Generating keys

First, you should register a stake pool using the following command:

cardano-cli stake-pool registration-certificate \
--cold-verification-key-file cold.vkey \
--vrf-verification-key-file vrf.vkey \
--pool-pledge <AMOUNT TO PLEDGE IN LOVELACE> \
--pool-cost <POOL COST PER EPOCH IN LOVELACE> \
--pool-margin <POOL OPERATOR MARGIN > \
--pool-reward-account-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
--pool-owner-stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
--testnet-magic 2 \
--pool-relay-ipv4 <RELAY NODE PUBLIC IP> \
--pool-relay-port <RELAY NODE PORT> \
--single-host-pool-relay STRING <The stake pool relay's DNS name that corresponds to an A or AAAA DNS record> \
--metadata-url https://git.io/JJWdJ \
--metadata-hash <POOL METADATA HASH> \
--out-file pool-registration.cert

Generating the artifacts

You will now need to generate all the following artifacts:

payment.vkey	payment verification key
payment.skey	payment signing key
payment.addr	funded address linked to stake
stake.vkey	staking verification key
stake.skey	staking signing key
stake.addr	registered stake address
cold.skey	cold signing key
cold.vkey	cold verification key
kes.skey	KES signing key
kes.vkey	KES verification key
vrf.skey	VRF signing key
vrf.vkey	VRF verification key
opcert.cert	operational certificate
opcert.counter	issue counter
metadata url
metadata hash

Payment and stake key pairs

WE WILL GENERATE KEYS IN OUR AIR-GAPPED MACHINE.

Payment and stake keys

Using the Cardano CLI

Generate payment keys:

cardano-cli address key-gen \
--verification-key-file payment.vkey \
--signing-key-file payment.skey

Generate stake keys:

cardano-cli stake-address key-gen \
--verification-key-file stake.vkey \
--signing-key-file stake.skey

Generate the payment address:

cardano-cli address build \
--payment-verification-key-file payment.vkey \
--stake-verification-key-file stake.vkey \
--testnet-magic 2 \
--out-file payment.addr

From the recovery phrase

REQUEST FUNDS FROM THE FAUCET

Cold keys

cardano-cli node key-gen \
--cold-verification-key-file cold.vkey \
--cold-signing-key-file cold.skey \
--operational-certificate-issue-counter-file opcert.counter

Key evolving signature (KES) keys

cardano-cli node key-gen-KES \
--verification-key-file kes.vkey \
--signing-key-file kes.skey

Verifiable random function (VRF) keys

cardano-cli node key-gen-VRF \
--verification-key-file vrf.vkey \
--signing-key-file vrf.skey

Upload keys to the block-producing node

On the Block producer, run:

mkdir keys

Use a USB drive to bring kes.skey vrf.skey and opcert.cert to your working machine and from there, upload:

scp kes.skey vrf.skey opcert.cert username@host:/remote/directory

DO NOT COPY COLD KEYS OR PAYMENT KEYS TO THE BLOCK PRODUCER OR RELAY NODES.