Setting up a Witness Node
This is an introduction for new Witnesses to get up to speed on the Peerplays blockchain. It is intended for Witnesses planning to join a live, already deployed, blockchain.
The following repository should be used in support of this document:
The following table lists what should be considered the minimum system requirements for running a witness node:
CPU | Memory | Storage | Bandwidth | OS |
8 Cores | 64GB | 300GB SSD | 1Gbps | Ubuntu 18.04 |
These requirements are as of the time of writing, so consider deploying a server with specs slightly higher than the ones listed above in order to "future proof" your server in case the minimum requirements grow in the future.
The following dependencies are necessary for a clean install of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS:
sudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get -y install autoconf bash build-essential ca-certificates cmake \dnsutils doxygen git graphviz libbz2-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev \libncurses-dev libreadline-dev libssl-dev libtool libzmq3-dev \locales ntp pkg-config wget autotools-dev libicu-dev python-dev
mkdir $HOME/srccd $HOME/srcexport BOOST_ROOT=$HOME/src/boost_1_67_0sudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get install -y autotools-dev build-essential libbz2-dev libicu-dev python-devwget -c 'http://sourceforge.net/projects/boost/files/boost/1.67.0/boost_1_67_0.tar.bz2/download'\-O boost_1_67_0.tar.bz2tar xjf boost_1_67_0.tar.bz2cd boost_1_67_0/./bootstrap.sh "--prefix=$BOOST_ROOT"./b2 install
cd $HOME/srcexport BOOST_ROOT=$HOME/src/boost_1_67_0git clone https://github.com/peerplays-network/peerplays.gitcd peerplaysgit checkout master # --> replace with most recent taggit submodule update --init --recursivegit submodule sync --recursivecmake -DBOOST_ROOT="$BOOST_ROOT" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Releasemake -j$(nproc)​make install # this can install the executable files under /usr/local
Note: #master# can be replaced with the most recent release tag.
If we have installed the blockchain following the above steps, the node can be started as follows:
witness_node​# If you need the logs, the following can be helpful# witness_node 2>&1 peerplays.log
This Docker image can be installed as an alternative to the previous steps. It doesn't need to be run if those steps have already been completed.
# Install dockersudo apt install docker.io​​# Add current user to docker groupsudo usermod -a -G docker $USER# You need to restart your shell session, to apply group membership# Type 'groups' to verify that you are a member of a docker group​​# Build docker image (from the project root, must be a docker group member)docker build -t peerplays .​​# Start docker imagedocker start peerplays​# Exposed ports# # rpc service:# EXPOSE 8090# # p2p service:# EXPOSE 1776
Note: This step can be skipped if you're not running Ubuntu 14 - which really you shouldn't be!
cd ..git clone https://github.com/cryptonomex/graphene.gitcd graphenegit submodule update --init --recursivecmake -DBOOST_ROOT="$BOOST_ROOT" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug .make
git clone https://github.com/peerplays-network/peerplays.gitcd peerplaysgit submodule update --init --recursivecmake -DBOOST_ROOT="$BOOST_ROOT" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release .make./programs/witness_node/witness_node
Launching the Witness creates the required directories.
Important: Next stop the Witness node before continuing.
$ vi witness_node_data_dir/config.inip2p-endpoint = 0.0.0.0:9777rpc-endpoint = 127.0.0.1:8090seed-node = 213.184.225.234:59500
Start the Witness node back up.
./programs/witness_node/witness_node
We can add the peerplays blockchain node as a service using the following steps.
under, /etc/systemd/system create a file with the following content.
[Unit]Description=Witness[Service]User=ubuntuWorkingDirectory=/home/ubuntu/beatriceExecStart=/home/ubuntu/beatrice/witness_nodeRestart=always[Install]WantedBy=mult-user.target
To minimize downtime of your Peerplays Witness node when upgrading, it's recommended to create a backup Witness server.
The next step is to set up the CLI Wallet.
It's important for your Witness node to start when your system boots up. The filepaths here assume that you installed your witness into /home/ubuntu/peerplays
Step 1. Create a log file to hold your stdout/err logging
sudo touch /var/log/peerplays.log
Step 2. Save this file in your Peerplays directory. vi /home/ubuntu/peerplays/start.sh
#!/bin/bash​cd /home/ubuntu/peerplays./programs/witness_node/witness_node &> /var/log/peerplays.log
Step 3. Make it executable
chmod 744 /home/ubuntu/peerplays/start.sh
Step 4. Create this file: sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/peerplays.service
Note: Check the path for start.sh, if necessary, change it to match where your start.sh file actually is.
[Unit]Description=Peerplays WitnessAfter=network.target​[Service]ExecStart=/home/ubuntu/peerplays/start.sh​[Install]WantedBy = multi-user.target
Step 5. Enable the service
sudo systemctl enable peerplays.service
Important: Make sure you don't get any errors.
sudo systemctl status peerplays.service
Step 6. Stop your Witness node, if it's currently running, then start it with the service.
sudo systemctl start peerplays.service
Step 7. Check your logfile for entries
tail -f /var/log/peerplays.log
All Witnesses are also required to install and run the Bookie Oracle Suite (BOS) and the supporting manual intervention tool (MINT).
