This document will guide you through setting up a full node. Full nodes replicate every consensus-confirmed block, validating its contents and ensuring network security while providing a local cache of the entire blockchain state. Running a full node helps contribute to the security and (read) performance of the network.
There are two kinds of full nodes:
- Auditor nodes comprise the vast majority of full nodes. They replicate and verify blocks but do not vote in consensus.
- Staker nodes, the ultimate guardians of Themelio security, have Sym locked up and participate in consensus. They are analogous to miners in proof-of-work blockchains like Bitcoin.
Running an auditor
On the persistent mainnet
To run an auditor on the “mainnet” (which at the moment is far from stable, but does have a persistent history), just run:
$ themelio-node --listen 127.0.0.1:11814 --database ~/.themelio-blocks
themelio-node strives to have sane default options, and the only required arguments are where to listen to for RPC calls, and where to store the blockchain. By default, it connects to a few default bootstrap nodes and uses mainnet validation rules. You should see output similar to the following:
2022-05-15T02:20:51Z INFO themelio_node] themelio-core v0.6.6 initializing...
[2022-05-15T02:20:51Z DEBUG themelio_node::args] database opened at /home/user/.themelio-blocks
[2022-05-15T02:20:51Z INFO themelio_node::storage::storage] HIGHEST AT 0
[2022-05-15T02:20:51Z DEBUG themelio_node::args] node storage opened
[2022-05-15T02:20:51Z INFO themelio_node] bootstrapping with [146.59.84.29:11814]
[2022-05-15T02:20:52Z DEBUG themelio_node::storage::storage] applied block 1 of length 215 in 0.92ms (insert 0.23ms)
[2022-05-15T02:20:52Z DEBUG themelio_node::storage::storage] applied block 2 of length 215 in 0.58ms (insert 0.18ms)
[2022-05-15T02:20:52Z DEBUG themelio_node::storage::storage] applied block 3 of length 215 in 0.58ms (insert 0.24ms)
[2022-05-15T02:20:52Z DEBUG themelio_node::storage::storage] applied block 4 of length 215 in 0.45ms (insert 0.17ms)
[2022-05-15T02:20:52Z DEBUG themelio_node::storage::storage] applied block 5 of length 215 in 0.46ms (insert 0.18ms)
[2022-05-15T02:20:52Z DEBUG themelio_node::storage::storage] applied block 6 of length 215 in 0.45ms (insert 0.18ms)
[2022-05-15T02:20:52Z DEBUG themelio_node::storage::storage] applied block 7 of length 215 in 0.46ms (insert 0.18ms)
[2022-05-15T02:20:52Z DEBUG themelio_node::storage::storage] applied block 8 of length 215 in 0.51ms (insert 0.13ms)
[2022-05-15T02:20:52Z DEBUG themelio_node::storage::storage] applied block 9 of length 215 in 0.45ms (insert 0.07ms)
[2022-05-15T02:20:52Z DEBUG themelio_node::storage::storage] applied block 10 of length 215 in 0.45ms (insert 0.07ms)
[2022-05-15T02:20:52Z DEBUG themelio_node::storage::storage] applied block 11 of length 215 in 0.46ms (insert 0.06ms)
[2022-05-15T02:20:52Z DEBUG themelio_node::storage::storage] applied block 12 of length 215 in 0.48ms (insert 0.08ms)
[2022-05-15T02:20:52Z DEBUG themelio_node::storage::storage] applied block 13 of length 215 in 0.47ms (insert 0.06ms)
[2022-05-15T02:20:52Z DEBUG themelio_node::storage::storage] applied block 14 of length 215 in 0.46ms (insert 0.06ms)
[2022-05-15T02:20:52Z DEBUG themelio_node::storage::storage] applied block 15 of length 215 in 0.46ms (insert 0.08ms)
Your auditor is now running and replicating blocks within the auditor peer-to-peer gossip network.
On the non-persistent testnet
To run the auditor on the non-persistent testnet, where most covenant development and testing will happen during the betanet period, run instead
$ themelio-node --listen 127.0.0.1:11814 --bootstrap tm-1.themelio.org:11814 --testnet --database /tmp/testnet
Note that three things were needed to connect to the testnet:
- Connecting to a testnet bootstrap node
- Specifying
--testnet, to use testnet validation rules - Specifying a non-default database path to ensure that the blocks are on confused with mainnet blocks on disk.
Running a staker
Right now, the staker network is not yet open to public participation. This section will be updated with more detailed information once anyone can become a staker.
Other options
One can see all the options for running a Themelio auditor node as follows:
$ themelio-node --help
themelio-node 0.1.0
USAGE:
themelio-node [FLAGS] [OPTIONS] --listen <listen>
FLAGS:
-h, --help Prints help information
--testnet If set to true, default to the testnet. Otherwise, mainnet validation rules are used
-V, --version Prints version information
OPTIONS:
--bootstrap <bootstrap>...
Bootstrap addresses. May be given as a DNS name [default: mainnet-bootstrap.themelio.org:11814]
--database <database> Database path [default: /tmp/themelio-mainnet]
--listen <listen> Listen address
--override-genesis <override-genesis>
If given, uses this TOML file to configure the network genesis rather than following the known
testnet/mainnet genesis
--staker-bootstrap <staker-bootstrap>... Bootstrap addresses for the staker network
--staker-listen <staker-listen> Listen address for the staker network
--staker-payout-addr <staker-payout-addr> Payout address for staker rewards
--staker-sk <staker-sk> Specifies the secret key for staking