# Validator Introduction - Alkia **URL:** \ **Category:** Validators\ **Created:** [June 22, 2023, 12:59am UTC](https://dydx.forum/t/validator-introduction-alkia/489 "2023-06-22T00:59:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Maxime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@Maxime](https://dydx.forum/u/Maxime)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2023, 12:59am UTC](https://dydx.forum/t/validator-introduction-alkia/489/1 "2023-06-22T00:59:07Z")
**Entity Information and location:** Alkia, Thailand **Infrastructure Location:** Our data center is located in the heart of Bangkok, Thailand **Hardware:** Bare Metal servers - We use dedicated hardware and reserve bandwidth for each validator service. **Technical make-up of team (elaborate on no. of dev ops engineers, experience, etc.):** 1 VP Operations (20+ years of experience) 4 Senior SecDevOps (6+ years of experience) **Years of experience:** 11 years (since 2012) **What other networks are you running validators for?** **Mainnet** : Ethereum, Electra, Mun, Bitcanna **Based on your participation in any previous testnets, mainnets, are there any best practices to be aware of? What are some things that made previous testnets, mainnet launches successful and/or things to avoid that have gone poorly?** **Validator best practices:** • Monitor, Monitor, Monitor: Use analyzing machine-generated data with an aggregator (Spluk) • Operate a Security Operations Center (at least 5/7) and adopt SecDevOps (Security DevOps) practices • Thorough Testing: Prior to launching a testnet or mainnet, it’s crucial to conduct extensive testing, including unit testing, integration testing, and stress testing. This helps identify and address any critical bugs, vulnerabilities, or performance issues. • Fallback procedures: Have a rock-solid process of shifting from the primary validation system to a secondary system to maintain continuous operations in the event of a breach, failure or disruption. **Communication** : • Clear Communication: Transparent and timely communication with the network’s validators, developers, and stakeholders is essential. Providing regular updates, addressing concerns, and maintaining an open line of communication fosters trust and confidence in the network. **Do you have a validator voting framework and process?** • We systematically read each proposal • We vote our vote: through an internal team discussion we reach a consensus • Our votes are publicly disclosed **Are you planning to play any additional roles in the dYdX ecosystem (e.g. market maker, trader, indexer, front-end, other)?** We plan to run RPC, REST, GRPC, State Sync, Seed Nodes, Peers, and Snapshot and enable ReStake We are interested in being some kind of market maker, but we would need more information on dYdX’s strategy ---
**Author:** ![Maxime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@Maxime](https://dydx.forum/u/Maxime)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2023, 1:04am UTC](https://dydx.forum/t/validator-introduction-alkia/489/2 "2023-06-22T01:04:13Z")
Passionated by cosmos, we also run the monthly Cosmos Meetup in Bangkok ( [Cosmos and Co BKK (Bangkok, Thailand) | Meetup](https://www.meetup.com/cosmos-co-bkk/) )