Lightweight Ethereum Validators with Nimbus Execution and Portal Client
The upcoming Nimbus execution layer (EL) client for Ethereum will offer a performant alternative for validators of all sizes, and its integration of the Nimbus Portal Network client will only amplify these benefits, making running full nodes feasible for many lightweight setups.
(Yes, those running on 2TB drives, we hear you!)
Nimbus aims to offer a modular family of Ethereum client implementations designed to perform on various systems, from light clients suitable for mobile devices to consensus and execution clients designed with low resource requirements in mind, lowering the barrier to entry to run a node on Ethereum.
Additionally, these resource-conserving designs also benefit those operating more powerful systems by freeing resources for other tasks without compromising reward performance and leaving a lot more headroom during periods of network stress.
Currently, running a full Ethereum node requires around 2TB of storage space, with archive nodes requiring around 10TB. These expanding storage requirements mean the costs of running a full node as an individual operator can quickly become prohibitive.
To keep storage requirements feasible for solo stakers, Nimbus aims to integrate its upcoming execution layer client with a client implementation for the Portal Network, codenamed “Fluffy”.
By integrating this Portal client with the execution client, a node running Nimbus can keep storage requirements well below 500GB.
Read on as we explain how this setup is expected to work.
EIP 4444 and the Nimbus Portal client
The planned integration of the Nimbus Portal client into the Nimbus execution client reduces hardware requirements thanks to its general alignment with EIP 4444.
EIP 4444 proposes allowing execution clients on the Ethereum network to prune historical data locally and remove the requirement to serve this data over the network’s p2p layer. The proposal aims to reduce the storage and bandwidth requirements for running a node on the Ethereum network.
This functionality is achieved through the Portal Network, an Ethereum Foundation initiative to bring trustless light client functionality to the layer-1 network. One of the Portal Network's primary use cases is supporting the implementation of EIP 4444 by providing access to a decentralised archive of historical blockchain data without requiring execution clients to store this information themselves.
The Nimbus Portal client is an implementation of this light client protocol written in Nim, designed for standalone operation or seamless integration with the Nimbus execution client.
When integrated with the upcoming Nimbus execution client, the Portal client will allow historical blockchain information to be fetched from the Portal Network instead of the node’s local storage, freeing the node from the need to store historical data and allowing it to run on a device with lower storage specifications.
The above process assumes that the execution client is fielding requests for historical blockchain data. However, as the Portal Network becomes more widely implemented, it may become standard practice for applications to query the Portal Network for blockchain data directly.
The Nimbus Portal client will allow validators to run nodes on more lightweight devices, provide greater security to users on the Ethereum network, and enable the ecosystem to reduce its dependency on centralised entities representing single points of failure or capture.
Even in its early state, the Portal Network facilitates a healthy amount of activity as various Portal clients run experimental client implementations.
The chart below reflects the number of clients actively synchronised with the Portal Network, according to data sourced from glados.ethportal.net on December 11, 2024.
Read more about the Nimbus Portal client and the architecture of the Portal Network in our previous blog post.
You can learn more about the efficiencies unlocked by the Nimbus execution client here.
Alongside developing individual Ethereum clients for modular integration, Nimbus is also working on creating a unified validator implementation for maximum efficiency. By delivering a unified node configuration that can run on a range of hardware, Nimbus further aims to lower the barriers for anyone to participate in the Ethereum network.
In lowering the hardware and storage barriers for running a full node, Nimbus empowers solo stakers, lightweight hardware users, and enterprise validators alike to participate in Ethereum’s ecosystem without compromising performance or decentralisation.
Development on the Nimbus execution client is ongoing. To learn more or get involved, visit the GitHub repository.
Join the community on Discord and follow Nimbus on Twitter for the latest news and updates on the development of the Nimbus Portal and execution clients.