Migrate SKALE Node with SGXWallet to New Server

This guide provides instructions for migrating a SKALE node and SGXWallet to a new server following the recommended migration process.

Prerequisites

Before starting the migration, ensure you have:

Access to both the current and new servers
Administrative privileges on both systems
Secure network connection between servers

Make sure backup is created before starting migration. You can use the skale node backup . command to create a backup of your current node and save sgx_data folder for SGX wallet as well as sgxwallet_backup_key.txt

Migration Steps

Migrate SGX

Set up the new SGX server

Prepare a new server with:

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)
SGX-enabled Intel processor
8 physical cores
16 GB RAM
200 GB disk mounted as /
Swap size equal to half of the RAM size

Install the packages required for SGX

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y
sudo apt-get install -y docker.io docker-compose-plugin
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential make cmake gcc g++ yasm python libprotobuf10 flex bison automake libtool texinfo libgcrypt20-dev libgnutls28-dev
sudo apt-get install -y docker
sudo apt-get install -y libelf-dev cpuid

After installing Docker, make sure that the live-restore option is enabled in /etc/docker/daemon.json. See the Docker documentation for more information.

Verify that the processor supports Intel SGX

cpuid | grep SGX:

Expected output:

SGX: Software Guard Extensions supported = true

Disable automatic updates

Only update the SGXWallet server when critical security fixes are available. SGXWallet uses low-level technology, and kernel updates may break the system. SGX is currently tested on 5.15* kernels, so avoid minor kernel updates as well.Prevent apt update from updating the kernel:

sudo apt-mark hold linux-generic linux-image-generic linux-headers-generic

If you configured unattended upgrades, add the following lines to /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades to prevent automatic kernel updates:

Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist {
        "linux-generic";
        "linux-image-generic";
        "linux-headers-generic";
};

Configure the firewall

Configure the firewall between the SGXWallet and node servers.

Download the SGXWallet source code

Clone the SGXWallet repository:

git clone https://github.com/skalenetwork/sgxwallet/
cd sgxwallet
git checkout stable

Enable SGX on the new server

The SGXWallet repository includes the sgx_enable utility. Run it to enable SGX:

sudo ./sgx_enable

Install the SGX driver:

cd scripts
sudo ./sgx_linux_x64_driver_2.11.b6f5b4a.bin
cd ..

Reboot your machine after installing the driver.

Check the driver installation by confirming that the isgx device is available:

ls /dev/isgx /dev/sg0

If you don’t see the isgx device, follow the SGX driver troubleshooting guide.

Copy the SGXWallet data to the new server

Securely transfer the SGXWallet data from the old server:

# On the old server, create the backup
tar -czf sgx_data_backup.tar.gz -C sgxwallet/run_sgx sgx_data

# Transfer the backup to the new server
scp sgx_data_backup.tar.gz user@new-server:/path/to/transfer/

# On the new server, extract the backup to the correct location
cd sgxwallet/run_sgx
tar -xzf /path/to/transfer/sgx_data_backup.tar.gz

After uploading the backup to the new server, make sure that sgxwallet_backup_key.txt is stored in sgx_data.

Set the image version and backup flag

Edit sgxwallet/run_sgx/docker-compose.yml:

Change the image version to skalenetwork/sgxwallet:1.9.0-stable.4.
Add -b to the existing command section. Do not replace the entire command.

Start SGXWallet

cd sgxwallet/run_sgx
docker-compose up -d

# Verify that SGXWallet is running
docker-compose ps
docker-compose logs

Migrate Node

Set up the new node server

Prepare a new server with:

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish)
8 physical cores
32 GB RAM
100 GB disk mounted as /
2 TB additional disk (not mounted)

Install the packages required for the node

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y
sudo apt-get install -y docker.io docker-compose-plugin nftables

After installing Docker, make sure that the live-restore option is enabled in /etc/docker/daemon.json. See the Docker documentation for more information.

Disable automatic updates

The SKALE node is currently tested on 5.15* kernels, so avoid minor kernel updates as well.Prevent apt update from updating the kernel:

sudo apt-mark hold linux-generic linux-image-generic linux-headers-generic

If you configured unattended upgrades, add the following lines to /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/50unattended-upgrades to prevent automatic kernel updates:

Unattended-Upgrade::Package-Blacklist {
        "linux-generic";
        "linux-image-generic";
        "linux-headers-generic";
};

Back up the node on the old server

skale node backup .

This creates a backup tarball, such as skale-node-backup-YYYY-MM-DD-HHMMSS.tar.gz.

Copy the backup and configuration to the new server

scp skale-node-backup-*.tar.gz user@new-server:/path/to/new/location/
scp .env user@new-server:/path/to/new/location/

Download node-cli

curl -L https://github.com/skalenetwork/node-cli/releases/download/2.6.2/skale-2.6.2-Linux-x86_64 > /usr/local/bin/skale
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/skale

# Verify the installation
skale --version

Restore the node from the backup

Navigate to the directory that contains the backup tarball, then restore the node:

skale node restore skale-node-backup-*.tar.gz .env

Keep the old server running until you’ve fully verified the new setup is working correctly. This allows for quick rollback if needed.

Validators

Network Releases

Passive Nodes

Node CLI

Validator CLI

Watchdog

Migrate SKALE Node with SGXWallet to New Server

Prerequisites

Migration Steps

Migrate SGX

Migrate Node

​Prerequisites

​Migration Steps

​Migrate SGX

​Migrate Node

Prerequisites

Migration Steps

Migrate SGX

Migrate Node