Well, last weekend I finally did it. I was sitting at my desk, 11 PM, coffee going cold, staring at my trading screen after being front-run again on another chain. That’s when I said to myself, “I’m spinning up a real Fogo node tonight.”
I grabbed a fresh Ubuntu 24.04 LTS box I had lying around (the one I normally use for backtesting).
First, I downloaded the latest client source tarball and un-tarred the files. I opened the terminal and ran:
./deps.sh
I typed “y,” grabbed another cup of coffee, and when I came back, everything was installed perfectly.
The next command was like magic:
make -j agave-ledger-tool solana fdctl
The computer was alive, with the fans running, the CPU at 92%. In about 12 minutes, the fdctl binary was ready. I was smiling, as most new chains take hours of debugging at this stage. No drama with Fogo.
The next part was the fun part. I had to create my own `config.toml`, using the Testnet example as a basis, adjusting the paths to my environment, and saving it.
Next:
fdctl configure init all --config /home/fogo/config.toml
fdctl run --config /home/fogo/config.toml
I pressed enter, leaned back in my chair, and waited. The terminal was quiet, with no errors or missing dependencies. In 60 seconds, my node was syncing, blocks being downloaded at sub-40ms. I literally said out loud, “This is too smooth.”
Let me be honest about the hardware I used (since it actually matters this time):
•24-core CPU @ 3.8 GHz with AVX512
•128 GB ECC RAM
•1 TB NVMe SSD (separate 500 GB drive for OS only)
•1 Gbps dedicated line
I did not skimp on hardware because I wanted this node to stay online even when the network gets busy. If you are serious about running a Fogo validator, this is what you should be aiming for.
What was surprising to me?
The professionalism of the whole experience. The Firedancer client is ridiculously fast, and the options are well-explained. The instructions are written as if they were intended for traders, not coders.
My node is now online 24/7, helping secure a chain that was actually designed for traders. Zero session fees, fair ordering, and speeds that actually match real markets. Every block that my node generates makes me feel like I’m actually contributing to the $FOGO ecosystem.
If you’ve been waiting for the right time to get involved with a high-performance L1, this is it. I’m actually excited about what the FOGO team is building.
Let’s grow this network together, one fast node at a time.
