The Complete Guide to Becoming a Vectorlay Provider

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

Step 1: BIOS Configuration

First, enable virtualization and IOMMU in your BIOS:

Step 2: Run the Setup Script

Our setup script installs and configures everything:

# Download and run the setup script
curl -fsSL https://get.vectorlay.dev/setup | sudo bash

This script will:

• →Install containerd and nerdctl
• →Install Kata Containers 3.2.0
• →Configure containerd to use Kata as default runtime
• →Enable IOMMU in GRUB bootloader
• →Load VFIO kernel modules
• →Install virtiofsd for filesystem passthrough

Step 3: Configure GPU Passthrough

Now we need to bind your GPU to VFIO so it can be passed to VMs.

Find Your GPU's PCI Address

# List NVIDIA GPUs
lspci -nn | grep NVIDIA

# Example output:
# 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation AD102 [GeForce RTX 4090] [10de:2684] (rev a1)
# 01:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation AD102 High Definition Audio Controller [10de:22ba] (rev a1)

Note the PCI address (e.g., 01:00.0) and vendor:device IDs (e.g., 10de:2684).

Bind GPU to VFIO

Create a script to bind the GPU at boot:

# Create VFIO binding config
sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/vfio.conf << 'EOF'
# Bind NVIDIA GPU to VFIO (replace with your IDs)
options vfio-pci ids=10de:2684,10de:22ba
softdep nvidia pre: vfio-pci
EOF

# Update initramfs
sudo update-initramfs -u

# Reboot to apply
sudo reboot

Verify VFIO Binding

After reboot, verify the GPU is bound to VFIO:

# Check if GPU is using vfio-pci driver
lspci -nnk -d 10de:2684

# Expected output should show:
# Kernel driver in use: vfio-pci

# Verify VFIO modules are loaded
lsmod | grep vfio

# Expected: vfio_pci, vfio_iommu_type1, vfio

Step 4: Install the Vectorlay Agent

Get Your Provisioning Token

First, get a provisioning token from the dashboard:

1. 1.Log in at dashboard.vectorlay.dev
2. 2.Go to Settings → Provider
3. 3.Enable Provider Mode
4. 4.Click Generate Provisioning Token
5. 5.Copy the token (starts with vtk_)

Install and Configure the Agent

# Install the agent
curl -fsSL https://get.vectorlay.dev | sudo bash

# Configure your token
sudo tee /etc/vectorlay/agent.env << EOF
VECTORLAY_ORG_TOKEN=vtk_your_token_here
VECTORLAY_API_URL=wss://api.vectorlay.dev
EOF

# Start the agent
sudo systemctl enable --now vectorlay-agent

# Check status
sudo systemctl status vectorlay-agent

Verify Connection

# Check agent logs
sudo journalctl -u vectorlay-agent -f

# You should see:
# ✅ Connected to control plane
# 🖥️ Reporting hardware: 16 cores, 64GB RAM, 1 GPUs
# ✓ containerd: 1.7.2
# ✓ nerdctl: 1.5.0
# ✓ kata-runtime: 3.2.0
# ✓ virtiofsd: 1.8.0
# ✓ vfio: 4 modules loaded
# Dependencies ready: true

Step 5: Verify in Dashboard

Your node should now appear in the dashboard:

1. 1.Go to Settings → Nodes
2. 2.Your node should show as Online
3. 3.Verify hardware specs match your system
4. 4.Check that all dependencies show ✓

If your node shows as Degraded, check the logs for missing dependencies.

Troubleshooting

Advanced: Multi-GPU Nodes

If you have multiple GPUs, you can either:

• →Pass all to VFIO: Bind all GPUs for maximum earning potential
• →Keep one for yourself: Bind only some GPUs to VFIO, keep one on the host for personal use

To keep a GPU on the host, don't include its device IDs in the VFIO configuration:

# Only bind the first GPU (01:00.0), keep second (02:00.0) for host
# /etc/modprobe.d/vfio.conf
options vfio-pci ids=10de:2684,10de:22ba  # Only first GPU's IDs

You're Live!

Your GPU is now part of the Vectorlay network. Here's what happens next:

• →Workloads will be automatically scheduled to your node
• →You'll earn for every minute of compute time used
• →Track earnings in real-time on your dashboard
• →Monthly payouts via bank transfer or crypto