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Stake Wars: Episode III. Challenge 002

  • Published on: 2022-07-13
  • Updated on: 2022-07-15
  • Submitted by: Open Shards Alliance
  • Rewards: 30 Unlocked NEAR Points (UNP)

This challenge is focused on deploying a node (nearcore), downloading a snapshot, syncing it to the actual state of the network, then activating the node as a validator.

Useful links

Wallet: https://wallet.shardnet.near.org/

Explorer: https://explorer.shardnet.near.org/

Setup your node

Server Requirements

Please see the hardware requirement below:

Hardware Chunk-Only Producer Specifications
CPU 8-Core CPU with AVX support
RAM >16GB DDR4 (recommended is 20+ GB)
Storage 500GB SSD

Install required software & set the configuration

Prerequisites:

Before you start, you may want to confirm that your machine has the right CPU features.

lscpu | grep -P '(?=.*avx )(?=.*sse4.2 )(?=.*cx16 )(?=.*popcnt )' > /dev/null \
  && echo "Supported" \
  || echo "Not supported"

Supported

Install developer tools:
sudo apt install -y git binutils-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev zlib1g-dev libdw-dev libiberty-dev cmake gcc g++ python3 docker.io protobuf-compiler libssl-dev pkg-config clang llvm cargo

If you have problems with installing python or docker.io on Ubuntu, try this command:

sudo apt install python3
sudo apt install docker-ce
Install Python pip:
sudo apt install python3-pip
Set the configuration:
USER_BASE_BIN=$(python3 -m site --user-base)/bin
export PATH="$USER_BASE_BIN:$PATH"
Install Building env
sudo apt install clang build-essential make
Install Rust & Cargo
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

You will see the following:

img

Press 1 and press enter.

Source the environment
source $HOME/.cargo/env

Clone nearcore project from GitHub

First, clone the nearcore repository.

git clone https://github.com/near/nearcore
cd nearcore
git fetch

Checkout to the commit needed. Please refer to the commit defined in this file.

git checkout <commit>

Compile nearcore binary

In the nearcore folder run the following commands:

cargo build -p neard --release --features shardnet

The binary path is target/release/neard. If you are seeing issues, it is possible that cargo command is not found. Compiling nearcore binary may take a little while.

Initialize working directory

In order to work properly, the NEAR node requires a working directory and a couple of configuration files. Generate the initial required working directory by running:

./target/release/neard --home ~/.near init --chain-id shardnet --download-genesis

img

This command will create the directory structure and will generate config.json, node_key.json, and genesis.json on the network you have passed.

  • config.json - Configuration parameters which are responsive for how the node will work. The config.json contains needed information for a node to run on the network, how to communicate with peers, and how to reach consensus. Although some options are configurable. In general validators have opted to use the default config.json provided.

  • genesis.json - A file with all the data the network started with at genesis. This contains initial accounts, contracts, access keys, and other records which represents the initial state of the blockchain. The genesis.json file is a snapshot of the network state at a point in time. In contacts accounts, balances, active validators, and other information about the network.

  • node_key.json - A file which contains a public and private key for the node. Also includes an optional account_id parameter which is required to run a validator node (not covered in this doc).

  • data/ - A folder in which a NEAR node will write it's state.

Replace the config.json

From the generated config.json, there two parameters to modify:

  • boot_nodes: If you had not specify the boot nodes to use during init in Step 3, the generated config.json shows an empty array, so we will need to replace it with a full one specifying the boot nodes.
  • tracked_shards: In the generated config.json, this field is an empty. You will have to replace it to "tracked_shards": [0]
rm ~/.near/config.json
wget -O ~/.near/config.json https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/build.nearprotocol.com/nearcore-deploy/shardnet/config.json

Run the node

To start your node simply run the following command:

cd ~/nearcore
./target/release/neard --home ~/.near run

img The node is now running you can see log outputs in your console. Your node should be find peers, download headers to 100%, and then download blocks.

Activating the node as validator

Authorize Wallet Locally

A full access key needs to be installed locally to be able to sign transactions via NEAR-CLI.

  • You need to run this command:
near login

Note: This command launches a web browser allowing for the authorization of a full access key to be copied locally.

1 – Copy the link in your browser

img

2 – Grant Access to Near CLI

img

3 – After Grant, you will see a page like this, go back to console

img

4 – Enter your wallet and press Enter

img

Check the validator_key.json
  • Run the following command:
cat ~/.near/validator_key.json

Note: If a validator_key.json is not present, follow these steps to create one

Create a validator_key.json

  • Generate the Key file:
near generate-key <pool_id>

<pool_id> ---> xx.factory.shardnet.near WHERE xx is you pool name

Pool will be created at the next task, now you can give the same name as your wallet name
For example :
wallet name : john.shardnet.near (in future we will call it ) pool name : john.factory.shardnet.near
Please use the same pool name for next task "Mount your Staking Pool"

  • Copy the file generated to shardnet folder: Make sure to replace <pool_id> by your pool name
cp ~/.near-credentials/shardnet/YOUR_WALLET.json ~/.near/validator_key.json
  • Edit “account_id” => xx.factory.shardnet.near, where xx is your PoolName
  • Change private_key to secret_key

Note: The account_id must match the staking pool contract name or you will not be able to sign blocks.\

File content must be in the following pattern:

{
  "account_id": "xx.factory.shardnet.near",
  "public_key": "ed25519:HeaBJ3xLgvZacQWmEctTeUqyfSU4SDEnEwckWxd92W2G",
  "secret_key": "ed25519:****"
}
Start the validator node
target/release/neard run
  • Setup Systemd Command:
sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/neard.service

Paste:

[Unit]
Description=NEARd Daemon Service

[Service]
Type=simple
User=<USER>
#Group=near
WorkingDirectory=/home/<USER>/.near
ExecStart=/home/<USER>/nearcore/target/release/neard run
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=30
KillSignal=SIGINT
TimeoutStopSec=45
KillMode=mixed

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Note: Change USER to your paths

Command:

sudo systemctl enable neard

Command:

sudo systemctl start neard

If you need to make a change to service because of an error in the file. It has to be reloaded:

sudo systemctl reload neard
Watch logs

Command:

journalctl -n 100 -f -u neard

Make log output in pretty print

Command:

sudo apt install ccze

View Logs with color

Command:

journalctl -n 100 -f -u neard | ccze -A

Becoming a Validator

In order to become a validator and enter the validator set, a minimum set of success criteria must be met.

  • The node must be fully synced
  • The validator_key.json must be in place
  • The contract must be initialized with the public_key in validator_key.json
  • The account_id must be set to the staking pool contract id
  • There must be enough delegations to meet the minimum seat price. See the seat price here.
  • A proposal must be submitted by pinging the contract
  • Once a proposal is accepted a validator must wait 2-3 epoch to enter the validator set
  • Once in the validator set the validator must produce great than 90% of assigned blocks

Check running status of validator node. If “Validator” is showing up, your pool is selected in the current validators list.

Let's go to challenge 3 🚀

Mount your Staking Pool.

Update log

Updated 2022-07-13: Creation

Updated 2022-07-13: Creation

Updated 2022-07-18: Snapshot is not required after hardfork

Updated 2022-07-20: Clarified the rewards for solving the challenge