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Dual Node Shared Host

There are many reason a person would want to run multiple versions of the node software on a single host. This could be to aid in development of on-chain tooling, to use the local nodes to create a new tool or to test broadcasting multiple scripted transactions on a test network before actually sending real funds.

This tutorial will cover installing both Mainnet and Testnet QRL Nodes on a single host PC running Ubuntu.

Mainnet Node Setup​

It is assumed that you have a working installation of Ubuntu 20.04 and have followed the guides for installing a mainnet node on Ubuntu.

You can verify that the node is running and check it's syncing status by running the following command qrl --json state. 

{
  "info": {
    "blockHeight": "1824551",
    "blockLastHash": "zwDD8TaIr/bWq6W1wCISo8GO3jZkdOlcpuhU8wAAAAA=",
    "networkId": "The sleeper must awaken",
    "numConnections": 23,
    "numKnownPeers": 70,
    "state": "SYNCED",
    "uptime": "257106",
    "version": "2.1.2 python"
  }
}

This command has called the installed QRL node software and requested the local nodes state information.

tip

To see where your local node is in blockheight, compare the "blockHeight": "1824551" to what The QRL Explorer shows.

Mainnet Node Ports​

We can see from a quick netstat query that we have open ports

netstat -tulnp
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address           Foreign Address         State       PID/Program name    
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:22              0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      -                   
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:19000           0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      111069/python3      
tcp6       0      0 :::80                   :::*                    LISTEN      -                   
tcp6       0      0 :::22                   :::*                    LISTEN      -                   
tcp6       0      0 :::19009                :::*                    LISTEN      111069/python3

We can see that the node is using the ports 19000 and 19009 for various functions.

  • Port 19000 is used for Peer to Peer communications and chain syncing.
  • Port 19009 is used for qrl command line functions and chain interaction through programming languages
    • Things like submitting a transaction or querying the node's state

Mainnet Node File Location​

Unless specified, the node will by default store all node related files in the users home directory.

ls /home/$USER/.qrl
banned_peers.qrl  data/  qrl.log

The data/state directory is where the state files are located "the blockchain" as well as the known peers list your node will use to sync blocks and transmit things with.

You can add a config file to the directory and restart the node to accept the custom configurations. That is exactly how we will run dual nodes on a single host.

Testnet Node​

Before we start the testnet node we need to set a few things up. First of all we do not need to install any more software. We already have a working qrl node, we simply need to give some additional configuration parameters to start using the testnet network.

The QRL node software comes with a bunch of functionality built in, including the ability to specify the network type for the node. This will grab a genesis file, create a config.yaml file and begin to sync the chain using the same ports as the mainnet node that is already running.

tip

Check out all of the functions with qrl --help or see the Node CLI Documentation

Generate Testnet Directory​

Run the following to create the directory and required files. 

start_qrl --network-type testnet

It will fail and give a giant error, disregard the error and check out the new testnet directory.

ls /home/$USER/.qrl-testnet

Testnet Ports​

Now we need to change the ports the testnet node is using to not clash with the already running node.

Edit the configuration file for the testnet node with a text editor, adding the following lines to the end of the file.

p2p_local_port: 19001
public_api_port: 19019

This sets the ports for the testnet node P2P functions to 19001 and the node API port to 19019.

To see the state of the testnet node we now need to specify the port to use.

qrl --json --port_pub 19019 state
{
  "info": {
    "blockHeight": "934180",
    "blockLastHash": "TTJxNqveqa5HzosKq6DtvVzRxjGA7rtUQgIIdtzqAgA=",
    "networkId": "The Random Genesis",
    "numConnections": 3,
    "numKnownPeers": 78,
    "state": "SYNCED",
    "uptime": "563",
    "version": "2.1.2 python"
  }
}

From this output you can see the testnet node is running, the blockheight is different form the mainnet node running and the networkID is different.

tip

Check the node blockHeight against the QRL Testnet Explorer

Final Thoughts​

You now have a dual node single host setup running, this will take some time to sync up to date with the chain. Simply add the port for the testnet node to any qrl commands to send it across the testnet network.

Overall this is a fairly simple thing to accomplish once you know the ports involved and how to configure them.

Never share mainnet and testnet addresses! OTS keys are to be used only ONE time