on Trusted Third Parties. The process is demonstrated to be successful in computing a key pair in the presence of a number T attackers in a decentralized network. To do so, this algorithm generates a public key, and a secret key of which no single party knows, but has some share of. The involvement of many parties requires Distributed key generation to ensure secrecy in the presence of malicious contributions to the key calculation. For more information about DKG in general, please visit this page.

DKG tool by SSV

The SSV team built this tool leveraging drand's DKG protocol implementation (please visit their documentation for more details on it). This implementation operates under the assumption of a p2p network, allowing operators to communicate. The ssv-dkg was built to lift this assumption and provide a communication layer that centered on an Initiator figure, to facilitate communication between operators. The introduced potential risk for centralization and bad actors is handled with signatures and signature verifications, as explained in the Security notes section. Finally, the outcome of the DKG ceremony is a BLS key pair to be used for validator duties by operators on the ssv.network. As such, the tool ends the process by creating a deposit file to activate the newly created validator key pair, and proceeds to generating the payload for the transaction.

Overview

In order for the DKG protocol to execute successfully:

  • all the chosen Operators must be running the ssv-dkg tool as Operators
  • separately, an Initiator (one of the Operators, or a separate entity), starts the DKG ceremony by running the ssv-dkg tool with the init parameter
  • the tool automatically exchange data between the interested parties, as outlined in the Flow Description section, until the key shares are created

For details on how to run the tool as an Operator, please head over to this section containing the related instructions. Similarly, head over to this other section for instructions on how to launch the tool as the Initiator of the DKG ceremony.

Minimum requirements

The tool is heavily reliant on cryptography, therefore computational power has a major impact on its performance.

The minimum requirement is an AWS t3.medium or equivalent machine dedicated to run DKG (https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/).

The recommend requirement is an AWS t3.large or higher tier machine.

Please note: computational demands are raising depending on amount validators being created at once.

Minimum docker resource allocations:

    deploy:
      resources:
        limits:
          cpus: "1"
          memory: 500M

Initiator Quick start

Obtaining Operators data

The ssv-dkg tool does not provide Operators data for the operations described above (ID, endpoint, public key). Teams integrating with SSV are responsible for sourcing it however they see fit. This information can be collected in various ways, such as the official SSV API. Other suggested options are, for example, building an ad-hoc Operator data service, or a preset file where all Operators data is stored.

Information about Operators must be collected in a JSON file and supplied to Initiator to be used use for the key generation ceremony, as shown above.

Operators info file example:

[
  {
    "id": 143,
    "public_key": "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",
    "ip": "http://141.94.143.182:3030"
  },
  {
    "id": 219,
    "public_key": "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",
    "ip": "http://209.35.77.243:12015"
  },
  {
    "id": 33,
    "public_key": "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",
    "ip": "http://51.81.109.67:3030"
  },
  {
    "id": 190,
    "public_key": "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",
    "ip": "http://80.181.85.114:3030"
  },
  {
    "id": 34,
    "public_key": "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",
    "ip": "http://148.113.20.206:3030"
  }
]

Healthcheck

Before initiate a DKG ceremony it's advised to check if all participating operators are online and healthy.

docker run --name ssv_dkg_health \
"bloxstaking/ssv-dkg:latest" ping --ip http://141.94.143.182:3030,http://209.35.77.243:12015,http://51.81.109.67:3030,http://80.181.85.114:3030,http://148.113.20.206:3030 && \
docker rm ssv_dkg_health

Result should look like this:

2024-03-21T10:19:24.589162Z	INFO	dkg-initiator	🍎 operator online and healthy	{"ID": "416", "IP": "http://141.94.143.182:3030", "Version": "v1.0.3", "Public key": "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"}
2024-03-21T10:19:24.604992Z	ERROR	dkg-initiator	😥 Operator not healthy: 	{"error": "Get \"http://80.181.85.114:3030/health_check\": dial tcp 80.181.85.114:3030: connect: connection refused", "IP": "http://80.181.85.114:3030"}

Start DKG ceremony

There are a couple of options to launch the DKG tool:

It is advised launching the tool as a Docker image as it is the most convenient way and only requires to have Docker installed. The team builds a Docker image with every release of the tool.

Launch with Docker and YAML file

All of the necessary configuration information can be provided in a YAML file (referenced as init.yaml from now on).

With this configuration, a typical configuration file would look like this:

validators: 10 # amount of validators to generate (nonce incrementing by 1) (default: 1)
operatorIDs: [143, 219, 33, 34] # array of Operator IDs which will be used for a DKG ceremony
withdrawAddress: "0xa1a66cc5d309f19fb2fda2b7601b223053d0f7f4" # address where reward payments for the validator are sent
owner: "0xb64923DA2c1A9907AdC63617d882D824033a091c" # address of owner of the Cluster that will manage the validator on ssv.network
nonce: 0 # owner nonce for the SSV contract (default: 0)
network: "holesky" # network name (default: mainnet)
operatorsInfo: '[{"id": 1,"public_key": "LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBSU0....","ip": "http://localhost:3030"}, {"id": 2,"public_key": "LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBSU0....","ip": "http://localhost:3030"},...]' # raw content of the JSON file with operators information
# Alternatively:
# operatorsInfoPath: /data/initiator/operators_info.json
outputPath: /data/output #  path to store the resulting staking deposit and ssv contract payload files
logLevel: info # logger's log level (default: debug)
logFormat: json # logger's encoding (default: json)
logLevelFormat: capitalColor # logger's level format (default: capitalColor)
logFilePath: /data/debug.log # path to file where logs should be written (default: ./data/debug.log)

ℹ️ In the config file above, /data/ represents the container's shared volume created by the docker command itself with the -v option.

A special note goes to the nonce field, which represents how many validators the address identified in the owner parameter has already registered to the ssv.network. You can keep track of this counter yourself, or you can use the ssv-scanner tool made available by the SSV team to source it. For more information, please refer to the related user guide or to its SDK documentation page.

ℹ️ Note: For more details on operatorsInfo parameter, head over to the Operators data section above

docker run --name ssv_dkg_initiator \
-v "<PATH_TO_FOLDER_WITH_CONFIG_FILES>":/data -it \
"bloxstaking/ssv-dkg:latest" init \
--configPath /data/config/init.yaml && \
docker rm ssv_dkg_initiator

Just make sure to substitute <PATH_TO_FOLDER_WITH_CONFIG_FILES> with the actual folder containing all the files. You can, of course, change the configuration above to one that suits you better, just be mindful about changing the path references in the docker command and in the init.yaml file as well.

Caution for Windows Users

Due to Windows operating system's limitation on handling file paths exceeding 260 characters, please verify the length of output file paths to avoid potential issues, as this could render them inaccessible.

Build from source

To build from source you'll need to have Go version 1.20 installed on your system

Build

A prerequisite for this is to have go version 1.20 installed on the system, and an optional requirement is to have the make tool installed as well (alternatively you could run the corresponding command defined in the Makefile).

make install
Launch with command line parameters

The Initiator provides the initial details needed to run DKG between all operators via the init command. You can launch the following command with the appropriate values to each parameter:

ssv-dkg init \
          --validators 10
          --operatorIDs 1,2,3,4 \
          --operatorsInfo: '[{"id": 1,"public_key": "LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBSU0....","ip": "http://localhost:3030"}, {"id": 2,"public_key": "LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBSU0....","ip": "http://localhost:3030"},...]'
           # Alternatively:
           # --operatorsInfoPath ./operators_info.json \
          --owner 0x81592c3de184a3e2c0dcb5a261bc107bfa91f494 \
          --nonce 4 \
          --withdrawAddress 0xa1a66cc5d309f19fb2fda2b7601b223053d0f7f4  \
          --network "holesky" \
          --outputPath ./output \
          --logLevel info \
          --logFormat json \
          --logLevelFormat capitalColor \
          --logFilePath ./initiator_logs/debug.log

Here's an explanation of each parameter:

Argument type description
--validators int Amount of validators to generate (nonce incrementing by 1) (default: 1)
--operatorIDs int[] Operator IDs which will be used for a DKG ceremony
--operatorsInfo string Raw content of the JSON file with operators information. ID, base64(RSA pub key), endpoint
--operatorsInfoPath string Path to a file containing operators operators information. ID, base64(RSA pub key), endpoint
--owner address Owner address for the SSV contract
--nonce int Owner nonce for the SSV contract (default: 0)
--withdrawAddress address Address where reward payments for the validator are sent
--network mainnet / prater / holesky Network name (default: mainnet)
--outputPath string Path to store the output files (default ./output)
--configPath string Path to config file, i.e. init.yaml. If not supplied command line parameters are being used.
--logLevel debug / info / warning / error / critical Logger's log level (default: debug)
--logFormat json / console Logger's encoding (default: json)
--logLevelFormat capitalColor / capital / lowercase Logger's level format (default: capitalColor)
--logFilePath string Path to file where logs should be written (default: ./data/debug.log)

A special note goes to the nonce field, which represents how many validators the address identified in the owner parameter has already registered to the ssv.network.

You can keep track of this counter yourself, or you can use the ssv-scanner tool made available by the SSV team to source it. For more information, please refer to the related user guide or to its SDK documentation page.

ℹ️ Note: For more details on operatorsInfo parameter, head over to the Operators data section.

Launch with YAML config file

It is also possible to use YAML configuration file. Just pay attention to the path of the necessary files, which needs to be changed to reflect the local configuration. If the init.yaml file is created in the same folder as the other files, and the folder structure looks like this:

ssv@localhost:~/ssv-dkg # tree initiator-config
config
├── init.yaml
└── operators_info.json

1 directory, 2 files

Then the content of the YAML file shown here Launch with Docker and YAML file

Then the built from source tool can be launched by running this command:

ssv-dkg init --configPath ./config.yaml

ℹ️ Note: If the --configPath parameter is not provided, ssv-dkg will be using flags.

Ceremony Output Summary

After launching the ssv-dkg tool as shown above, it will commence a DKG ceremony with the selected operators.

Following the successful completion of the DKG ceremony, several files have been generated and placed in the directory where the command was launched from:

ceremony-[timestamp]
├── 0..[nonce]-0x...[validator public key]
    ├── deposit_data.json
    ├── keyshares.json
    └── proof.json
├── 0..[nonce]-0x...[validator public key] ...
    ├── deposit_data.json
    ├── keyshares.json
    └── proof.json
.....
├── deposit_data.json # aggregated
├── keyshares.json # aggregated
└── proofs.json  # aggregated

Files:

  • deposit_data.json - this file contains the deposit data necessary to perform the transaction on the Deposit contract and activate the validator on the Beacon layer
  • keyshares.json - this file contains the keyshares necessary to register the validator on the ssv.network
  • proof.json - crucial for resharing your validator to a different set of operators in the future.

Troubleshooting

dial tcp timeout

2023-10-11T16:36:26.745937Z     FATAL   dkg-initiator   😥 Failed to initiate DKG ceremony:     {"error": "Post \"http://79.44.117.213:3030/init\": dial tcp 79.44.117.213:3030: i/o timeout"}

When this error appears, it means that the ssv-dkg tool cannot connect to one of the selected operators. This could be temporary, but if it persists, we recommend changing one of the operators.

invalid URI for request

2023-10-11T16:29:47.226138Z     FATAL   dkg-initiator   😥 Failed to load operators:    {"error": "invalid operator URL parse \"80.181.85.114:3030\": invalid URI for request"}

When this error appears, it means that the endpoint information for one of the operators is incorrect. You could manually verify the operators_info.json or the initiator command-generated by the webapp, or simply change one of the operators.

connection refused

2023-10-13T15:21:54.597429Z     FATAL   dkg-initiator   😥 Failed to initiate DKG ceremony:     {"error": "Post \"http://80.181.85.114:3030/init\": dial tcp 80.181.85.114:3030: connect: connection refused"}

When this error appears, it means that the ssv-dkg tool cannot connect to one of the selected operators, and the reason could be because their ssv-dkg operator node has shut down. This could be temporary, as they will likely start the node again, but if it persists, we recommend changing one of the operators.

https issues

2024-04-03T12:54:57.939402Z	FATAL	dkg-initiator	😥 Failed to load operators: 	{"error": "only HTTPS scheme is allowed at operator address http://116.202.218.95:3061, got: http"}

When this error appears at initiator, it means that the ssv-dkg tool cannot load operator URLs because it is not https. Only https is allowed.

Please provide either operator info string or path

2023-10-18T12:14:52.667985Z     FATAL   dkg-initiator   😥 Please provide either operator info string or path, not both

This error appears when the operatorsInfo argument has been used in conjunction with the operatorsInfoPath. These options are mutually exclusive, so please remove one or the other from your YAML config file, or from the command used to launch the initiator.

Operator Quick start

A DKG-Operator is able to participate in multiple DKG ceremonies in parallel thanks to the ssv-dkg tool. The ssv-dkg tool is separate from the ssv-node, and could be running on a different machine, but the two are heavily correlated, as the keyshare generated by the ssv-dkg tool, will ultimately be used by the Node itself to manage the related validator.

⚠️ The ssv-dkg client should be kept online at all times. This is paramount if you want to participate in DKG ceremonies initiated by stakers, thus having the chance to operate their validators. Please select the machine where you want to launch it in accordance to this principle.

Pre requisites

In order to successfully participate in DKG ceremonies initiated by stakers, you will need to possess and/or provide this information:

So make sure to have them available before proceeding.

⚠️ The RSA key pair is needed to sign all of the messages exchanged between ceremony participants, but the public key linked to it will also be used to encrypt the generated keyshares. Thus, SSV Node Operators must use the private key already in their possession when running the DKG tool, otherwise they won't be able to decrypt the keyshare and perform validator duties.

Start a DKG-operator

There are a couple of options to launch the DKG tool:

It is advised launching the tool as a Docker image as it is the most convenient way and only requires to have Docker installed. The team builds a Docker image with every release of the tool.

Launch with Docker and YAML file

All of the necessary configuration information can be provided in a YAML file (referenced as operator.config.yaml from now on). A good way to manage all the necessary files (encrypted_private_key.json, password) is to store them in a single folder (in this case config), together with the operator.config.yaml configuration file, like so:

ssv@localhost:~/ssv-dkg# tree operator-config
config
├── encrypted_private_key.json
├── operator.config.yaml
└── password

1 directory, 3 files

With this configuration, a typical configuration file for Docker run would look like this:

privKey: /data/encrypted_private_key.json # path to operator`s encrypted RSA private key
privKeyPassword: /data/password # path to operator`s password
operatorID: 1
port: 3030 # port to listen to DKG messages from initiator
logLevel: info
logFormat: json
logLevelFormat: capitalColor
logFilePath: /data/debug.log
outputPath: /data/output

ℹ️ In the config file above, /data/ represents the container's shared volume created by the docker command itself with the -v option.

Under the assumption that all the necessary files (encrypted_private_key.json, config.yaml, password) are under the same folder (represented below with <PATH_TO_FOLDER_WITH_CONFIG_FILES>) you can run the tool using the command below:

docker run --restart unless-stopped --name ssv_dkg -p 3030:3030  \
-v "<PATH_TO_FOLDER_WITH_CONFIG_FILES>":/data -u `id -u $USER` -it \
"bloxstaking/ssv-dkg:latest" start-operator --configPath /data/operator.config.yaml

Just make sure to substitute <PATH_TO_FOLDER_WITH_CONFIG_FILES> with the actual folder containing all the files.

You can, of course, change the configuration above to one that suits you better, just be mindful about changing the path references in the docker command and in the operator.config.yaml file as well.

Build from source

To build from source you'll need to have Go version 1.20 installed on your system

Build

A prerequisite for this is to have go version 1.20 installed on the system, and an optional requirement is to have the make tool installed as well (alternatively you could run the corresponding command defined in the Makefile).

make install
Launch with command line parameters

It is advised to store all the necessary files (encrypted_private_key.json, password) in a single folder (in this case config), as shown below:

ssv@localhost:~/ssv-dkg# tree operator-config
config
├── encrypted_private_key.json
└── password

1 directory, 2 files

To run the DKG tool as an operator, you can launch the following command with the appropriate values to each parameter:

ssv-dkg start-operator \
            --privKey ./config/encrypted_private_key.json  \
            --privKeyPassword ./config/password \
            --operatorID 1 \
            --outputPath ./output
            --port 3030 \
            --logLevel info \
            --logFormat json \
            --logLevelFormat capitalColor \
            --logFilePath ./output/debug.log

Here's an explanation of each parameter:

Argument type description
--privKey string Path to encrypted RSA private key of ssv operator
--port int Port for listening messages (default: 3030)
--privKeyPassword string Path to password file to decrypt the key
--outputPath string Path to store each ceremony the output files (deposit, keyshare, proof)
--configPath string Path to operator.config.yaml file
--logLevel debug / info / warning / error / critical Logger's log level (default: debug)
--logFormat json / console Logger's encoding (default: json)
--logLevelFormat capitalColor / capital / lowercase Logger's level format (default: capitalColor)
--logFilePath string Path to file where logs should be written (default: ./data/debug.log)
Launch with YAML config file

It is also possible to use YAML configuration file, just as it was shown in the Docker section above. Just pay attention to the path of the necessary files, which needs to be changed to reflect the local configuration. If the config.yaml file is created in the same folder as the other files, and the folder structure looks like this:

ssv@localhost:~/ssv-dkg # tree operator-config
config
├── encrypted_private_key.json
├── operator.config.yaml
└── password

1 directory, 3 files

Then the content of the YAML file Launch with Docker and YAML file

Then the tool can be launched from the root folder, by running this command:

ssv-dkg start-operator --configPath "./config/operator.config.yaml"

If the --configPath parameter is not provided, ssv-dkg will be using flags.

Update Operator metadata

⚠️ If you want to make sure to participate in DKG ceremonies initiated by stakers, and have the chance to operate their validators, it is absolutely necessary to the update operator with the proper information, and verify their correctness.

Once the DKG tool is up and running, please make sure to update your operator metadata, and provide your DKG Operator endpoint, in the form of protocol:ip:port (if you have a domain name, instead of an ip that works as well).

Please head over to the Operator User guide on how to update metadata and follow the instructions

Example

To run localy an example with 4 operators. Configuration files: examples/config

  1. Build the image
make docker-build-image # build the Docker image
  1. Run 4 operators locally
make docker-demo-operators # run 4 local operators
  1. In a separate terminal window, run inititator
make docker-demo-initiator # run 1 local initiator

Results will be placed to examples/[operator.../inititator]/output

Flow Description:

  1. The Initiator creates an initiation (init) message, signs it and sends it to all Operators
  2. Upon receiving initiation message, the Operators check Initiator message signature and create their own DKG identity:
  • new DKG secrets created
  • if a new init message with ID [24]byte is received and at least 5 minutes have passed from the last init message with the same ID, the DKG instance is recreated
  • Exchange signed message containing the DKG identity is created
  • Operator replies to init message with the created Exchange message
  1. The Initiator collects all responses into one combined message and verifies signatures
  2. The Initiator sends back the combined message to all Operators
  3. Each Operator receives combined exchange message and starts the DKG process, responding back to Initiator with a signed dkg deal bundle
  4. The Initiator packs the deal bundles together and sends them back to all Operators
  5. Operators process dkg bundles and finish the DKG protocol of creating a shared key. After DKG process is finished each Operator has a share of the shared key which can be used for signing
  6. Each Operator signs a deposit root, using its share of the shared key, then encrypts the share with the initial RSA key and sends it to the Initiator
  7. Initiator receives all messages from Operators with signatures/encrypted shares and prepares the deposit data with a signature and save it as JSON file
  8. Initiator prepares a payload for SSV contract
  9. After the deposit is successful and SSV contract transaction is accepted, Operators can continue with their duties using their share of the distributes key

ℹ️ NOTE: Threshold is computed automatically using 3f+1 tolerance.

Note on DKG instance management

A DKG-operator can handle multiple DKG instances, it saves up to MaxInstances (1024) up to MaxInstanceTime (5 minutes). If a new init arrives the DKG-operator tries to clean instances older than MaxInstanceTime from the list. If any of them are found, they are removed and the incoming is added, otherwise it responds with an error, saying that the maximum number of instances is already running.

Security notes

It is important to briefly explain how the communication between DKG ceremony Initiator and Operators is secured:

  1. Initiator is using RSA key (2048 bits) to sign init message sent to Operators. Upon receiving the signature, Operators verify it using public key included in the init message. If the signature is valid, Operators store this pub key for further verification of messages coming from the Initiator(s).
  2. Operators are using RSA key (ssv Operator key - 2048 bits) to sign every message sent back to Initiator.
  3. Initiator verifies every incoming message from any Operator using ID and Public Key provided by Operators' info file, then Initiator creates a combined message and signs it.
  4. Operators verify each of the messages from other Operators participating in the ceremony and verifies Initiator's signature of the combined message.
  5. During the DKG protocol execution, the BLS auth scheme is used - G2 for its signature space and G1 for its public keys

More info about how things are designed/work under the hood can be found here

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DKG v2.1.0 Latest
Apr 19, 2024
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