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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.skale.space/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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.

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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

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Node Network Requirements

  • Ports 80, 443, 3009, and 10000–18192, and ICMP IPv4 should not be closed by any firewall software.
Firewall setup is a part of skale binary. Any custom configuration may break or reduce the security of the system.

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Node Software Prerequisites

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

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From Fresh Machine

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

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SKALE Archive Node Implementation

Before proceeding, notify the core team of the IP address of your archive node. It’s suggested to use an elastic IP for the whitelisted IP address.
  1. Download sync-node-cli tool
    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
    # 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:
    chmod +x /usr/local/bin/skale
  4. Test the installation
    sudo skale --help
  5. Prepare .env file:
    CONTAINER_CONFIGS_STREAM="2.2.1-sync"
ENDPOINT=[YOUR GETH/INFURA ENDPOINT]
IMA_CONTRACTS_ABI_URL=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/skalenetwork/concepts/master/releases/mainnet/IMA/1.5.0/mainnet/abi.json
MANAGER_CONTRACTS_ABI_URL=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/skalenetwork/concepts/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=[SKALE Chain NAME FOR YOUR ARCHIVE NODE]
    ENFORCE_BTRFS=True formats your attached device as btrfs even if there is another filesystem. Backup the storage before running the command.
  6. Init archive node:
    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).

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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: 
sudo skale ssl upload -c $PATH_TO_CERT_FILE -k $PATH_TO_KEY_FILE
To check the status of your certs run: 
sudo skale ssl status
Once certs are uploaded, HTTPS/WSS endpoints should become available for your chain.

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Update archive node

Update archive SKALE node on current machine 
sudo skale sync-node update [ENV_FILEPATH]
Options:
  • --yes - update without additional confirmation
Arguments:
  • ENV_FILEPATH - path to env file where parameters are defined
You can just update a file with environment variables used during sudo skale sync-node init.