A global node on Quai Network maintains the ledger and generates proposed blocks for mining in all shards. Global nodes operate by sending and receiving the latest blocks along with their header data to its peers in the network. Global nodes also have the ability to serve requests that query each of the shards through WebSockets and HTTP. Currently, global nodes on Quai Network serve as archive nodes since historical state is not pruned.

The hardware requirement to run a global node when Quai is at high/maximum load:

A slice node on the network is a subset of a global node that validates prime, a single region, and a single zone. An example of a slice node would be the combination of prime, Cyprus, and Cyprus1. The benefit to running a slice node is that a node needs fewer resources. The trade-off is that cross-node validation is delegated to the peered global nodes or coordinate slices. A slice node is the smallest subset of the network that a node can run and still trustlessly access the network.

The hardware requirement to run a slice node when Quai is at high/maximum load:

A multi-slice node is a node that is also running one or more additional region or zone chains coordinate to the selected slice. Multi-slice nodes can be beneficial to node operators because it allows them to identify coordinate chain contention more quickly, lowering their uncle rate.

Multi-slice nodes are not currently a pre-set configuration, however advanced node operators can explore this construction.

Watcher nodes are Quai Network nodes that observe a single subordinate Quai blockchain. Watcher nodes can be useful for organizations and businesses that are primarily monitoring a single Quai Network context, and are not concerned with coordinate or dominant chains. Watcher nodes are not a trustless way to interact with Quai Network, as they trust in the benevolence of dominant contexts.

Watcher nodes are not currently a pre-set configuration.

The go-quai client currently supports full nodes (nodes that store the entire state of the network, and verify each new state transition from genesis) of the following constructions:

Single-Slice (or just Slice): A node running the prime chain, a self-selected region chain, and a self-selected zone chain.

Multi-Slice: A node running the prime chain, one or more self-selected region chains, and two or more self-selected zone chains.

Global: A node running the prime chain, all region chains, and all zone chains.

The go-quai client currently does not support the following node types:

Light Node: A node that only verifies new state transitions and does not retain historical state.

Archive Node: A node that verifies new state transitions and maintains the entire historical state of the network, taking and storing a snapshot of state block by block.

As of the Iron Age Testnet, Full Slice, Full Multi-Slice, and Full Global are the only three supported node constructions.

The hardware requirement to run a slice node when Quai is at low/no load:

The hardware requirement to run a slice node when Quai is at high/maximum load:

The hardware requirement to run a global node when Quai is at low/no load:

The hardware requirement to run a global node when Quai is at high/maximum load:

Currently there are no rewards for running ONLY a node. Miners are rewarded however.

Currently you need 1 SSD.

You can connect as many miners to the node as you want.

No, currently miners are rewarded.

With Global node you will be able to switch zones for mining faster.

Prime: The top layer is a single chain coordinating the network without storing any user data or transactions.
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Region: The middle layer has several chains, each sharing the workload of the network. They help organize the bottom layer but don't store user data either.
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Zone: The bottom layer is where all user transactions and data live. Each Zone chain works like an individual thread in a computer, and together they make the network capable of handling many transactions at once.

https://archive.quai.network/

Syncing time depends on the quality of peers, the size of the network's state, the node's internet connection, and more. In general, at the time of writing (state size of ~22gb) a global node should take ~12-24 hours to sync to the tip of the network from genesis. A slice node will sync slightly faster than a global node. If syncing from the most recently updated snapshot/archive, a global node should take no more than an hour to sync to the tip of the network.

Within Quai Network, the process of syncing is not always linear but rather based on the entropy reduction of blocks. Nodes will sync blocks in the order of entropy reduction, not block number -- thus, you may occasionally see non-linear patterns in syncing.

Yes. However, be cautious with how much VPS/virtual GPUs can end up costing, especially with the current hardware requirements to run a node. Additionally, be aware of the terms and conditions of your chosen service, as many VPS providers explicitly ban cryptocurrency mining.

Quai Network runs a hierarchy of chains. All nodes run the prime chain and a minimum of one region and Zone chain.

Slices are identified by zones. Thus, when checking nodelogs, you should check the logs for the zone(s) that your node is running. Since block time for zones are the fastest, checking the zone nodelogs provides the most accurate understanding of where your node has synced to/what is happening in your node at any given point in time.

In order to start syncing, your node will need to have a minimum of three (3) peers in each slice of the network. Your node will not begin appending blocks to any slice before having 3+ peers in every slice.