Run a Testnet Node

Hardware Requirements

The minimum and recommended requirements to run a Testnet Persistence Node increase as it produces more blocks and more features are added. Thus, there are no exact hardware requirements that are permanently sufficient. A testnet node should always have redundant resources available.

• Recommended:

  • 8 GB RAM

  • 100 GB SSD

  • 4 CPU

• Operating System:

  • Recommended: Linux(x86_64)

  • Others: Windows/MacOS(x86)

Prerequisites

To successfully run a Persistence Testnet Node, we need to install a few prerequirements. Because running the Persistence software depends on them, prerequirements are also known as dependencies.

We need to install and/or setup 5 dependencies - Go, jq, gcc, make, and git.

Install Go

Ubuntu

1. Remove any previous installation:

   rm -rf /usr/local/go

2. Add the Go PPA to Your System:

   First, add the longsleep/golang-backports PPA to your system. This repository contains the latest version of Go. You can add it by running the following command in your terminal:

   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:longsleep/golang-backports

3. Update Your Package List:

   After adding the PPA, update your package list to include the latest packages available in the repository:

   sudo apt update

4. Install Go:

   Now, install Go using the apt package manager. This command will install the latest version of Go available in the PPA:

   sudo apt install golang-go

5. Set Up Your Go Environment: After installation, set up your Go workspace and add Go binaries to your PATH. You can do this by adding the following lines to your ~/.profile file:

   echo "" >> ~/.profile
   echo "export GOPATH=$HOME/go" >> ~/.profile
   echo "export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin:$GOPATH/bin" >> ~/.profile
   source ~/.profile

6. Verify the Installation:

   Finally, verify that Go has been installed correctly by checking its version. You should see the latest version of Go as the output:

   go version

macOS

1. Install Homebrew (if not already installed): If you don't have Homebrew on your macOS, you need to install it first. Visit the Homebrew website for installation instructions.
2. Install Go using Homebrew: Open a terminal and run the following command:

   brew install go

3. To ensure Go is installed correctly, check its version. In the terminal, type:

   go version

Install jq, git, gcc, and make

1. Install:

   • Ubuntu: apt install jq git gcc make

   • macOS: brew install jq git gcc make

2. Verify Installations:

   • Verify jq: jq --version (sample output: jq-1.6)

   • Verify gcc : gcc --version (sample output: gcc (Ubuntu 9.4.0-1ubuntu1~20.04.1) 9.4.0)

   • Verify make: make --version (sample output: GNU Make 4.2.1)

   • Verify git: git --version (sample output: git version 2.25.1)

Installation Steps

Install the persistenceCore Binary

Note The latest version available in the releases page might not be the one running on the test-core-2 chain. To ensure you're running the correct version, join the Discord Testnet Validator Announcements Channel.

1. Clone the persistenceCore repository:

   git clone https://github.com/persistenceOne/persistenceCore.git $GOPATH/source/persistenceCore && cd $GOPATH/source/persistenceCore

2. Check what version is running on the test-core-2 chain by visiting the Discord Testnet Validators Announcements Channel.
3. Switch to the branch of the latest version (v6.0.0-rc5 as of time of writing):

   git checkout v6.0.0-rc5

4. Install the persistenceCore binary:

   make all

5. Verify installation (sample output: v6.0.0-rc5):

   persistenceCore version

Create or Import Key (XPRT Address)

• Create key (ensure you safely store the mnemonic seed phrase):

  persistenceCore keys add <KEY_NAME>

• Recover key (you'll be required to input your mnemonic seed phrase):

  persistenceCore keys add <KEY_NAME> --recover

• Verify the key was created successfully:

  persistenceCore keys list

Create and Sync the Node

1. Initialize the node (moniker = node name):

   persistenceCore init <MONIKER> --chain-id="test-core-2" # e.g. persistenceCore init "Persistence Node" --chain-id="test-core-2"

2. Download the test-core-2 genesis file:

   wget -O genesis.json https://raw.githubusercontent.com/persistenceOne/networks/master/test-core-2/genesis.json

3. Use StateSync to sync with the rest of the nodes. Follow the step-by-step guide below:

   • Run the following command and copy the values of trust_height and trust_hash. They are required in the next steps.

     curl -s https://persistence-testnet-rpc.cosmonautstakes.com/status | jq '.result .sync_info | {trust_height: .latest_block_height, trust_hash: .latest_block_hash} | values'

   • Open config:

     nano ~/.persistenceCore/config/config.toml

   • Replace the existing settings in the opened file with the following:

     [p2p]
     seeds = "[e-mail]:26656"
     
     persistent_peers = "14ecdc5126ea8d93c7d3a863d9d38e380e46fc06@185.225.233.30:26656"
     
     [statesync]
     enable = true
     rpc_servers = "https://persistence-testnet-rpc.cosmonautstakes.com:443,https://persistence-testnet-rpc.cosmonautstakes.com:443"
     trust_height = XXXXXXX # Replace with the value copied in the previous step
     trust_hash = "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" # Replace with the value copied in the previous step
     trust_period = "112h0m0s"

   • Make sure you replace trust_height and trust_hash values with the ones you've copied in the previous step.

   Note: For an automated script for StateSync, follow the instructions on this link. Refer to peers here: peers.json . For additional helpful values like seeds, refer here: polkachu .
4. Open the app.toml file (application-related configuration file):

   nano ~/.persistenceCore/config/app.toml

5. Change minimum-gas-prices to minimum-gas-prices = "0.005uxprt"

6. Start the node:

   persistenceCore start

7. Because we used StateSync to sync with the other nodes, it shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to complete. In the meantime, a lot of output messages will pop one after another.

8. When the node is completely synced, you should observe a similar output:

   11:28PM INF received complete proposal block hash=AE7196316065BC778E2BA5AFD1626C06CA2113B4F67DB2F4052B98700FD4B982 height=9305912 module=consensus
   11:28PM INF finalizing commit of block hash={} height=9305912 module=consensus num_txs=0 root=7B6B6A7C6D2CC68F266086794995E52F321B69FCA9530220093C47EC383278D0
   11:28PM INF minted coins from module account amount=8173386uxprt from=mint module=x/bank
   11:28PM INF executed block height=9305912 module=state num_invalid_txs=0 num_valid_txs=0
   11:28PM INF commit synced commit=436F6D6D697449447B5B3235312031313220323236203434203735203139322031362036312031373620373020323138203130332031383220313233203134302032332031353620313032203133392033342031393020323220343920313230203137322038203130372032313720313835203135322038332036345D3A3844464633387D
   11:28PM INF committed state app_hash=FB70E22C4BC0103DB046DA67B67B8C179C668B22BE163178AC086BD9B9985340 height=9305912 module=state num_txs=0
   11:28PM INF indexed block exents height=9305912 module=txindex

   Alternatively, you can use the following command (response must be false):

   curl http://localhost:26657/status | jq -r ".result.sync_info.catching_up"

Node operations

Run your node in the background

Upgrade the Node's Software

Using Cosmovisor

Manually swap binaries