Run a node on a server with Ubuntu on Testnet#

This guide describes how organizations can run a node on the Concordium network from a server and how to set up the node to run as a baker node.

You can also watch the video to learn how to run a node with Ubuntu.

Prerequisites#

  • Ubuntu 20.04 or 22.04 must be installed on the server that is running the node.

  • The server must be running around the clock.

  • If you want to run the node as a baker, you must have generated baker keys. You can generate the keys in the Desktop Wallet or Concordium Client.

Install the Debian package and run a node#

To run the node, you must install a Debian package. After installation, the concordium-testnet-node and concordium-testnet-node-collector services will be started. The services are also enabled to start automatically on system start.

  1. Download the Debian package

  2. Install the package:

    $sudo apt install /path-to-downloaded-package

    Where path-to-downloaded-package is the location of the downloaded .deb file.

    The path should be absolute, e.g., ./concordium-testnet-node.deb, otherwise apt will assume that you want to install a package from the registry.

  1. Enter a node name when prompted. The node name is visible on the network dashboard. When you have installed the services, the concordium-testnet-node will be running automatically.

  2. To verify that the node is running, go to the Concordium dashboard and look for a node with the name you provided.

The concordium-testnet-node service that you just installed will be running around the clock, except if you’re going to restart the node with baker keys.

Note

If you want more detailed information about building and maintaining a node, or if your node is not running, see the Building .deb packages for ubuntu distributions README from Concordium

Enable inbound connections#

If you are running your node behind a firewall, or behind your home router, then you will probably only be able to connect to other nodes, but other nodes will not be able to initiate connections to your node. This is perfectly fine, and your node will fully participate in the Concordium network. It will be able to send transactions and, if so configured, to bake and finalize.

However you can also make your node an even better network participant by enabling inbound connections. By default, concordium-node listens on port 8889 for inbound connections on Testnet. Depending on your network and platform configuration you will need to forward an external port to 8889 on your router, open it in your firewall, or both. The details of how this is done will depend on your configuration.

Synchronize a node with the network#

If the node is well behind the head of the chain, you can speed up the startup by using out-of-band catchup.

  1. Stop the node if it is running

$sudo systemctl stop concordium-testnet-node.service

  1. Edit the node service configuration file

$sudo systemctl edit concordium-testnet-node.service

  1. Add the following under the [Service] section (create the section if it does not exist)

Environment=CONCORDIUM_NODE_CONSENSUS_DOWNLOAD_BLOCKS_FROM=https://catchup.testnet.concordium.com/blocks.idx

  1. Start the service again

$sudo systemctl start concordium-testnet-node.service

After the node is caught up remove the out of band catchup configuration to speed up further node restarts.

For node versions 4.3.0 or earlier#

If you are running the node version 4.3.0 or earlier, catchup up out-of-band requires you to download the catchup data manually.

  1. Download testnet blocks from catchup.testnet.concordium.com. The remaining steps assume that the file is stored in ~/Downloads/blocks_to_import.mdb.

  2. Stop the node if it is running

$sudo systemctl stop concordium-testnet-node.service

  1. Edit the node service configuration file

$sudo systemctl edit concordium-testnet-node.service

  1. Add the following under the [Service] section (create the section if it does not exist)

Environment=CONCORDIUM_NODE_CONSENSUS_IMPORT_BLOCKS_FROM=%S/concordium-4221332d34e1694168c2a0c0b3fd0f273809612cb13d000d5c2e00e85f50f796/blocks_to_import.mdb
BindReadOnlyPaths=~/Downloads/blocks_to_import.mdb:%S/concordium-4221332d34e1694168c2a0c0b3fd0f273809612cb13d000d5c2e00e85f50f796/blocks_to_import.mdb

  1. Start the service again

$sudo systemctl start concordium-testnet-node.service

After the node is caught up remove the out of band catchup configuration to speed up further node restarts.

Upgrade version#

Note

When upgrading, you can only upgrade one minor version at a time, or from the last release of major version X to major version X+1. You cannot skip versions. For patches, you can skip versions e.g. X.X.0 to X.X.3, or X.1.1 to X.2.3. To download previous node versions, see Previous node versions.

To upgrade to a newer version of the concordium-testnet-node package you need to:

  • Install the new package

    $apt install ./concordium-testnet-node_(version)_amd64.deb

    This step performs automatic database migration, so that the new node doesn’t have to catch up from scratch. After installation is completed, the node and the collector are started as before.

Run a baker node on Ubuntu#

For information about how to configure a node to run as a baker, see Run a baker node on Ubuntu.

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