Ansible Avalanche Roles

Ansible roles to bootstrap Avalanche validators, create subnets and blockchains.

Disclaimer

This project is a work in progress. It is provided as is without any guaranty.

Usage

Vagrant environment

2 Vagrant environments are available:

• local: 5 VMs (RAM = 1 GB, CPU = 2) to bootstrap a local test network
• fuji: 1 VM (RAM = 8 GB, CPU = 4) to bootstrap a Fuji (testnet) validator

To switch environment, use symlinks. E.g. to use the local setup:

# Link Vagrantfile to Vagrantfile.local
ln -sf Vagrantfile.local Vagrantfile

# Create/start the VMs
vagrant up

Note: The fuji Vagrant environment is provided as an example. I do not recommand to run a Fuji validator on such a small VM on your PC.

Custom remote server

To run the playbooks on custom servers (I use this to provision my Fuji validator) create a hosts file in remote/:

mkdir -p remote
echo "validator01 ansible_host=$IP_ADDRESS ansible_user=root" > remote/myvalidator.hosts

Provisioning

Local test network

1. Set Ansible inventory to local

   export ANSIBLE_INVENTORY=ansible/inventory/local.hosts

2. Install + configure avalanchego

   ansible-playbook ansible/bootstrap-local-network.yml

3. Create a subnet with 3 validators

   ansible-playbook ansible/create-subnet.yml

4. Manual step: add the new subnet ID to whitelisted_subnets list in bootstrap-local-network.yml

5. Rerun the bootstrap-local-network.yml playbook (to validate the new subnet)

   ansible-playbook ansible/bootstrap-network.yml

6. Create a blockchain in the new subnet

   1. Compile the VM and add the VM binary in ansible/files/plugins

   2. Run the playbook

      # Timestamp VM
      ansible-playbook ansible/create-timestamp-blockchain.yml
      
      # Subnet EVM
      ansible-playbook ansible/create-evm-blockchain.yml

Fuji validator

1. Set Ansible inventory to fuji

   # Local VM
   export ANSIBLE_INVENTORY=ansible/inventory/fuji.hosts
   
   # Or custom remote hosts
   export ANSIBLE_INVENTORY=remote/myvalidator.hosts

2. Install + configure avalanchego

   ansible-playbook ansible/bootstrap-fuji-validator.yml

TO DO

• Create an Ansible collection to distribute the roles
• Check that a subnet with the same validators does not already exist before creation and prompt for confirmation
• Check that a blockchain using the same VM does not already exist before creation and prompt for confirmation
• Secure fund private key in vault
• Always recreate chain aliases on startup