Rotating KES

Tips when manually rotating KES.

When manually rotating KES keys, you need to make sure your node.counter value is correct. First check your current Operational Certificate values by running this command:

cardano-cli conway query kes-period-info --mainnet  \
  --op-cert-file $NODE_HOME/node.cert

Take note of the qKesNodeStateOperationalCertificateNumber. The number in your node.counter should be:

• 0 if you have never made a block in the history of your pool

• 1 greater than the value of qKesNodeStateOperationalCertificateNumber otherwise

If you find your node.counter has a different value, back it up then create a new node.counter file Using the command below. Remember to change the number 8 to the current value of qKesNodeStateOperationalCertificateNumber:

cd $HOME/cold-keys/
cardano-cli conway node new-counter \
--cold-verification-key-file node.vkey \
--counter-value $((8 + 1)) \
--operational-certificate-issue-counter-file node.counter

## Continue with your KES Rotation