The Ambrosus Node Onboarding Package

The Ambrosus Node Onboarding Package (NOP) is a command-line tool which makes it easier for Ambrosus Masternodes operators to register, onboard and operate new nodes on AMB-NET (Apollo, Atlas and Hermes nodes).

ATTENTION: Although anyone will be able to setup a virtual environment and run NOP, the last step (running the masternode application) will require your node to have been whitelisted. For this, you must have first applied via our official form and then be formally invited to join an onboarding wave per email. Sending us your whitelisting details before you have applied and been invited will simply be ignored at this stage.

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Installation
  • Prebuilt Machine Images
    • Amazon Web Services
  • Custom Machine Image
• Setting up the NOP
• Troubleshooting
• Contribution
• Alternative community guide

Overview

Running an AMB-NET masternode is a three-step process:

1. Prepare a virtual machine environment
2. Run NOP to configure your Masternode
3. Run the masternode application

Installation

There are two ways to seup your virtual machine environment to run an Ambrosus masternode:

1. Use a ready-made machine image build and maintained by the Ambrosus team
2. Install the software and dependencies yourself on a machine

The first option is simpler as it requires less technical experience. However, for obvious security reasons setting a machine from scratch is a more secure approach.

Prebuilt Machine Images

Currently a prebuilt image is only supported on Amazon Web Services.

Amazon Web Services

Go to Amazon Web Services and log in or create an account. When you have logged in press services -> ec2. Then chose a region that suits you, which can found in the top right of your screen. Now you should press a blue button which says 'Launch Instance'. Now search for the machine image 'ambrosus-nop' and it should appear in the section community AMIs. This should lead to the below picture: Press select and chose your desired instance type. There is no configuration needed after chosing instance type and the default values should work, same goes for the storage (although larger storage the the default 8 gb is recommended). The tags are optional as well, a tip would be to add a tag with the key 'Name' and a custom name for it (could be the name of the node you are running). The 6th step configuring security group is important as it is the ports needed to be opened for incoming connections to the node. The following ports are needed for each different node:

• Hermes & Atlas:
  • Port range: 80 Protocol: TCP
  • Port range: 443 Protocol: TCP
  • Port range: 30303 Protocol: TCP
  • Port range: 30303 Protocol: UDP
• Apollo:
  • Port range: 30303 Protocol: TCP
  • Port range: 30303 Protocol: UDP

For all ports add the source 0.0.0.0/0.

A sample below for hermes/atlas: Now you can proceed and launch the instance. A prompt should pop up asking you for a key pair. This is used to access the instance through ssh, either create a new on or use a existing one if you have used ssh previously. If you create a new PEM file, store it somewhere securely and do not lose it as it is needed to access the instance. You can access the instance by typing ssh -i <Location of your PEM file> ubuntu@<The public ip address of the instance>

Now a instance should be created and you can carry on to the Setting up the NOP section.

Custom Machine Image

You can launch an Ambrosus node from any cloud provider but you will have to install the prerequisites yourself. We will go through a clean installation on a DigitalOcean machine image.

Creating a Droplet

Create an account and log in. Press 'Droplets' and then 'Create Droplet'. Use the OS Ubuntu and then choose what machine preferences and which data center suits you. Then either create a SSH key which you will use to access the instance or if you do not choose one you will get a password to your email. Write a hostname that suits you and launch the instance.

Now lets setup a firewall for the instance to make sure the instance is accessible only through specific ports. Your instance should be launched and you should see it by pressing 'Droplets'. Click on the instance you launched and then press 'Networking' -> 'Manage Firewalls'. Add rules for the following ports according to the node you are running:

• Hermes & Atlas:
  • Port range: 80 Protocol: TCP
  • Port range: 443 Protocol: TCP
  • Port range: 30303 Protocol: TCP
  • Port range: 30303 Protocol: UDP
• Apollo:
  • Port range: 30303 Protocol: TCP
  • Port range: 30303 Protocol: UDP

The source can have the default values. When you have added the ports apply them to your droplet and then create the firewall.

Every cloud should have a similar setup.

Setting up the NOP

Important notice

To avoid issues with installation process, we strongly encourage you to use PC (not android or similar terminals) to install NOP.

Accessing the Virtual Machine

To access the instance type the following command:

Without SSH key

ssh root@<The instances IP address> Now enter the password that you received by Email from digital ocean.

With SSH key

ssh -i <The SSH key you specified> root@<The IP address>

Once you're logged in on your virtual machine, run the following commands (1 line per command):

wget https://nop.ambrosus.com/setup.sh

chmod +x setup.sh

1. Run ./setup.sh

Choose the necessary options:

• network (main);
• input already existing private key or create a new one;
• add IP URL of your droplet (Atlas only)
• enter your email

Enter manually the required sentence with your name in it (don’t forget to add period in the end of the sentence).

Afterwards wait till you get whitelisted

2. NB! Please note that you need to complete AMB transfer for your stake to get whitelisted.

First you need to connect Metamask to AMB-Net. Instructions are here https://medium.com/@vladtrifa/how-to-connect-to-amb-net-with-metamask-6964c71e217e. Your address in ETH network = your address in AMB network. Then you go to https://bridge.ambrosus.com and click "Transfer AMBs between networks”. Afterwards click “Metamask”, tick acknowledge and complete transfer.

Amount to transfer = X AMB (your desired stake amount)

• 100 AMB (bridge fee)
• 5 AMB (for challenge before first 28 days period)
• 0.1 ETH (fee for ETH-Net >> AMB-Net transfer)

You will be notified once your node gets whitelisted and afterwards you may proceed to step 3.

3. Once your node whitelisted

Run ./setup2.sh

Choose the necessary options on the menu;
Choose “Finish NOP” on menu.

You are successfully onboarded.

Contribution

We will accept contributions of good code that we can use from anyone. Please see CONTRIBUTION.md

Before you issue pull request:

• Make sure all tests pass.
• Make sure you have test coverage for any new features.

Troubleshooting

If you are having docker issues DigitalOcean has a indepth guide for installing docker.

Alternative community guide

There also detailed alternative intructions made by our community: https://www.reddit.com/r/ambrosus/comments/c8lnrf/mainnet_onboarding_guide/