Avalanche Consensus
Snowside validators run Avalanche’s Snowman consensus protocol. Snowman is the linear-chain variant of the Avalanche Consensus Protocol, designed for blockchains that require a total ordering of transactions.
Key Properties
Section titled “Key Properties”- Deterministic finality — once a block is accepted, it is final. No probabilistic waiting, no chance of reorganization.
- Sub-second confirmation — transactions typically finalize in 1–3 seconds.
- Validator-set sovereignty — Snowside validators are independent of C-Chain or any other Avalanche subnet.
- Permissionless participation — anyone staking AVAX with the Primary Network can validate.
How Snowman Works
Section titled “How Snowman Works”Snowman uses a metastable consensus mechanism based on repeated subsampling among validators. Each validator queries a random subset of peers for their preference on the next block, updates its own preference based on the majority response, and repeats. After sufficient rounds, all honest validators converge on the same block with probability 1.
Unlike proof-of-work, where blocks can always be orphaned by a longer chain, Snowman finality is irreversible once achieved. This eliminates the “wait for N confirmations” pattern of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Validator Requirements
Section titled “Validator Requirements”Anyone can run a Snowside validator. The requirements are minimal:
- A server (VPS) with basic specifications
- AVAX for the Avalanche Primary Network stake
- The NodeRunr Snowside template (free, open-source)
No special hardware, no complex setup, no approval process. NodeRunr handles deployment, monitoring, and updates automatically.
See the Running a Validator guide for step-by-step instructions.