Private geth+prysm node

[sergey-msu]

Hi,
I'm trying to setup a full imitation of Eth mainnet - a PoS network which I plan to use far beyond testing purposes.
The requirements are

• it should be clean network started from the very first genesis block
• it should not connected to Eth mainnet or any testnets
• it should be fully functional EVM-based network (a-la Eth clone for my company's private purposes)
• it should be a private network, but with PoS (not PoA) concensus

As I understand (please correct me if I'm wrond), I should use a private setup as a starting point: init geth with a genesis block, then start PoS concensus+validator node, and finally raise up other network nodes it the same way.

The first problem I faced - Geth and Prysm do not see each other.
Can anyone help me with initial setup?

my genesis.json:

{
  "config": {
      "chainId": 1234,
      "homesteadBlock": 0,
      "eip150Block": 0,
      "eip155Block": 0,
      "eip158Block": 0,
      "byzantiumBlock": 0,
      "constantinopleBlock": 0,
      "petersburgBlock": 0,
      "istanbulBlock": 0,
      "muirGlacierBlock": 0,
      "berlinBlock": 0,
      "terminalTotalDifficultyPassed": true,
      "londonBlock": 0
  },
  "alloc": {
    "4e80Bb36022bF5947e0A00fF3701510c0efEEad4": {
        "balance": "10000000000000000000000" 
    },
	"4242424242424242424242424242424242424242": {
		"code": "0x608.....0b0033",
		"balance": "0x0"
	}
  },
  "coinbase": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "difficulty": "0x1",
  "extraData": "0x00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000004e80Bb36022bF5947e0A00fF3701510c0efEEad40000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "gasLimit": "0x1c9c380",
  "nonce": "0x0",
  "mixhash": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "parentHash": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000",
  "timestamp": "0x00"
}

which I pass to Geth as
./geth --datadir=gethdata init genesis.json

Then I start Geth with the command
./geth --http --http.api eth,net,web3 --ws --ws.api eth,net,web3 --authrpc.jwtsecret jwtsecret --datadir gethdata --nodiscover --syncmode full --allow-insecure-unlock --unlock 0x4e80Bb36022bF5947e0A00fF3701510c0efEEad4 --password password.txt

Then I start the Prysm
./beacon-chain --datadir=beacondata --execution-endpoint=http://localhost:8551 --chain-id=1234 --jwt-secret=jwtsecret --accept-terms-of-use --rpc-host=0.0.0.0 --grpc-gateway-host=0.0.0.0 --contract-deployment-block=0

the latter periodically shows the error
ERROR execution: Unable to process past deposit contract logs, perhaps your execution client is not fully synced error=processPastLogs: no contract code at given address

There are also some outputs in Geth console that seems strange to me, like
The Merge is not yet available for this network!
Engine API started but chain not configured for merge yet
Served eth_coinbase reqid=3 duration="15.964µs" err="the method eth_coinbase does not exist/is not available"

Finally, I start the validator
./validator --datadir validatordata --accept-terms-of-use --wallet-dir=./validator_wallets --beacon-rpc-provider=beacon-chain:4000 --datadir=./validatordata

which says

[2024-05-14 11:48:43]  INFO client: Syncing with beacon node to align on chain genesis info
[2024-05-14 11:48:47]  WARN client: Could not determine if beacon chain started error=could not receive ChainStart from stream: could not setup beacon chain ChainStart streaming client: rpc error: code = Unavailable desc = connection error: desc = "transport: Error while dialing: dial tcp: lookup beacon-chain: no such host": could not connect: could not connect

Please, tell me what could be the problem?
May be I should choose a different setup for my network?

[lzmrd]

how did you install Prysm? I only see option for "mainnet","Sepolia","Holesky"

[s1na]

First, I'd like to point out that Ethereum PoS is permissionless. Meaning anyone who gets their hands on enough ether in a network can become a validator and propose blocks. If your use-case is a private "permissioned" network, this will not be suitable for you.

Otherwise: I think you will appreciate kurtosis. Save this to a file:

participants:
  - el_type: geth
  cl_type: prysm
  count: 3
additional_services:
  - dora

and then with a simple command:

kurtosis run github.com/kurtosis-tech/ethereum-package --args-file config.yaml --image-download always

you will have a network with 3 geth-prysm pairs, and a block explorer on top.

[sergey-msu]

@s1na I'm trying to set up a real-world copy of Ethereum without any connecton to real Ethereum (mainnet or testnets).
The main problem I faced - Prysm stopped to follow the chain after it reloads. It seems to be a known bug in Prysm, please see here rzmahmood/ethereum-pos-testnet#23

If you have an additional comments, I'll be very appreciate it

[s1na]

Ok then will close here.