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Archive Node

Within the realm of nodes, there are distinct types tailored for specific purposes. For instance, archive nodes specialize in storing comprehensive historical data of the blockchain and providing it upon request.

This sets them apart from full nodes, which focus on recent blockchain states, and light nodes, primarily reliant on data from full nodes.

Archive nodes build archival blockchain data quickly and efficiently, and they’re useful for querying arbitrary historical data, like a user’s balances on a specific block.

General Steps

  1. Provision a machine.
  2. Notify core team of IP/IPs range (x.x.x.x:x.x.x.x) and SKALE Chain for archive.
  3. Complete archive node setup.
  • A Linux x86_64 machine
  • Ubuntu 20.04
  • 4 physical cores
  • 16GB RAM
  • 100GB root storage
  • 2TB attached storage

Node Network Requirements

  • Ports 80, 443, 3009, and 10000–18192, and ICMP IPv4 should not be closed by any firewall software.

Node Software Prerequisites

  • 8GB Swap
  • docker
  • docker-compose → 1.29.2
  • iptables-persistent, btrfs-progs, lsof, lvm2, psmisc, and apt packages

From Fresh Machine

Terminal window
sudo apt-get update


# Install Docker and Docker-compose
sudo apt-get install docker.io
sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.29.2/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose


# Install other dependencies
sudo apt install iptables-persistent btrfs-progs lsof lvm2 psmisc


# Setup Swapfile
sudo fallocate -l 8G /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile
sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bak
echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

SKALE Archive Node Implementation

  1. Download sync-node-cli tool
    Terminal window
    VERSION_NUM=2.3.0-sync-node.1 && sudo -E bash -c "curl -L https://github.com/skalenetwork/node-cli/releases/download/$VERSION_NUM/skale-$VERSION_NUM-`uname -s`-`uname -m`-sync >  /usr/local/bin/skale"
  2. Verify checksum
    Terminal window
    # sha512sum /usr/local/bin/skale
    

    b35d88fba1269f859a996a1fefd9520e30f965c092d3ba716f8d7dd88694b821dc225641f75a60cef2364d0fbeb986d314f592fe4b4238c716acf0834d2d6146  /home/ubuntu/dist/skale-2.3.0-sync-node.1-Linux-x86_64-sync
  3. Apply executable permissions to the downloaded binary:
    Terminal window
    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/skale
  4. Test the installation
    Terminal window
    sudo skale --help
  5. Prepare .env file:
    Terminal window
    CONTAINER_CONFIGS_STREAM="2.2.1-sync"
    ENDPOINT=[YOUR GETH/INFURA ENDPOINT]
    IMA_CONTRACTS_ABI_URL=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/skalenetwork/skale-network/master/releases/mainnet/IMA/1.5.0/mainnet/abi.json
    MANAGER_CONTRACTS_ABI_URL=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/skalenetwork/skale-network/master/releases/mainnet/skale-manager/1.9.3/skale-manager-1.9.3-mainnet-abi.json
    DISK_MOUNTPOINT=[The second disk /dev/sdb or /dev/xvdb (this is an example. You just need to use your 2TB block device)]
    DOCKER_LVMPY_STREAM="1.0.2-stable.0"
    ENFORCE_BTRFS=True/False
    ENV_TYPE="mainnet"
    SCHAIN_NAME=[SCHAIN NAME FOR YOUR ARCHIVE NODE]
  6. Init archive node:
    Terminal window
    sudo skale sync-node init --archive --catchup --historic-state [ENV_FILE_PATH]

    . Wait until your archive node will be inited. . After the node is successfully inited, wait until chain container will download the snapshot and starts catchup blocks (usually 15–30 minutes).

Setup SSL certs

Node SSL certificates support secure communication with chain endpoints. By default, each node of a SKALE Chain listens on HTTP and WS ports. If SSL certs exist on the node, then HTTPS and WSS ports are also turned on.

To upload SSL certs to the node run:

Terminal window
sudo skale ssl upload -c $PATH_TO_CERT_FILE -k $PATH_TO_KEY_FILE

To check the status of your certs run:

Terminal window
sudo skale ssl status

Once certs are uploaded, HTTPS/WSS endpoints should become available for your chain.

Update archive node

Update archive SKALE node on current machine

Terminal window
sudo skale sync-node update [ENV_FILEPATH]

Options:

  • --yes - update without additional confirmation

Arguments:

  • ENV_FILEPATH - path to env file where parameters are defined