I want to start by letting you know that I have no experience in programming, computer language, executing commands, the use of Terminal, etc. If you are looking to read something that is similar to the guide that Block Operations made, this is not for you.This is about the struggles and learning experience that I had setting up my first Zencash secure node.
Just a little background into how I got involved with ZenCash. I learned about ZenCash after Palm Beach Confidential called it as a pick back in October 2017 and the price skyrocketed. Up until that point, I had never heard of it.
What really got me interested in ZenCash was that I could setup a node with only 42 Zen used as collateral compared to others that require anywhere from 1000-100k. I will say that I am new to the crypto space and setting up a masternode has been something that I wanted to do since I learned about them. The more I researched, the more I liked the ZenCash project and the community that supported it. I finally bought 42 Zen on Bittrex and that’s when I started to setup a secure node.
I followed the guides by Block Operations:
https://blockoperations.com/build-zencash-secure-node-part-1-prepare-vps/
https://blockoperations.com/build-zencash-secure-node-part-2-build-zen-node/
https://blockoperations.com/how-to-build-and-operate-a-zencash-secure-node/
Also used these two videos on YouTube:
I want to say that if you are going to setup a secure node, there are a few things that I think you should do before you even start the process:
- Download and sync Swing Wallet (https://zencash.com/wallets/)
- Download the Arizen Wallet
- Rent a VPS ( I used https://www.linode.com/)
- Setup a FQDN ( I used https://www.namecheap.com/)
- Join Zencash Discord (https://discordapp.com/invite/CEbKY9w)
Doing these steps first would’ve helped me finish a little more efficiently and I wouldn't have had to stop and do them.
I started Block Operations Guide Part 1 and the video by Johnny Bravo all the way to the step where you install a free certificate from LetsEncrypt. I switched to the video produced by Patrick Heyman because he gives a great tutorial on how to setup your FQDN.
The next step where you configure your secure node requirements gave me some issues because I had sent my Zen to the Arizen wallet. Above I stated I purchased 42 Zen on Bittrex, you will need about 43.252 to setup a node, 42 for collateral in a <T_ADDR>, about 1.25 to have for challenge transactions in a <Z_ADDR> on your secure node, and some dust for transaction fees. I had to purchase more later on, so when you decide to purchase enough for a secure node try to factor in those extra Zen.
So you will need to send about 1.251 Zen to your swing wallet address because that is the only wallet that lets you send Zen from a <Z_ADDR> to another. Once you generate a <Z_ADDR> on your node you can send 4-5 small transactions of 0.1-0.25 Zen to it from your swing wallet. I said above to download the swing wallet first because it takes a long time to sync with the blockchain. I had to wait for my swing wallet to sync and then send the Zen from my Arizen wallet losing a little due to the transaction fee.
I keep my 42 Zen, that’s used as collateral, in the Arizen wallet because it is password protected and I feel safer leaving it there. If you do these steps in the beginning you won’t have to wait for everything to sync.
The last problem that I ran into was when I was completely finished setting up my secure node, my node failed the first challenge. You can check it at:
https://securenodes2.na.zensystem.io/
I went onto the ZenCash Discord and explained my situation and got a quick reply to reboot the node and send it a manual challenge from 
Overall, I want to say that it was very challenging for me to set this node up due to having no experience at all with computer language. The resources that I listed above were a great help but, the ZenCash Discord community was the best resource.
The Discord group is top notch and I can’t tell you how helpful and knowledgable they are. It is a great resource for any issues that you may encounter while setting up or maintaining your secure node. If it wasn’t for the Discord group, I would still be working on it running random commands that are probably wrong.
I hope that these noob tips can help you setup a secure node with a little more ease than I had. If there are any suggestions or corrections to what I stated above I would appreciate the feedback to help others setting up a secure node.
Thanks to the ZenCash Community for the support and help.