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Algorand Node for Windows

This repository contains the supporting software for running an Algorand Node under Windows systems, including a native Windows service, companion tools and proper MSI based installer and uninstaller.

:warning: 32-bit Windows is not supported.

How to Install

To install Algorand Node for Windows, please download and execute the package you prefer from the Releases section on this repository. They follow the stable branch and version scheme of the official node.

Preliminary Information

Please read the following usage guidelines and advices.

• As they may have different binaries, testnet, betanet, mainnet packages are considered products on their own, so:

  • Installations for different networks and/or versions can co exist in the same system.
  • Upgrades can be performed only between packages of the same network node. e.g: 2.2.0-testnet to 2.3.0-testnet.

• Once the product is installed, do not modify the network it's operating on by changing the configuration file. Use the proper installer.

• Automatic downgrades are not supported. If you want to install a previous version, uninstall the current version completely first.

Known bugs :warning:

• Coexisting installations may show only one set of shortcuts.

• The Node Watch Status window displays ANSI escape codes instead of interpreting them properly. This does not interfere with its functionality.

• Using the Maintenance or Repair Dialog from the installation MSI does not work. Please use the Add/Remove Programs entry in the System Settings panel.

Installation

:lock: Administrative rights are required to complete the installation.

To launch the installation process just double click the MSI file. Read and accept the license agreement and choose your target installation directory. We recommend to use the default installation place.

The installer will display a dialog to configure your node with the following options:

• Port Number A port where the node server will listen to. You can select zero for autoconfiguration, or a fixed port number. Take caution to choose a port that does not clash with existing software. Also, you may need to open your firewall for certain range of ports.

• Public Access If you select this option, your server will be accessible from the outside.

• Archival Mode Enabling Archival will synchronize the entire ledger, greatly increasing disk requirements.

• Start service at boot Self-descriptive, check if you want to start Algorand Node service with your machine. Otherwise, it will be set in "demand" mode, requiring manual start through the Services management console or the command-line.

• Start on installation Check if you want to start the Algorand node service and start syncing at end of installation.

Once you are sure, press Continue and wait the installer to finish.

The installer will create:

• A new windows Service (algodsvc) for controlling the Algorand Node. The name of the service is algodsvc_ followed by the network the node is connected to. According to this scheme, your service will be named algodsvc_testnet, algodsvc_betanet or algodsvc_mainnet.
• "Command Line Tools" shortcut to access the binary directory where all the Algorand tools reside.
• A shortcut to the configuration text file.
• A shortcut to watch the node status in realtime.

At this stage you should be able to click on "Node Status Watch" shortcut in your Start Menu to verify that you are synchronizing. If you unchecked "Start on installation" you will need to start the service manually.

Manual Configuration

Please click the "Configuration" shortcut in your Start Menu, under the "Algorand Node" group, to start the proper config.json file. To make the changes operative, please restart the Windows service

Usage

:memo: In the following examples, service_name is algodsvc_ followed by the network the node is connected to. According to this scheme, your service will be named algodsvc_testnet, algodsvc_betanet or algodsvc_mainnet.

Start the Algorand Service by using the "Services" management console. You can launch the "Run..." panel by pressing Windows + R and executing services.msc. Alternatively, you can use the sc start <service_name> command in a shell with administrative privileges.

The status of the service can be inspected with the Services management console, or by executing sc query <service_name> command in a shell with administrative privileges.

In the same way, stopping the node can be done with the Services management console, or by executing sc stop <service_name> command in a shell with administrative privileges.

:warning: Forcefully terminating the controlled ALGOD.EXE executable, either by user action or by fatal system error, will trigger the stopping of the Windows service. This will get reported to the Windows Event Log as a 3002 event.

Monitoring the node

The node can be monitored using the "Node Status Watch" shortcut. Access it by going to your Start Menu, "Algorand ..." group, Node Watch shortcut. This is equivalent of running the goal node status command.

Using the Windows Event Log

Open the Event Log by pressing Windows + R and executing eventvwr. The service will write entries with origin named Algorand Windows Service. Current emitted events are on the following list:

Data directory setting for Release before 2.8.0

If you install any release < 2.8.0, all commands requiring data directory specification should be supplied with:

1. %PROGRAMDATA%\Algorand\data\<network>
   

   Replace <network> with the node you are operating on. For example, on the Command Line Tools you could type:

   goal account changeonlinestatus -a o=%address% -d %PROGRAMDATA%\Algorand\data\testnet
   

or alternatively, 2. Set ALGORAND_DATA environment variable as follows

%PROGRAMDATA%\Algorand\data\<network>

Building How-TO

The following information applies to power users and developer that are interested in doing a manual build of the Algorand Service and installer.

Prerequisites

To build the algorand node, service and installer you need to install the following software distributions:

• MSYS2 x64 from https://www.msys2.org/. MSYS2 is an environment to build and run Linux and UNIX software natively in Windows.
• WiX Toolset from https://wixtoolset.org (>= v3.11) to compile and build the MSI installer package.

The two projects contained herein are:

• algodsvc The native Windows Service.
• installer The native MSI-based installer.

Building the go-algorand project

• The installer requires the generated files off the Algorand node code base, referenced in the go-algorand submodule. Keep this submodule up-to-date first with:

  git submodule init
  git submodule update
  

  For additional information about working with git submodules see https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Tools-Submodules

  The installer mechanism uses the Algorand node versioning scheme for upgrades, so you need to select the release channel you want checking out the proper branch, e.g:

  cd go-algorand
  git checkout rel/stable
  

  Replace rel/stable with rel/nightly or rel/beta if you want to make your installer based on 'bleeding-edge' or beta releases.

• Start your MSYS2-MinGW x64 environment and follow the instructions in steps 1, 2 and 3 at https://developer.algorand.org/tutorials/compile-and-run-the-algorand-node-natively-windows to build the Algorand binaries, but instead of cloning the go-algorand project, use the go-algorand subdirectory in this repository instead.

• After the make stage finishes, you can do a quick verification checking your node software version:

  $ $HOME/go/bin/goal.exe --version
  8590162778
  2.3.97114.master [master] (commit #1f59409f)
  go-algorand is licensed with AGPLv3.0
  source code available at https://github.com/algorand/go-algorand
  

Building the Windows Service

Switch to the algodsvc subdirectory and execute

make

to generate the algodsvc.exe binary file.

Building the Windows MSI Installer

• Switch to the installer\src subdirectory.

• Execute make with the NETWORK parameter specifying which kind of node you want to build (testnet, mainnet or betanet ), e.g to create a testnet node installer you must issue:

  make NETWORK=testnet
  

  The build process should take a while. It will generate a MSI installer named AlgoRand-testnet.msi or similar depending on your chosen Algorand network.

License