This section describes the steps needed to set-up a node. Some familiarity with Linux systems is required.

The node is a regular computer, that is configured to:

• Run a web server on port 80 to control all ethoscopes
• Run a web server on port 8888 to update itself and the ethoscopes
• Run a backup tool, that periodically fetches data from all active ethoscopes
• Run a video backup tool, that fetches video chunks from recording devices
• Optionally: backs-up periodically the data to a remote drive (physical or cloud)
• Optionally: run an NTP server used to keep the entire platform in sync

The node simply allows the users to orchestrate the platform, it does not analyse any data. Tracking is performed in real-time by each ethoscope and if some devices are running and the node (or the network) shuts down, tracking will not be interrupted, and the data will be backed up on the node as soon as it is up and running again.

Here is a nutshell description of the tasks that you need to perform in order to get a running Node, detailed instruction follows below.

1. Get a decent computer. It does not have to be state-of-the-art but we recommend at least an i5 Intel.
2. Install Linux and the ethoscope node platform: any archlinux based distro will work but we strongly recommend using Manjaro Linux. Please note that non-arch distros are not supported and we cannot offer any help if you decide to run your node on a different platform. You will need a 4GB USB thumb drive for the installation.

Installing on a regular PC

Hardware

The node does not need to perform any CPU-intensive operation but needs to serve as a WEB server and transfer data. The recommended settings are:

• A decent CPU, preferably made after 2014 (e.g. Intel i3, i5, i7) - four cores i7 recommended
• At least 4GB Ram - 16 recommended
• An SSD hard drive of at least 128GB to run the Operating System