Stellar Nodes: Watcher or Validator

The Stellar network has different types of nodes – Watcher nodes, Validator nodes, and Archiver nodes.

• A Watcher Node is a node that submits transactions to the network, similar to a Bitcoin node that broadcasts transactions in the Bitcoin network.
• A Validator Node participates in the voting process to close a ledger. It is similar to a Bitcoin miner that creates new blocks.
• An Archiver Node publishes an archive of the Stellar ledger. This increases the network’s resiliency and helps new nodes catch up with the network.

When subscribing, you can choose which type you would like your node to be.

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Info:

To run an archiver node, please contact us.

How can I check the versions of Stellar Core and Horizon I have deployed?

To check the versions, go to the node dashboard in the app. After logging in, under the header labeled "Stellar Horizon Mainnet Shared," you'll find four fields:

“Horizon Watcher” | “Mainnet” | “stellar-core 13…4a” | “1.5.0-255b12ef9…168”

The last two fields display the versions of Core and Horizon running on the shared node. Hover over them to see the full display.

Useful Links

• Level of participation to the network

👋 Need Help?

Contact us through email or our support page for any issues, bugs, or assistance you may need.