Nimbus

Installing and configuring the Nimbus Beacon Node.

Nimbus

Nimbus is a research-driven Ethereum client designed for efficiency and resource-constrained devices. It is written in Nim and is optimized to perform well even on lightweight hardware like Raspberry Pis or mobile devices, making it an incredibly robust choice for institutional setups that prioritize low overhead.

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🛡️ Role: Nimbus combines the Beacon Node and Validator Client into a single binary (though they can be run separately). This guide configures it primarily as a Beacon Node to drive your Execution Client.

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1. Install Dependencies

Nimbus pre-built binaries have minimal dependencies. We only need basic tools to download and extract them.

# Update repositories
sudo apt update

# Install utilities
sudo apt install -y curl tar

💡 Note: The build-essential and libpcre3-dev packages are only required if you are building Nimbus from source. When using pre-built binaries (as in this guide), they are not needed.

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2. Download & Install

We will download the latest pre-built binary from the official Status.im repository.

A. Create the Application Directory

# Create a folder for the binary
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/lib/nimbus

# Download the latest Linux release (Check https://github.com/status-im/nimbus-eth2/releases)
# Example for v26.2.1:
sudo wget https://github.com/status-im/nimbus-eth2/releases/download/v26.2.1/nimbus-eth2_Linux_amd64_26.2.1.tar.gz -O nimbus.tar.gz

# Extract the archive
sudo tar -xvzf nimbus.tar.gz -C /usr/local/lib/nimbus --strip-components=1

# Cleanup
rm nimbus.tar.gz

B. Set Permissions

Ensure the ethereum user owns the directory.

sudo chown -R ethereum:ethereum /usr/local/lib/nimbus

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3. Configure Systemd Service

We will configure Nimbus to run as a background service.

⚡ Checkpoint Sync: Nimbus handles checkpoint sync efficiently. We use the --trusted-node-url flag to point to a public beacon node for instant syncing.

Create the service file:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/nimbus.service

Paste the following configuration:

[Unit]
Description=Nimbus Consensus Client
After=network.target

[Service]
User=ethereum
Group=ethereum
Type=simple
Restart=always
RestartSec=5

# Execution Command
ExecStart=/usr/local/lib/nimbus/build/nimbus_beacon_node \
  --network=mainnet \
  --data-dir=/home/ethereum/consensus \
  --el=http://127.0.0.1:8551 \
  --jwt-secret=/home/ethereum/jwt/jwt.hex \
  --trusted-node-url=https://beaconstate.info \
  --rest \
  --rest-address=0.0.0.0 \
  --rest-port=5052 \
  --metrics \
  --metrics-address=0.0.0.0 \
  --metrics-port=8008

# Resource Limits
LimitNOFILE=65535

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

🔍 Flag Explanation:

• --el: The connection to Geth/Nethermind/Besu (Engine API). This is the preferred flag name (replaces the older --web3-url alias).

• --trusted-node-url: Trusted endpoint to perform a fast Checkpoint Sync.

• --rest: Enables the REST API (Essential for checking sync status).

• --metrics: Enables Prometheus metrics.

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4. Start the Service

Reload the systemd daemon and start the beacon node.

# Reload systemd configuration
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

# Enable Nimbus to start on boot
sudo systemctl enable nimbus

# Start the service
sudo systemctl start nimbus

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5. Verify Status

Check the logs to ensure Nimbus is syncing and connected.

sudo journalctl -fu nimbus

Expected Output:

• Eth1 Chain: Eth1 chain monitored (Success! It found your EL).

• Syncing: Syncing in progress or Slot processed.

• Peers: Peers: 50 indicates a healthy network connection.