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Alastria Node for Alastria-T Network

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Alastria-T Network is a GoQuorum public-permissioned network that uses the IBFT 1.0 consensus algorithm, and it's managed by Alastria partners.

GoQuorum it's a fork of Geth (the Official Go implementation of the Ethereum protocol) ownership by Consensys that implements Raft and IBFT consensus algorithm, and is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0

In Alastria-T Network there are 3 types of nodes.

There are 2 main steps to set up an Alatria Node:

1. Installation & configuration: Follow the Docker installation steps and your node will be ready to be permissioned.

2. Getting permissioned: In order to use Alastria Network, your node must be previously accepted, after filling the form.

If a member wants to remove a node from the network, please send us a removal request using the same electronic form.

1) Installation

The following process explain the installation for a Regular (also called general) nodes:

Where TYPE is the rol for the node in the network (use REG for regular/general nodes), XX is your company/entity name, Y is the number of processors of the machine, Z is the amount of memory in Gb and NN is a sequential counter for each machine that you may have (starting at 00). For example:

This is the name that will appear in the public listings of nodes of the network. It does not have any other usage.

$ docker-compose up -d

$ docker-compose logs -f --tail=20

:bulb: Quick Guide for docker-compose

:bulb: For more specific information about to using or updating to higher versions of GoQuorum, please, refer to this section.

2) Permissioning new node

You should see the node initializing and starting to try to contact peers. However, the node is not yet permissioned, so it can not participate in the blockchain network yet.

All nodes in Alastria Networks must be permissioned. To ask for permission you must enter your data in this electronic form, providing these information of your node:

1. ENODE: String ENODE from ENODE_ADDRESS (enode://ENODE@IP:21000?discport=0)

2. Public IP: The external IP of your node.

3. System details: Hosting provider, number of cores (vCPUs), RAM Memory and Hard disk size.

In order to get permissioning, follow these steps to get the information that you will be asked for in the previous form:

$ docker exec -it REG_ExampleOrg_T_2_8_00 geth --exec "admin.nodeInfo.enode" attach /root/alastria/data/geth.ipc

$ curl https://ifconfig.me/

Now it's time to start knowing more about GoQuorum:

Upgrading to higher GoQuorum versions

NOTE: Don't follow this instructions if you never started the syncing process (or if you are not sure about it)

If your node is fully synced with the chain, you can skip step 1. To see if your node is still syncing or not, you can use the following RPC call:

$ curl -X POST -H "Content-type: application/json" --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"eth_syncing","params":[],"id":1}' http://127.0.0.1:22000

If the response contains a "result":false, your node is already synced and you can go ahead to step 2.

Step 1: Syncing the node

For GoQuorum versions strictly higher than v21.1.0 the node won't sync with the chain. To get your node syncing you must downgrade your node's version to v21.1.0, or less. Also, you must set the syncing option to fast: --syncmode fast.

Once your node is fully synced, you can got to step 2.

Step 2: Upgrading GoQuorum version

To upgrade your node's GoQuorum version you must follow this instructions:

Adding automatic checking for updates in node lists

If your installation was done with docker-compose everything is set up in the container and there's nothing else to do :tada:

However, if your installation was done prior to June 2022, ensure you have the more up-to-date code running in your machine following these steps:

Infraestructure details

System requirements

HardwareMinimumDesired
CPU's24
Memory4Gb (8Gb for Validator nodes)8Gb (16Gb for Validator nodes)
Hard Disk300 Gb512 Gb

DLT database grows 1Gb/week: keep in mind for future updates. SSD disc it's also mandatory.

System ports (INPUT)

The following ports must be open, at least, to the nodes defined in the /root/alastria/data/static-nodes.json and /root/alastria/data/permissioned-nodes.json files. We recommend that these ports be universally open: the whisper protocol defined in GoQuorum is robust enough to be published without the need for control through the firewall.

PortTypeDefinition
21000TCP/UDPGeth process application port (inbound and outbound for ethereum traffic)
53TCP/UDPAccess to external Internet based resolvers
6060TCPScraping Prometheus metrics from Alastria from IP address 18.201.52.140

tcp/21000 and udp/21000port are mandatory, as is the common standard for the Alastria-T Network.

Other ports are optional, and can be used from applications like Metamask, Truffle or Remix

PortTypeDefinition
22000TCPOptional port for JSON-RPC connections
22001TCPOptional port for WebSockets connections

Mandatory parameters

Some parameters are high hardcoded in this installer, but can be change:

Environment Variables

These variables should be use for any script in:

Monitoring

The default Alastria configuration exposes GoQuorum metrics on the tcp/6060 port and provides the http://node_ip:6060/debug/metrics/prometheus endpoint for integration into your local monitoring infrastructure. For more information on this topic, refer to the "Metrics collection" section in https://blog.ethereum.org/2019/07/10/geth-v1-9-0 and https://grafana.com/grafana/dashboards/14360-goquorum-overview/. Please, keep this access restricted to authorized hosts, as described in the documentation.

NOTE: Keep this access restricted to authorized hosts, as

Regular Node

Maintenance

You can use the standard docker-compose commands to manage your node. For example:

# Stop node:
$ docker-compose down

# To restart the node:
$ docker-compose restart

# Delete current container
$ docker rm REG_ExampleOrg_T_2_8_00

Node management is done through the geth console. It can be accessed through the following commands:

$ geth attach http://localhost:22000 (in case geth were started with --rpc options)
# or
$ geth attach /root/alastria/data/geth.ipc

$ curl -X POST --header 'Content-Type: application/json' --data '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"admin_nodeInfo","params":[], "id":1}' http://127.0.0.1:22
000

The commands can be invoked from the Docker client, or by accessing the container:

$ docker ps -a
# or
$ docker exec -it <container_name> /bin/bash

Some useful commands:

root@62369c8b018e:/usr/local/bin# geth attach /root/alastria/data/geth.ipc
Welcome to the Geth JavaScript console!

instance: Geth/REG_DigitelTS-pre_T_2_4_00/v1.8.18-stable(quorum-v2.2.3-0.Alastria_EthNetstats_IBFT)/linux-amd64/go1.9.5
coinbase: 0x1e02232b297055717e3381ad458f8b23cb9ada03
at block: 60568501 (Mon, 25 Jan 2021 21:37:51 UTC)
 datadir: /root/alastria/data
 modules: admin:1.0 debug:1.0 eth:1.0 istanbul:1.0 miner:1.0 net:1.0 personal:1.0 rpc:1.0 txpool:1.0 web3:1.0

> personal.newAccount()
Passphrase:
Repeat passphrase:
"0x1234..."
> admin.peers
> admin.nodeInfo
> eth.blockNumber
> eth.syncing
> eth.mining
> eth.coinbase
> web3.version.network
> net.peerCount
> admin.datadir
> txpool.status

Full documentacion can be found in https://geth.ethereum.org/docs/interface/javascript-console

An easy way to test that your node is operating normally is to generate a fund transfer transaction from the node's account, itself from 0 weis.

> personal.unlockAccount(eth.accounts[0],"_your_eth0_password_",2000)
> Unlock account 0x1234...
Passphrase:
true
> eth.sendTransaction({from: eth.accounts[0], to: eth.accounts[0], value:0 })
"0x1234..."

If the transaction appears in Alastria-T Network explorer, the node it's working correctly.

Backup

The following items should be backed up:

Backup/Restore LevelDB

LevelDB is the storaga format used by geth (and GoQuorum):

$ ./geth export /mnt/dump.gz --datadir /root/alastria/geth_root_directory --syncmode full

Resetting DLT

$ cp /root/alastria/data/geth/nodekey <enode-backup>
$ geth removedb_DONOTDELETEACCIDENTALY --datadir /root/alastria/data
$ geth --datadir /root/alastria/data init /root/genesis.json
$ cp <enode-backup> /root/alastria/data/geth/nodekey
$ (restart-container)

Istanbul Governance IBFT

As the T-network uses the Istanbul BFT consensus protocol, the way to generate new blocks in the test-net is to have validator nodes available in the network and integrate them into the set of nodes that are part of the validation round.

Each round is initiated by a different node that "proposes" a set of transactions in a block and distributes them to the rest of the nodes.

The validator nodes must focus on operating the consensus protocol, integrating the transactions in the blockchain and distributing them to the rest of the nodes.

geth args for regular/general Nodes

NODE_ARGS=' --rpc --rpcaddr 0.0.0.0 --rpcport 22000 --rpccorsdomain "*" --rpcvhosts "*" --rpcapi admin,db,eth,debug,miner,net,shh,txpool,personal,web3,quorum,istanbul'

Also WebSockets connection is allowed:

NODE_ARGS=${NODE_ARGS}' --ws --wsaddr 0.0.0.0 --wsport 22001 --wsorigins "*" --wsapi admin,db,eth,debug,miner,net,shh,txpool,personal,web3,quorum,istanbul'

NOTE: use of GraphQL will be available soon.

Application Ports

To use your node through web3 applications, some connection method must be enabled. In this case, the following connection methods are offered:

NOTE: exposing this port should be controlled by any kind of firewall, or using any proxy filtering, as proposed in alastria-access-point project.

Boot Nodes

Boot nodes are responsible for permitting the nodes in the network. They are visible to all types of nodes. The boot node should not be used in any case to operate directly with it to interact with the network, so only IPC ports are allowed.

geth args for boot nodes

NODE_ARGS="--maxpeers 256"

Validator Nodes

The validator nodes should not be used in any case to operate directly with it to interact with the network, so nor JSON-RPC nor WebSockets ports are not allowed.

$ geth attach alastria/data/geth.ipc
> istanbul.getValidators() 
[...]
> istanbul.getSnapshot()
[...]
> istanbul.getSignersFromBlock()
[...]
> istanbul.propose("_coinbase_of_node_validator_", true) #add validator node
> istanbul.propose("_coinbase_of_node_validator_", false) #remove validator node
>

geth args for validator nodes

NODE_ARGS=" --maxpeers 32 --mine --miner.gastarget 8000000 --miner.gaslimit 10000000 --minerthreads $(grep -c "processor" /proc/cpuinfo) --miner.extradata $NODE_NAME"

Other Resources

Contributing

The following developments are in place or in backlog. Any help/volunteers are welcomed:

Help Resources

Please, use Github to contribute and collaborate on open issues that are in development on Alastria Github platform. Do not hesitate to contact Alastria Support Team to solve any doubt in support@alastria.io.

Changes from alastria-node repo

The following lines are changes from testnet2 branch:

FAQs

const fs = require("fs");
const HDWalletProvider = require("@truffle/hdwallet-provider");
const keythereum = require('keythereum');

/**
 * Use https://iancoleman.io/bip39/ for generate a .secret file
 */
const mnemonic = fs.readFileSync(".secret").toString().trim();
const localNode = "http://your-node:22000"

module.exports = {
  networks: {
    'alastriaT': {
      gasPrice: 0x0,
      provider: () => {
        return new HDWalletProvider(mnemonic, localNode);
      },
      network_id: "83584648538",
    },
  },
  compilers: {
    solc: {
      version: "0.5.17",
      settings: {
        optimizer: {
          enabled: true,
          runs: 100
        },
        evmVersion: "byzantium"
      }
    }
  }
}



# Stop the contanier
# Be sure about the directory you are working on
# Make a copy of the private key (the nodekey file)
# Delete the old database
# Decompress de the new one
# Restore the private key
# Start the container

# Example
$ docker stop <contaner_name>
$ pwd
/home/ubuntu/alastria-t-boot/data
$ ls -ltr
total 84
drwx------ 2 root root  4096 Apr 19  2023 keystore
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    12 Apr 25  2023 INITIALIZED
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 36040 Mar 14 17:17 static-nodes.json
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 36040 Mar 14 17:17 permissioned-nodes.json
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root  4096 Mar 14 17:17 geth
srw------- 1 root root     0 Mar 14 17:17 geth.ipc
$ cp geth/nodekey /root/nodekey.root
$ rm -rf geth_DONOTCOPYANDPASTE
$ tar zxvf geth.20240302.179598083.tar.gz -C .
$ cp /root/nodekey.root geth/nodekey 
$ docker start <contaner_name>

Operation documents of Alastria nodes

Other guides related with operation of Alastria Node are available in following documents:

Based on the work of: