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theoreticalbts edited this page Sep 10, 2015 · 1 revision

Setting up private testnet

Genesis creation

First, we'll create a genesis.json file named my-genesis.json:

mkdir -p genesis
programs/witness_node/witness_node --create-genesis-json genesis/my-genesis.json

The genesis.json is the initial state of the network.

Genesis editing

If you want to customize the network's initial state, edit my-genesis.json. This allows you to control things such as:

  • The accounts that exist at genesis, their names and public keys
  • Assets and their initial distribution (including core asset)
  • The initial values of chain parameters
  • The account / signing keys of the init witnesses (or in fact any account at all).

The chain ID is a hash of the genesis state. All transaction signatures are only valid for a single chain ID. So editing the genesis file will change your chain ID, and make you unable to sync with all existing chains (unless one of them has exactly the same genesis file you do).

For testing purposes, the --dbg-init-key option will allow you to quickly create a new chain against any genesis file, by replacing the witnesses' block production keys.

Embedding genesis (optional)

Once you have genesis.json, you may set a cmake variable like so:

cmake -DGRAPHENE_EGENESIS_JSON="$(pwd)/genesis/my-genesis.json"

and then rebuild. Note, sometimes I've had to clean the build and CMake cache variables in order for GRAPHENE_EGENESIS_JSON to take effect:

make clean
find . -name "CMakeCache.txt" | xargs rm -f
find . -name "CMakeFiles" | xargs rm -Rf
cmake -DGRAPHENE_EGENESIS_JSON="$(pwd)/genesis/my-genesis.json" .

Deleting caches will reset all cmake variables, so if you have used instructions like build-ubuntu which tells you to set other cmake variables, you will have to add those variables to the cmake line above.

Embedding the genesis copies the entire content of genesis.json into the witness_node binary, and additionally copies the chain ID into the cli_wallet binary. Embedded genesis allows the following simplifications to the subsequent instructions:

  • You need not specify the genesis.json file on the witness node command line, or in the witness node configuration file.

  • You need not specify the chain ID on the cli_wallet command line when starting a new wallet.

Embedded genesis is a feature designed to make life easier for consumers of pre-compiled binaries, in exchange for slight, optional complication of the process for producing binaries.

Creating data directory

We will a new data directory for our witness as follows:

programs/witness_node/witness_node --data-dir data/my-blockprod --genesis-json my-genesis.json

The data/my-blockprod directory does not exist, it will be created by the witness node.

Several messages will go to the console. When you see messages like these:

3501235ms th_a       main.cpp:165                  main                 ] Started witness node on a chain with 0 blocks.
3501235ms th_a       main.cpp:166                  main                 ] Chain ID is cf307110d029cb882d126bf0488dc4864772f68d9888d86b458d16e6c36aa74b

the initialization is complete, and you can press Ctrl+C to quit the witness node. (Note: Initialization will complete nearly instantaneously with the tiny example genesis, unless you added a ton of balances.)

The reason for running the witness node: It tells us the chain ID, and it initializes the data/my-blockprod directory.

Starting block production

Open data/my-blockprod/config.ini in your favorite text editor, and set the following settings, uncommenting them if necessary:

p2p-endpoint = 127.0.0.1:11010
rpc-endpoint = 127.0.0.1:11011

genesis-json = my-genesis.json

private-key = ["GPH6MRyAjQq8ud7hVNYcfnVPJqcVpscN5So8BhtHuGYqET5GDW5CV","5KQwrPbwdL6PhXujxW37FSSQZ1JiwsST4cqQzDeyXtP79zkvFD3"]

witness-id = "1.6.1"
witness-id = "1.6.2"
witness-id = "1.6.3"
witness-id = "1.6.4"
witness-id = "1.6.5"
witness-id = "1.6.6"
witness-id = "1.6.7"
witness-id = "1.6.8"
witness-id = "1.6.9"
witness-id = "1.6.10"
witness-id = "1.6.11"

This authorizes the witness_node to produce blocks on behalf of the listed witness-id's, and specifies the private key needed to sign those blocks. Normally each witness would be on a different node, but for the purposes of this testnet, we will start out with all witnesses signing blocks on a single node.

Now run witness_node again:

programs/witness_node/witness_node --data-dir data/my-blockprod --enable-stale-production

Note that we need not specify genesis.json on the command line, since we now specify it in the config file. The --enable-stale-production flag tells the witness_node to produce on a chain with zero blocks or very old blocks. We specify the --enable-stale-production parameter on the command line as we will not normally need it (although it can also be specified in the config file).

Subsequent runs which connect to an existing witness node over the p2p network, or which get blockchain state from an existing data directory, need not have the --enable-stale-production flag.

Obtaining the chain ID

Each wallet is specifically associated with a single chain, specified by its chain ID. This is to protect the user from e.g. unintentionally using a testnet wallet on the real chain.

The chain ID is printed at witness node startup. It can also be obtained by using the API to query a running witness node with the get_chain_properties API call:

curl --data '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "get_chain_properties", "params": [], "id": 1}' http://127.0.0.1:11011/rpc && echo

This curl command will return a short JSON object including the chain_id.

Creating a wallet

In order to create a wallet, you must specify a chain ID and server. With the witness node's default access control settings, a blank username and password will suffice:

programs/cli_wallet/cli_wallet --wallet-file my-wallet.json --chain-id cf307110d029cb882d126bf0488dc4864772f68d9888d86b458d16e6c36aa74b --server-rpc-endpoint ws://127.0.0.1:11011 -u '' -p ''

Note, since the genesis timestamp will likely be different, your chain ID will be different! Instead of cf3071110... you should use the chain ID reported by your witness_node. (See TODO:link for instructions.)

Before continuing, we should set a password. This password is used to encrypt the private keys in the wallet. We will use the word supersecret in this example.

set_password supersecret

Gaining access to stake

In Graphene, balances are contained in accounts. To claim an account that exists in the Graphene genesis, use the import_key command:

unlock supersecret
import_key nathan "5KQwrPbwdL6PhXujxW37FSSQZ1JiwsST4cqQzDeyXtP79zkvFD3"

Funds are stored in genesis balance objects. These funds can be claimed, with no fee, using the import_balance command.

import_balance nathan ["5KQwrPbwdL6PhXujxW37FSSQZ1JiwsST4cqQzDeyXtP79zkvFD3"] true

Creating accounts

Creating an account requires lifetime member (LTM) status. To upgrade to LTM, use the upgrade_account command:

upgrade_account nathan true

We can now register an account. The register_account command allows you to register an account using only a public key:

register_account alpha GPH4zSJHx7D84T1j6HQ7keXWdtabBBWJxvfJw72XmEyqmgdoo1njF GPH4zSJHx7D84T1j6HQ7keXWdtabBBWJxvfJw72XmEyqmgdoo1njF nathan nathan 0 true
transfer nathan alpha 100000 CORE "here is the cash" true

We can now open a new wallet for alpha user:

import_key alpha 5HuCDiMeESd86xrRvTbexLjkVg2BEoKrb7BAA5RLgXizkgV3shs
upgrade_account alpha true
create_witness alpha "http://www.alpha" true

The get_private_key command allows us to obtain the public key corresponding to the block signing key:

get_private_key GPH6viEhYCQr8xKP3Vj8wfHh6WfZeJK7H9uhLPDYWLGCRSj5kHQZM

Creating committee members

create_account_with_brain_key com0 com0 nathan nathan true
create_account_with_brain_key com1 com1 nathan nathan true
create_account_with_brain_key com2 com2 nathan nathan true
create_account_with_brain_key com3 com3 nathan nathan true
create_account_with_brain_key com4 com4 nathan nathan true
create_account_with_brain_key com5 com5 nathan nathan true
create_account_with_brain_key com6 com6 nathan nathan true
transfer nathan com0 100000 CORE "some cash" true
transfer nathan com1 100000 CORE "some cash" true
transfer nathan com2 100000 CORE "some cash" true
transfer nathan com3 100000 CORE "some cash" true
transfer nathan com4 100000 CORE "some cash" true
transfer nathan com5 100000 CORE "some cash" true
transfer nathan com6 100000 CORE "some cash" true
upgrade_account com0 true
upgrade_account com1 true
upgrade_account com2 true
upgrade_account com3 true
upgrade_account com4 true
upgrade_account com5 true
upgrade_account com6 true
create_committee_member com0 "http://www.com0" true
create_committee_member com1 "http://www.com1" true
create_committee_member com2 "http://www.com2" true
create_committee_member com3 "http://www.com3" true
create_committee_member com4 "http://www.com4" true
create_committee_member com5 "http://www.com5" true
create_committee_member com6 "http://www.com6" true
vote_for_committee_member nathan com0 true true
vote_for_committee_member nathan com1 true true
vote_for_committee_member nathan com2 true true
vote_for_committee_member nathan com3 true true
vote_for_committee_member nathan com4 true true
vote_for_committee_member nathan com5 true true
vote_for_committee_member nathan com6 true true

propose_parameter_change com0 {"block_interval" : 6} true