For the last few months I have been pouring into Masternodes and Staking and deciding on what direction I want to go. Now lets make this clear now, Zencash Secure Nodes are not "masternodes" as they have other jobs (domain fronting): which ill get into a later post more into its technology. These Secure Nodes process transactions, hold a valid TLS SSL certificate and a legitimate domain. This helps Zencash to support users in areas with internet censorship using a unique protocol that I have not seen used in other coins.
After the fork of Zclassic in May of 2017, Zencash was born and have been hard at work on new improvements. With over 300 contributors in Git you can see they are very busy.
https://github.com/ZencashOfficial/zen
After doing my own due diligence in research I decided to buy enough for two Zencash Secure Nodes (42 coins each).
Building my first Secure Node:
I found some guides and read through them a few times before starting, and I found using a Youtube video, along with blockops got me most of the way there with copying and pasting.
Source: Johnny Bravo's Youtube channel.
https://blockoperations.com/how-to-build-and-operate-a-zencash-secure-node/
BlockOperations guide to setting up a VPS and secure masternode.
Though near the end of the guide, I made a mistake in putting a command in a config file that was suppose to be a stand alone command and not in the script.. Well this caused zend not to start and a communication issue with secnodetracker. I worked with the Discord team to resolve, which they got to me in minutes Sto1cNate and psyrax helped me till resolved. Now I get emails about my downtime with their guides.
I was able to get my node listed on tracker page and passed compliance checks right away. Now waiting a week for payments to start.
24 Hours later building my second Secure Node:
Sto1cNate has written a guide that really helped me through the setup process, he had an innovative way of bootstrapping the blockchain from my first Secure Node to my second node I was building. This saved me 12 hours of waiting. We worked through the guide and went very smooth.
Here is his guide: https://forum.zencash.com/t/guide-secure-node-abbreviated-guide-bootstrapping-parallel-node-management-backup-and-restore-v1-4/1659
Going forward:
I plan to use his backup guide in the terrible case that the VPS erases my ubuntu build.
I may move to a cheaper VPS, OVH is being considered.
Trying out both Arizen and Zencash Desktop wallet and seeing which I like better.
Tips:
Make sure to backup your z_addr's private keys after Secure Node setup.
I also found a docker script to set up a Zencash node, i have not used but good to know about.
WhenLamboMoon.. hah yes that is their Git name.
https://github.com/WhenLamboMoon/docker-zen-node
Thank you Sto1cNate and psyrax for the help right away on Discord. Sto1cNate great guide
This is not financial advise, just my personal opinion. Do your own due diligence.