# GenLayer Validator Systemd Config and Log Reporting

By [Firstset](https://paragraph.com/@firstset) · 2025-05-14

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Currently for Asimov testnet validators, we follow the [public documentation](https://docs.genlayer.com/validators/setup-guide) and the Google doc provided by [GenLayer](https://www.genlayer.com/) Foundation to setup the node. This post introduces two improvements for the setup:

*   configure the validator as a systemd service
    
*   create a cronjob that collects the validator service’s logs every week as we are required to submit them to the foundation
    

Validator Systemd Service
-------------------------

The last step mentioned in the documentation is `Running the node`, where we use the following command to start the validator service:

    ./bin/genlayernode run -c $(pwd)/configs/node/config.yaml --password "your secret password"
    

As a systemd service config is visible to all the users, we recommend saving this value into a `.env` file so that the permission can be restricted to the service user later on.

    # create a .env file that holds the password and HEURISTKEY value required by Heurist mode
    echo "GENLAYERNODE_PASS=<the_password>" >> ~/.env
    echo "HEURISTKEY=<your_llm_provider_api_key>" >> ~/.env
    
    # restrict the access of this file
    chmod 600 ~/.env
    

Then we create a systemd service for the validator. Note that this should be done by a sudo user. In our setup, we have created a dedicated user `genlayer` to run the `genlayernode` service. You need to change the name in the service definition accordingly if this is not your case.

    sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/genlayer-validator.service
    
    [Unit]
    Description=Genlayer Validator Node
    After=network-online.target
    
    [Service]
    User=genlayer
    WorkingDirectory=/home/genlayer/genlayer-node-linux-amd64
    ExecStart=/bin/bash -c '/home/genlayer/genlayer-node-linux-amd64/bin/genlayernode run -c /home/genlayer/genlayer-node-linux-amd64/configs/node/config.yaml --password "$GENLAYERNODE_PASS"'
    Restart=always
    RestartSec=3
    EnvironmentFile=/home/genlayer/.env
    
    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target
    
    # reload the daemon and start the service
    sudo systemctl daemon-reload
    sudo systemctl enable --now genlayer-validator.service
    

Cronjob for Log Collection
--------------------------

As now the validator service is running as a systemd service, you can use `journalctl` to check the logs. For examples:

    # show the latest 100 lines of logs and tail the new logs
    sudo journalctl -n 100 -f -u genlayer-validator.service
    # show today's logs
    sudo journalctl --since="today" -u genlayer-validator.service
    # show the logs from 2025-04-30 00:00:00 to 2025-05-06 23:59:59
    sudo journalctl --since="2025-04-30" --until="2025-05-06" --no-pager -u genlayer-validator.service
    

As mentioned in the Google doc: _“For the first few weeks please keep a copy of the stdout logs and send them once a week to the GenLayer Foundation until we have better tools for metrics and monitoring”_. We can create a cronjob that exports the logs as a tar file so that we can easily `scp` and submit it.

Create a bash file with the following content, for example, `vim ~/export-validator-logs.sh`.

    #!/bin/bash
    
    # Configuration
    SERVICE_NAME="genlayer-validator.service"
    BASE_DIR="/tmp"
    OWNER_AND_GROUP="root:root"
    
    # Calculate date range (excluding today)
    # xxx_ISO format is used for journalctl commands while the other pair is used for folder and tar file names
    END_DAY_ISO=$(date -d "yesterday" +%Y-%m-%d)
    START_DAY_ISO=$(date -d "$END_DAY_ISO - 6 days" +%Y-%m-%d)
    END_DAY=$(date -d "yesterday" +%Y%m%d)
    START_DAY=$(date -d "$END_DAY_ISO - 6 days" +%Y%m%d)
    
    # Temporary directory for logs
    TEMP_DIR="$BASE_DIR/validator-logs-$START_DAY-$END_DAY"
    
    # Check if the temporary directory exists, and remove it if it does
    if [ -d "$TEMP_DIR" ]; then
      echo "Removing existing temporary directory: $TEMP_DIR"
      rm -rf "$TEMP_DIR"
    fi
    
    # Create the temporary directory
    mkdir -p "$TEMP_DIR"
    
    # Extract the logs for each day (excluding today)
    for ((i=0; i<=6; i++)); do
        LOG_DATE_ISO=$(date -d "$START_DAY_ISO + $i days" +%Y-%m-%d)
        journalctl -u "$SERVICE_NAME" --since "$LOG_DATE_ISO 00:00:00" --until "$LOG_DATE_ISO 23:59:59" > "$TEMP_DIR/$(date -d "$START_DAY + $i days" +%Y%m%d).log"
        if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
            echo "Failed to extract logs for $LOG_DATE"
            exit 1
        fi
    done
    
    # Create a compressed tar file
    TAR_FILE="$BASE_DIR/validator-logs-$START_DAY-$END_DAY.tar.gz"
    tar -czf "$TAR_FILE" -C "$BASE_DIR" "validator-logs-$START_DAY-$END_DAY"
    
    # Cleanup
    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
        echo "Logs archived successfully: $TAR_FILE"
        chown -R $OWNER_AND_GROUP $TEMP_DIR
        chown $OWNER_AND_GROUP $TAR_FILE
        echo "Changing the generated files ownership to $OWNER_AND_GROUP"
    else
        echo "Failed to create tar file"
        exit 1
    fi
    

Change the mod of this script and then add it to the root user’s cronjob list (because `journalctl` requires sudo access).

    chmod +x ~/export-validator-logs.sh
    sudo cronjob -e
    
    # execute the script at 01:00 on Friday, adjust the time if you need
    0 1 * * 5 /absolute/path/to/export-validator-logs.sh
    

You can also run the script directly to generate the log collection tar file when you need:

    sudo ./export-validator-logs.sh
    # output:
    Logs archived successfully: /home/genlayer/validator-logs-20250507-20250513.tar.gz
    Changing the generated files ownership to genlayer:genlayer
    
    ls validator*
    # output:
    validator-logs-20250507-20250513.tar.gz
    
    validator-logs-20250507-20250513:
    20250507.log  20250508.log  20250509.log  20250510.log  20250511.log  20250512.log  20250513.log

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*Originally published on [Firstset](https://paragraph.com/@firstset/genlayer-validator-systemd-config-and-log-reporting)*