Simulate Production in Docker

Make sure you have everything you need before proceeding:

• You understand the concepts of production.
• Docker is installed.
• You have the checkers blockchain codebase with the CosmJS elements. If not, follow the previous steps or check out the relevant version (opens new window).

In this section, you will:

• Prepare Docker elements.
• Handle keys.
• Prepare blockchain nodes.
• Prepare a blockchain genesis.
• Compose the lot in one orchestrated ensemble.

Before you launch yourself fully into production, it would be interesting to simulate a set of independent nodes on your computer. This can be prepared and orchestrated with Docker Compose (opens new window).

Target setup

In order to mimic a real setup, find an objective on which to focus. Here the objective is:

• Three independent parties - Alice, Bob, and Carol.
• Two independent validator nodes, run by Alice and Bob respectively, that can only communicate with their own sentries and do not expose RPC endpoints.
• Additionally, Alice's validator node uses Tendermint Key Management System (TMKMS) on a separate machine.
• The two sentry nodes, run by Alice and Bob, expose endpoints to the world.
• A regular node, run by Carol, that can communicate with only the sentries and exposes endpoints for use by clients.

Docker elements

Before looking at the specific Compose elements, you need to define what the regular Docker elements are.

You will run containers. You can start by giving them meaningful names:

• Alice's containers: sentry-alice, val-alice, and kms-alice.
• Bob's containers: sentry-bob and val-bob.
• Carol's containers: node-carol.

Docker lets you simulate private networks. To meaningfully achieve the above target setup in terms of network separation, you use Docker's user-defined networks. This means:

• Alice's validator and key management system (KMS) are on their private network: name it net-alice-kms.
• Alice's validator and sentry are on their private network: name it net-alice.
• Bob's validator and sentry are on their private network: name it net-bob.
• There is a public network on which both sentries and Carol's node run: name it net-public.

Although every machine on the network is a bit different, in terms of Docker images there are only two image types:

1. The Tendermint nodes (validators, sentries, and regular nodes) will run checkersd within containers created from a single Docker image.
2. The Tendermint KMS node will run TMKMS from a different Docker image.

The node image

The node image contains, and runs by default, the checkers executable. You first have to compile it, and then build the image.

First, build the executable(s) that will be launched by Docker Compose within the Docker images. Depending on your platform, you will use checkersd-linux-amd64 or checkersd-linux-arm64.

Update your Makefile with:

Copy build-all: GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64 go build -o ./build/checkersd-linux-amd64 ./cmd/checkersd/main.go GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm64 go build -o ./build/checkersd-linux-arm64 ./cmd/checkersd/main.go GOOS=darwin GOARCH=amd64 go build -o ./build/checkersd-darwin-amd64 ./cmd/checkersd/main.go GOOS=darwin GOARCH=arm64 go build -o ./build/checkersd-darwin-arm64 ./cmd/checkersd/main.go do-checksum: cd build && sha256sum \ checkersd-linux-amd64 checkersd-linux-arm64 \ checkersd-darwin-amd64 checkersd-darwin-arm64 \ > checkers_checksum build-with-checksum: build-all do-checksum Makefile View source

If you have a CPU architecture that is neither amd64 nor arm64, update your Makefile accordingly.

If you copy-pasted directly into Makefile, do not forget to convert the spaces into tabs.

Now run either command:

---

Now include the relevant executable inside your production image. Create a new Dockerfile-ubuntu-prod with:

Copy FROM --platform=linux ubuntu:22.04 ARG BUILDARCH ENV LOCAL=/usr/local COPY build/checkersd-linux-${BUILDARCH} ${LOCAL}/bin/checkersd ENTRYPOINT [ "checkersd" ] Dockerfile-ubuntu-prod View source

Build the image with:

Copy $ docker build -f Dockerfile-ubuntu-prod . -t checkersd_i

Depending on your installed version of Docker, you may have to add the flags:

Copy --build-arg BUILDARCH=amd64

Or just manually replace ${BUILDARCH} with amd64 or whichever is your architecture.

Now you can run it:

Copy $ docker run --rm -it checkersd_i help

You should see a recognizable list of commands.

Each Docker container will run checkersd as root, which does not matter because it all happens in a container. Therefore, there is no need to create a specific additional user like you would in a serious production setting. For the same reason, there is also no need to create a service to launch it.

The key manager image

Alice runs the Tendermint Key Management System (opens new window) on a separate machine. You need to prepare its image. The image will contain the executable, which you have to compile from its Rust code.

There are several considerations to clarify:

• How will you build it?
• What device will store the key?
• What KMS version works with your node version?

The build step is a good opportunity to use a multi-stage Docker build (opens new window). With this technique:

1. You define a disposable image (the first stage) that clones the code and compiles it. This involves the download of Rust crates (i.e. packages). This image ends up being large but is then disposed of.
2. You define a slim image (the second stage) in which you only copy the compiled file. This is the image you keep for production. It ends up being small.

The disposable image needs to use Rust of at least version 1.56. Fortunately, there are ready-made Docker images. Pick rust:1.64.0 (opens new window).

Next, the executable needs to be compiled for the specific device onto which your key will be stored. You do not use hardware keys in this setup. So, when building it, you use the softsign extension (opens new window). This is achieved by adding the flag --features=softsign.

Finally, what version of the TMKMS should you compile? A given TMKMS version can work with a limited set of specific Tendermint versions. Find the Tendermint version of your checkers code with:

Copy $ grep tendermint/tendermint go.mod

It should return something like this:

Copy github.com/tendermint/tendermint v0.34.19

Because here it is version 0.34, it is a good idea to use the KMS from version 0.10.0 (opens new window) upwards. At the time of writing, version 0.12.2 still seems to support Tendermint v0.34. It is under the v0.12.2 (opens new window) tag on Github. Pick this one.

Having collected the requisites, you can create the multi-staged Docker image in a new Dockerfile-ubuntu-tmkms:

Copy FROM --platform=linux rust:1.64.0 AS builder RUN apt-get update RUN apt-get install libusb-1.0-0-dev --yes ENV LOCAL=/usr/local ENV RUSTFLAGS=-Ctarget-feature=+aes,+ssse3 ENV TMKMS_VERSION=v0.12.2 WORKDIR /root RUN git clone --branch ${TMKMS_VERSION} https://github.com/iqlusioninc/tmkms.git WORKDIR /root/tmkms RUN cargo build --release --features=softsign # The production image starts here FROM --platform=linux ubuntu:22.04 COPY --from=builder /root/tmkms/target/release/tmkms ${LOCAL}/bin ENTRYPOINT [ "tmkms" ] Dockerfile-ubuntu-tmkms View source

As you can see, the production stage is only three lines. Build the image as usual with:

Copy $ docker build -f Dockerfile-ubuntu-tmkms . -t tmkms_i:v0.12.2

Now run it:

Copy $ docker run --rm -it tmkms_i:v0.12.2

It returns you information about usage. You have just built the Tendermint Key Management System.

Blockchain elements

Each container needs access to its private information, such as keys, genesis, and database. To facilitate data access and separation between containers, create folders that will map as a volume to the default /root/.checkers or /root/tmkms inside containers. One for each container:

Copy $ mkdir -p docker/kms-alice $ mkdir -p docker/node-carol $ mkdir -p docker/sentry-alice $ mkdir -p docker/sentry-bob $ mkdir -p docker/val-alice $ mkdir -p docker/val-bob docker View source

For instance, when running a container for val-alice, you would create the volume mapping with a command like:

Copy $ docker run ... \ -v $(pwd)/docker/val-alice:/root/.checkers \ checkersd_i ...

And for the KMS, like so:

Copy $ docker run ... \ -v $(pwd)/docker/kms-alice:/root/tmkms \ tmkms_i:v0.12.2 ...

Basic initialization

Before you can change the configuration you need to initialize it. Do it on all nodes with this one-liner:

Copy $ echo -e node-carol'\n'sentry-alice'\n'sentry-bob'\n'val-alice'\n'val-bob \ | xargs -I {} \ docker run --rm -i \ -v $(pwd)/docker/{}:/root/.checkers \ checkersd_i \ init checkers

As a secondary effect, this also creates the first shot of config/genesis.json on every node, although you will start work with the one on val-alice.

Early decisions that you can make at this stage are:

• Deciding that the chain will be named checkers-1. It is a convention to append a number in case it has to go through a hard fork.
• Deciding that the staking denomination will be called upawn, which will be understood as 1 PAWN equals 1 million of upawn.

Do you need that many decimals? Yes and no. Depending on your version of the Cosmos SDK, there is a hard-coded value of base tokens that a validator has to stake, and the number is 10,000,000. If you do not have enough decimals, the human token would have to have a lot of zeroes.

The default initialization sets the base token to stake, so to get it to be upawn you need to make some changes:

1. In the authoritative config/genesis.json (opens new window) (val-alice's):

Copy $ docker run --rm -it \ -v $(pwd)/docker/val-alice:/root/.checkers \ --entrypoint sed \ checkersd_i \ -i 's/"stake"/"upawn"/g' /root/.checkers/config/genesis.json

Note how the command overrides the default checkersd entry point and replaces it with --entrypoint sed.

2. In all five config/app.toml (opens new window):

Copy $ echo -e node-carol'\n'sentry-alice'\n'sentry-bob'\n'val-alice'\n'val-bob \ | xargs -I {} \ docker run --rm -i \ -v $(pwd)/docker/{}:/root/.checkers \ --entrypoint sed \ checkersd_i \ -Ei 's/([0-9]+)stake/\1upawn/g' /root/.checkers/config/app.toml

Make sure that config/client.toml (opens new window) mentions checkers-1, the chain's name:

Copy $ echo -e node-carol'\n'sentry-alice'\n'sentry-bob'\n'val-alice'\n'val-bob \ | xargs -I {} \ docker run --rm -i \ -v $(pwd)/docker/{}:/root/.checkers \ --entrypoint sed \ checkersd_i \ -Ei 's/^chain-id = .*$/chain-id = "checkers-1"/g' \ /root/.checkers/config/client.toml

Keys

Some keys are created automatically, like the node keys (opens new window). For others, you have to create them yourself. You will create:

• The validator operator keys for Alice and Bob.
• The consensus keys, whether they stay on Bob's node or are kept inside Alice's KMS.

Start with the keys for the validators and Alice's KMS Tendermint key.

Validator operator keys

First, you need to create the two validators' operation keys. Such a key is not meant to stay on the node when it runs, it is meant to be used at certain junctures only, for instance, to stake on behalf of Alice (or Bob). Nonetheless, you are going to create them by running containers. Because you want to keep these keys inside and outside of containers, do the following:

1. Use the --keyring-backend file.
2. Keep them in the mapped volume with --keyring-dir /root/.checkers/keys.

Create the operator key for val-alice:

Copy $ docker run --rm -it \ -v $(pwd)/docker/val-alice:/root/.checkers \ checkersd_i \ keys \ --keyring-backend file --keyring-dir /root/.checkers/keys \ add alice

Use a passphrase you can remember. It does not need to be exceptionally complex as this is all a local simulation. This exercise uses password and stores this detail on file, which will become handy.

Copy $ echo -n password > docker/val-alice/keys/passphrase.txt docker val-alice keys passphrase.txt View source

Because with this prod simulation you care less about safety, so much less in fact, you can even keep the mnemonic on file too.

Do the same for val-bob:

Copy $ mkdir -p docker/val-bob/keys $ echo -n password > docker/val-bob/keys/passphrase.txt $ docker run --rm -it \ -v $(pwd)/docker/val-bob:/root/.checkers \ checkersd_i \ keys \ --keyring-backend file --keyring-dir /root/.checkers/keys \ add bob

Alice's consensus key on the KMS

To get the KMS to work, you have to:

• Prepare the KMS.
• Import Alice's consensus key into the KMS' softsign device.
• Have the KMS and the node talk to each other.

Prepare the KMS

As per the documentation (opens new window), initialize the KMS folder:

Copy $ docker run --rm -it \ -v $(pwd)/docker/kms-alice:/root/tmkms \ tmkms_i:v0.12.2 \ init /root/tmkms

In the newly-created kms-alice/tmkms.toml file:

1. Make sure that you use the right protocol version. In your case:

2. Pick an expressive name for the file that will contain the softsign key for val-alice:

3. Replace cosmoshub-3 with checkers-1, the name of your blockchain, wherever the former appears:

Import the consensus key

Now you need to import val-alice's consensus key in secrets/val-alice-consensus.key.

The private key will no longer be needed on val-alice. However, during the genesis creation Alice will need access to her consensus public key. Save it in a new pub_validator_key.json (opens new window) without any new line:

Copy $ docker run --rm -t \ -v $(pwd)/docker/val-alice:/root/.checkers \ checkersd_i \ tendermint show-validator \ | tr -d '\n' | tr -d '\r' \ > docker/val-alice/config/pub_validator_key.json

The consensus private key should not reside on the validator. You can simulate that by moving it out:

Copy $ mv docker/val-alice/config/priv_validator_key.json \ docker/kms-alice/secrets/priv_validator_key-val-alice.json

Import it into the softsign "device" as defined in tmkms.toml (opens new window):

Copy $ docker run --rm -i \ -v $(pwd)/docker/kms-alice:/root/tmkms \ -w /root/tmkms \ tmkms_i:v0.12.2 \ softsign import secrets/priv_validator_key-val-alice.json \ secrets/val-alice-consensus.key

On start, val-alice may still recreate a missing private key file due to how defaults are handled in the code. To prevent that, you can instead copy it from sentry-alice where it has no value.

Copy $ cp docker/sentry-alice/config/priv_validator_key.json \ docker/val-alice/config/

With the key created you now set up the connection from kms-alice to val-alice.

Set up the KMS connection

Choose a port unused on val-alice, for instance 26659, and inform kms-alice:

In the above, val-alice is the future network name of Alice's validator, and it will indeed be resolved to an IP address via Docker's internal DNS. In a real production setup, you would use a fully resolved IP address to avoid the vagaries of DNS.

Do not forget, you must inform Alice's validator that it should indeed listen on port 26659. In val-alice/config/config.toml:

Make it listen on an IP address that is within the KMS private network.

0.0.0.0 represents all addresses of the node. In a real production setup, you would choose the IP address of the network card that is on the network common with kms-alice.

• Make sure it will not look for the consensus key on file:

• Make sure it will not look for the consensus state file either, as this is taken care of by the KMS:

Before moving on, make sure that the validator still has a priv_validator_key.json because the code may complain if the file cannot be found. You can copy the key from sentry-alice, which does not present any risk:

Copy $ cp docker/sentry-alice/config/priv_validator_key.json \ docker/val-alice/config

Genesis

With the keys in you can start fleshing out the genesis, which is already created.

You need to:

1. Set up the chain ID.
2. Add the initial balances.
3. Add the initial validator stakes.
4. Distribute the genesis file to all relevant nodes.

Set up chain ID

Earlier you chose checkers-1, so you adjust it here too:

Initial balances

In this setup, Alice starts with 1,000 PAWN and Bob with 500 PAWN, of which Alice stakes 60 and Bob 40. With these amounts, the network cannot start if either of them is offline. Get their respective addresses:

Copy $ ALICE=$(echo password | docker run --rm -i \ -v $(pwd)/docker/val-alice:/root/.checkers \ checkersd_i \ keys \ --keyring-backend file --keyring-dir /root/.checkers/keys \ show alice --address)

Replace password with the passphrase you picked when creating the keys.

Have Alice add her initial balance in the genesis:

Copy $ docker run --rm -it \ -v $(pwd)/docker/val-alice:/root/.checkers \ checkersd_i \ add-genesis-account $ALICE 1000000000upawn

Now move the genesis file to val-bob. This mimics what would happen in a real-life setup:

Copy $ mv docker/val-alice/config/genesis.json \ docker/val-bob/config/

Have Bob add his own initial balance:

Copy $ BOB=$(echo password | docker run --rm -i \ -v $(pwd)/docker/val-bob:/root/.checkers \ checkersd_i \ keys \ --keyring-backend file --keyring-dir /root/.checkers/keys \ show bob --address) $ docker run --rm -it \ -v $(pwd)/docker/val-bob:/root/.checkers \ checkersd_i \ add-genesis-account $BOB 500000000upawn

Initial stakes

Alice and Bob both have initial stakes that they define via genesis transactions. You create them.

Bob's stake

Bob is not using the Tendermint KMS but instead uses the validator key on file. Bob appears in second position in app_state.accounts, so his account_number ought to be 1, but it is in fact written as 0, so you use 0:

Copy $ echo password | docker run --rm -i \ -v $(pwd)/docker/val-bob:/root/.checkers \ checkersd_i \ gentx bob 40000000upawn \ --keyring-backend file --keyring-dir /root/.checkers/keys \ --account-number 0 --sequence 0 \ --chain-id checkers-1 \ --gas 1000000 \ --gas-prices 0.1upawn

Again, insert Bob's chosen passphrase instead of password. Return the genesis to Alice:

Copy $ mv docker/val-bob/config/genesis.json \ docker/val-alice/config/

It is Alice's turn to add her staking transaction.

Alice's stake

Create Alice's genesis transaction using the specific validator public key that you saved on file, and not the key that would be taken from priv_validator_key.json by default (and is now missing):

Copy $ echo password | docker run --rm -i \ -v $(pwd)/docker/val-alice:/root/.checkers \ checkersd_i \ gentx alice 60000000upawn \ --keyring-backend file --keyring-dir /root/.checkers/keys \ --account-number 0 --sequence 0 \ --pubkey $(cat docker/val-alice/config/pub_validator_key.json) \ --chain-id checkers-1 \ --gas 1000000 \ --gas-prices 0.1upawn

It is useful to know this --pubkey method. If you were using a hardware key located on the KMS, this would be the canonical way of generating your genesis transaction.

Genesis assembly

With the two initial staking transactions created, have Alice include both of them in the genesis:

Copy $ cp docker/val-bob/config/gentx/gentx-* \ docker/val-alice/config/gentx $ docker run --rm -it \ -v $(pwd)/docker/val-alice:/root/.checkers \ checkersd_i collect-gentxs

As an added precaution, confirm that it is a valid genesis:

Copy $ docker run --rm -it \ -v $(pwd)/docker/val-alice:/root/.checkers \ checkersd_i \ validate-genesis

It should return:

Copy File at /root/.checkers/config/genesis.json is a valid genesis file

Genesis distribution

All the nodes that will run the executable need the final version of the genesis. Copy it across:

Network preparation

Because the validators are on a private network and fronted by sentries, you need to set up the configuration of each node so they can find each other; also to make sure that the sentries keep the validators' addresses private. What are the nodes' public keys? For instance, for val-alice, it is:

Copy $ docker run --rm -i \ -v $(pwd)/docker/val-alice:/root/.checkers \ checkersd_i \ tendermint show-node-id

This returns something like:

Copy f2673103417334a839f5c20096909c3023ba4903

Set up Alice's sentry

The nodes that have access to val-alice should know Alice's sentry by this identifier:

Copy f2673103417334a839f5c20096909c3023ba4903@val-alice:26656

Where:

• val-alice will be resolved via Docker's DNS.

• 26656 is the port as found in val-alice's configuration:

  Copy laddr = "tcp://0.0.0.0:26656" docker val-alice config config.toml View source

In the case of val-alice, only sentry-alice has access to it. Moreover, this is a persistent node. So you add it in sentry-alice's configuration:

Copy persistent_peers = "f2673103417334a839f5c20096909c3023ba4903@val-alice:26656" docker sentry-alice config config.toml View source

sentry-alice also has access to sentry-bob and node-carol, although these nodes should probably not be considered persistent. You will add them under "seeds". First, collect the same information from these nodes:

Copy $ docker run --rm -i \ -v $(pwd)/docker/sentry-bob:/root/.checkers \ checkersd_i \ tendermint show-node-id $ docker run --rm -i \ -v $(pwd)/docker/node-carol:/root/.checkers \ checkersd_i \ tendermint show-node-id

Eventually, in sentry-alice, you should have:

Copy seeds = "7009cc51174dce87c31f537fe8fed906349a27f4@sentry-bob:26656,8f1bafad62a4a1f8678214d96a8b2ae2ed140cf7@node-carol:26656" persistent_peers = "f2673103417334a839f5c20096909c3023ba4903@val-alice:26656" docker sentry-alice config config.toml View source

Before moving on to other nodes, remember that sentry-alice should keep val-alice secret. Set:

Copy private_peer_ids = "f2673103417334a839f5c20096909c3023ba4903" docker sentry-alice config config.toml View source

Other nodes

Repeat the procedure for the other nodes, taking into account their specific circumstances:

• val-alice's:

  Copy persistent_peers = "83144b58031953ad60eaccb0a790955450f1ddef@sentry-alice:26656" docker val-alice config config.toml View source

• val-bob's:

  Copy persistent_peers = "7009cc51174dce87c31f537fe8fed906349a27f4@sentry-bob:26656" docker val-bob config config.toml View source

• sentry-bob's:

  Copy seeds = "83144b58031953ad60eaccb0a790955450f1ddef@sentry-alice:26656,8f1bafad62a4a1f8678214d96a8b2ae2ed140cf7@node-carol:26656" persistent_peers = "1e0d99ccf83b49e7aca852e82074c8e7f0e99d73@val-bob:26656" private_peer_ids = "1e0d99ccf83b49e7aca852e82074c8e7f0e99d73" docker sentry-bob config config.toml View source

• node-carol's:

  Copy seeds = "83144b58031953ad60eaccb0a790955450f1ddef@sentry-alice:26656,7009cc51174dce87c31f537fe8fed906349a27f4@sentry-bob:26656" docker node-carol config config.toml View source

For the avoidance of doubt, sentry-alice has a different address depending on which node resolves the address:

• When it is resolved from val-alice, the resolution takes place in net-alice.
• When it is resolved from sentry-bob, the resolution takes place in net-public.

Open Carol's node

Carol created her node to open it to the public. Make sure that her node's RPC listens on all IP addresses:

Compose elements

You have prepared:

• The basic Docker elements
• The blockchain elements
• The network elements

Time to assemble them in Compose.

The executables that run

You define the different containers as services. Important elements to start with are:

• In container_name, you use names that make them intelligible and match the names you used in the above preparations.
• In image, you declare the Docker image to use.
• In command, you define the command to use when launching the image.

In a new docker-compose.yml (opens new window), write:

Copy version: "3.7" services: kms-alice: command: start --config /root/tmkms/tmkms.toml container_name: kms-alice image: tmkms_i:v0.12.2 val-alice: command: start container_name: val-alice image: checkersd_i sentry-alice: command: start container_name: sentry-alice image: checkersd_i val-bob: command: start container_name: val-bob image: checkersd_i sentry-bob: command: start container_name: sentry-bob image: checkersd_i node-carol: command: start container_name: node-carol image: checkersd_i

You are going to further refine the service definitions next, starting with the disk volumes.

The data each container needs

Each container needs to access its own private folder, prepared earlier, and only that folder. Declare the volume mappings:

Copy services: kms-alice: ... volumes: - ./docker/kms-alice:/root/tmkms val-alice: ... volumes: - ./docker/val-alice:/root/.checkers sentry-alice: ... volumes: - ./docker/sentry-alice:/root/.checkers val-bob: ... volumes: - ./docker/val-bob:/root/.checkers sentry-bob: ... volumes: - ./docker/sentry-bob:/root/.checkers node-carol: ... volumes: - ./docker/node-carol:/root/.checkers

The networks they run in

The user-defined networks need to mimic the desired separation of machines/containers can be self-explanatorily declared as:

Copy networks: net-alice-kms: net-alice: net-bob: net-public: docker-compose.yml View source

With the network declaration done, the associating of each computer to each network can be written as:

Copy services: kms-alice: ... networks: - net-alice-kms val-alice: ... networks: - net-alice-kms - net-alice sentry-alice: ... networks: - net-alice - net-public val-bob: ... networks: - net-bob sentry-bob: ... networks: - net-bob - net-public node-carol: ... networks: - net-public

Additional settings

The KMS connects to the node and can reconnect. So have val-alice start after kms-alice:

Copy services: val-alice: ... depends_on: - kms-alice docker-compose.yml View source

With all these computers on their Docker networks, you may still want to access one of them to query the blockchain, or to play games. In order to make your host computer look like an open node, expose Carol's node on all addresses of your host:

Copy services: node-carol: ... ports: - 0.0.0.0:26657:26657 docker-compose.yml View source

Launching Compose

After this long preparation, before launch, it could be a good time to make a Git commit so that you can restore easily.

You are now ready to start your setup with a name other than the folder it is running in:

Copy $ docker compose --project-name checkers-prod up --detach

At this point, it should be apparent that you need to update .gitignore. Add:

Copy build/ docker/*/config/addrbook.json docker/*/data/* !docker/*/data/priv_validator_state.json .gitignore View source

Note how priv_validator_state.json is necessary if you want to try again on another host, otherwise, it would be ignored by Git.

Interacting with Compose

Your six containers are running. To monitor their status, and confirm that they are running, use the provided Docker container interface.

Now you can connect to node-carol to start interacting with the blockchain as you would a normal node. For instance, to ask a simple status:

---

From this point on everything you already know how to do, such as connecting to your local node, applies.

Whenever you submit a transaction to node-carol, it will be propagated to the sentries and onward to the validators.

At this juncture, you may ask: Is it still possible to run a full game in almost a single block as you did earlier in the CosmJS integration tests? After all, when node-carol passes on the transactions as they come, it is not certain that the recipients will honor the order in which they were received. Of course, they make sure to order Alice's transactions, thanks to the sequence, as well as Bob's. But do they keep the A-B-A-B...order in which they were sent?

To find out:

• Update client/.env so that:

  • You connect within net-public to RPC_URL="http://node-carol:26657" (opens new window).
  • You use the Alice and Bob of this document as the CosmJS test Alice and Bob. Copy the content of docker/val-alice/keys/mnemonic-alice.txt into client/.env's MNEMONIC_TEST_ALICE (opens new window). Then do the same for Bob.
  • Update the ADDRESS_TEST_ALICE (opens new window) address to contain the correct ones, and repeat the same for Bob.

• Skip the call to the (Ignite) faucet by adding a return in the relevant before in the test file:

  Copy before("credit test accounts", async function () { return ... } test integration stored-game-action.ts View source

• Double all the timeouts. For instance:

  Copy this.timeout(10_000) // instead of 5_000 test integration stored-game-action.ts View source

• Text-replace all the token (opens new window) with upawn.

• Launch the lot within net-public:

  Copy $ docker run --rm -it \ -v $(pwd)/client:/client -w /client \ --network checkers-prod_net-public \ node:18.7 \ npm test

  Tests should pass. Should as in there is no protocol guarantee that they will, but it looks like they do.

Stopping Compose

To stop your whole setup, run:

Copy $ docker compose --project-name checkers-prod down

1

You may encounter an error such as:

Copy Error: error during handshake: error on replay: validator set is nil in genesis and still empty after InitChain

If encountering this or other errors, you may want to do a state reset on all nodes:

Copy $ echo -e node-carol'\n'sentry-alice'\n'sentry-bob'\n'val-alice'\n'val-bob \ | xargs -I {} \ docker run --rm -i \ -v $(pwd)/docker/{}:/root/.checkers \ checkersd_i \ tendermint unsafe-reset-all \ --home /root/.checkers

2

If one of your services (for example, sentry-bob) fails to start because it could not resolve one of the other containers, you can restart that service independently with:

Copy $ docker compose restart sentry-bob

3

If you want to get more detailed errors from your KMS, you can add a flag in its service definition:

Copy services: kms-alice: ... environment: - RUST_BACKTRACE=1

4

If you want to erase all states after a good run, and if you have a Git commit from which to restore the state files, you can create a new script (opens new window) for that.

synopsis

To summarize, this section has explored:

• How to prepare Docker images.
• How to prepare nodes for a simulated production setup.
• How to prepare a Tendermint Key Management System for a simulated production setup.
• How to prepare a blockchain genesis with multiple parties.
• How to launch all that with the help of Docker Compose.