Running a Validator or rippled Node

What it takes to run XRP Ledger infrastructure yourself, and the difference between a validator and a regular node.

Two different roles

Running rippled software can serve two distinct purposes, and it's useful to separate them:

• A regular (non-validating) node connects to the network, keeps a synchronized copy of ledger state and (optionally) history, and can serve API requests — useful for applications, exchanges, or block explorers that need reliable, direct access to ledger data without depending on a third party's API.
• A validator additionally participates in the consensus process itself, proposing and voting on transaction sets each round.

Anyone can run either kind of node — both are permissionless — but running a validator only matters to the network if other participants choose to add it to their Unique Node List; otherwise, its votes simply aren't counted by anyone else.

What running a validator involves

At a technical level, operating a validator requires:

• Running rippled continuously, with reliable, low-latency network connectivity to peer servers.
• Maintaining consistent uptime and correctness — an unreliable or frequently-offline validator is unlikely to be trusted or included in others' UNLs.
• Managing the validator's signing keys securely, since a compromised validator key could be used to submit malicious proposals under that validator's identity.

Why organizations run validators

Unlike proof-of-work mining or many proof-of-stake systems, running a validator earns no direct protocol reward — there's no block subsidy or fee revenue for validating, since fees are burned, not paid out. Organizations run validators for their own independent reasons instead, such as:

• Wanting first-hand, trustworthy access to ledger data for their own products (exchanges, wallet providers).
• Contributing to network health and decentralization as an ecosystem stakeholder.
• Academic or research interest (a number of universities run XRPL validators).

Hardware and operational requirements

Running reliable XRPL infrastructure benefits from dedicated server hardware with fast storage and reliable connectivity, though the exact resource requirements depend on whether the node is validating only, serving heavy API traffic, or storing full historical ledger data — full-history nodes require substantially more storage than nodes keeping only a recent rolling window of history.

Getting started

Official XRPL documentation provides step-by-step guides for installing and configuring rippled, including guidance specifically for validator-mode configuration, key management, and how to get an operating validator considered for inclusion in published default UNLs.