![@gingerninja (4).png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmRgoSPU25G13q5oX4uset8AXQQ2sUtPkR8S19rHxTgXJg/%40gingerninja%20(4).png) ### Hello my fellow steemit friends!And welcome to my very first witness post :D *** For those who do not know me,I am just your average steemian looking to make some friends where ever I can,and help whenever I can. This weekend after seeing steem drop all the way down slighty below $1,just to bounce right back,I decided to do a little more research on the community and the way the STEEMIT system works.So after a few hours of reading I found it most interesting to learn how **steemit witnesses** are the ones in control of creating and maintaining the blockchain ,aswell as determining the price of the SBD token distributed to the community as rewards on a daily basis. So I decided to give the roll of a steemit witness a go,by firing up my very own witness server. #### Before I jumped right in and started setting up my witness server,I learnt a few things: - To setup a witness server,I will need to have a strong enough system(with atleast 8GB RAM ;) to get it running on the network - The witness will need to be active on the network 24/7. - The witness server will need to be setup on a linux system. - The server will need to be monitored and tracked for block misses on a regular basis to ensure all issues are delt with. - A price feed will need to be setup. - Witnesses in the top 50,are mostly respected members of the community that also offer their services along side running and maintaining their servers. - Becoming a witness will be a long term plan. - Witnesses outside the top 100 wil most likely not receive any blocks or rewards. After taking a look at the top witnesses rankings and stats at [https://steemd.com/witnesses](https://steemd.com/witnesses) and [https://steemdb.com/witnesses](https://steemdb.com/witnesses) I saw that there are even those in the top 100 rankings who run outdated versions of steem , are not active on the network anymore , or simply has lost their interest in being a witness.I can truly say that I have almost no experience in maintaining a linux server,but I would love to be part of the ongoing **witness** program.It is never too late to learn,and I would prefer learning about something that will genuinly help out the steemit community. ### Here is how I got my server up and running: - I chose to use an extra server I had lying around(Its stronger than the requirements),instead of renting one. - The server has a fresh install of Linux Ubuntu. - To install the required software, I followed one of the easiest guides [available out there](https://steemit.com/steem/@someguy123/your-guide-to-setting-up-a-witness-server-steem-in-a-box-hf19) by @someguy123(a guide on setting up a remote witness available [here](https://steemit.com/witness/@jerrybanfield/get-a-steem-witness-seed-online-today-with-these-ubuntu-linux-commands)) - I set up the price feed with [Steemfeed-JS](https://steemit.com/witness-category/@someguy123/steemfeed-js-a-nodejs-price-feed-for-witneses) also created by @someguy123. Seeing that I have been on steemit for about only 2 months now,I am still busy learning how the community operates,and in which way I will be able to offer a service that will be useful to the community. For those who do not understand what a steemit witness is,or what they mean to the community,go take a look at my post explaining witnesses [here](https://steemit.com/steemit/@gingerninja/have-you-voted-for-a-steemit-witness-yet-or-here-is-how-you-can-get-voting-right-now), or a even more detailed post can be found [here](https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jerrybanfield/steem-witness-basic-training) by @jerrybanfield. #### If you would like to vote for me as witness,but you are not certain how,here is a quick guide: To vote for me @gingerninja,or any other witness,head over to [https://steemit.com/~witnesses](https://steemit.com/~witnesses) to get a ranking of the current top 50 witnesses, ![Untitled.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQma7a9SUqLDNBZQX3kbFp3XgLQoasENCKFbGcGNeNdSDbm/Untitled.png) ###### (Top 9 witnesses shown in image as reference) Now pick the witness of your choice to vote for,please note that you have a total of 30 votes to use,and you can unvote any witness at any time.All votes(approvals) are indicated by a ![Untitled.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmdkBBLpe3Xn9JwH7Li5wTUQPMBciPpkapS9kutgcMKF53/Untitled.png) arrow,while all unvoted witnesses will be indicated by a ![Untitled.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmbBYo7F3k7yfzwjWLegvmGAZDxPpmC9Cg54GeSvVCcrGq/Untitled.png) arrow. **Now scroll to the bottom of the page**, ![Untitled.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQTf5wbrY7bBFUH5uYqLQqMZwc14qZwTXgxNgM8dAie1v/Untitled.png) Once you see the white box as indicated by the image above,type in **gingerninja** and hit **VOTE**to approve me as a witness. *** ### Here are some links you might like to visit: ### 🎈 [A minnows guide to start using Steemvoter.com | And how to setup rules to automate some of your posts! ](https://steemit.com/guides/@gingerninja/a-minnows-guide-to-start-using-steemvoter-com-or-and-how-to-setup-rules-to-automate-some-of-your-posts) ### 🎈 [A few more ways to help you get brainstorming again?! Find awesome blog topic ideas right here](https://steemit.com/blog/@gingerninja/a-few-more-ways-to-help-you-get-brainstorming-again-find-awesome-blog-topic-ideas-right-here) ### 🎈 [Get yourself some delegated STEEMPOWER today! ](https://steemit.com/steemit/@gingerninja/get-yourself-some-delegated-steempower) ### 🎈 [So you invested some STEEM...now what? | Make your STEEMIT account grow even faster! 🚀](https://steemit.com/steem/@gingerninja/so-you-invested-some-steem-now-what-or-make-your-steemit-account-grow-even-faster) ![@gingerninja (1).png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQrrXm1HmLHHSqSp9ge5RKc5HJantWuqABeC55tLbr6d5/%40gingerninja%20(1).png) ### **Get in touch:** I am @gingerninja(suddenforce) on Discord ,and @gingerninja on SteemChat. [![](https://steemitimages.com/90x70/http://steemitboard.com/@gingerninja/commented.png)](http://steemitboard.com/board.html?user=gingerninja) [![](https://steemitimages.com/90x70/http://steemitboard.com/@gingerninja/votes.png)](http://steemitboard.com/board.html?user=gingerninja) [![](https://steemitimages.com/90x70/http://steemitboard.com/@gingerninja/posts.png)](http://steemitboard.com/board.html?user=gingerninja) [![](https://steemitimages.com/110x90/http://steemitboard.com/@gingerninja/level.png)](http://steemitboard.com/board.html?user=gingerninja) [![](https://steemitimages.com/90x70/http://steemitboard.com/@gingerninja/comments.png)](http://steemitboard.com/board.html?user=gingerninja) [![](https://steemitimages.com/90x70/http://steemitboard.com/@gingerninja/voted.png)](http://steemitboard.com/board.html?user=gingerninja) [![](https://steemitimages.com/90x70/http://steemitboard.com/@gingerninja/payout.png)](http://steemitboard.com/board.html?user=gingerninja) ##### --Ninja by nature,Ginger by choice--