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Testnet Node Setup

Tools to join the axelar network

This tutorial will take 30-60 minutes of dev time and 2-4 hours of waiting for blockchain sync.

Disclaimer#

warning

Axelar Network is a work in progress. At no point in time should you transfer any real assets using Axelar. Only use testnet tokens that you're not afraid to lose. Axelar is not responsible for any assets lost, frozen, or unrecoverable in any state or condition. If you find a problem, please submit an issue to this repository following the template.

Prerequisites#

  • Mac OS or Ubuntu (tested on 18.04)
  • Docker
  • Minimum hardware requirements: 4 cores, 8-16GB RAM, 512 GB drive. Recommended 6-8 cores, 16-32 GB RAM, 1 TB+ drive.

Useful links#

Useful commands#

Axelar node runs in two containers (one with the core consensus engine and another with threshold crypto process). You can stop/remove all your containers using:

docker stop $(docker ps -a -q)docker rm $(docker ps -a -q)

If you did not add the docker user to the sudo group, you will have to prepend sudo to the previous commands.

If you see an error related to insufficient gas at any point during the workflow, add the flags

--gas=auto --gas-adjustment 1.2

Joining the Axelar testnet#

Clone the repository to use the script and configs:

git clone https://github.com/axelarnetwork/axelarate-community.gitcd axelarate-community

Run the script join/joinTestnet.sh

Usage: joinTestnet.sh [flags]
Mandatory flags:
--axelar-core       Version of axelar-core docker image to run (Format: vX.Y.Z)--tofnd             Version of tofnd docker image to run (Format: vX.Y.Z)
Optional flags:-r, --root          Local directory to store testnet data in (IMPORTANT: this directory is removed and recreated if --reset-chain is set)
--reset-chain       Delete local data to do a clean connect to the testnet (If you participated in an older version of the testnet)

See Testnet Release for the latest available versions of the docker images.

You can get the latest version and save it to variables:

TOFND_VERSION=$(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/axelarnetwork/axelarate-community/main/TESTNET%20RELEASE.md | grep tofnd | cut -d \` -f 4)CORE_VERSION=$(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/axelarnetwork/axelarate-community/main/TESTNET%20RELEASE.md | grep axelar-core | cut -d \` -f 4)echo ${TOFND_VERSION} ${CORE_VERSION}

Once you join, at the terminal you should see blocks produced quickly.

2021-05-21T20:22:10Z INF received proposal module=consensus proposal={"Type":32,"block_id":{"hash":"EFC59CDAF641E5C12FC85B352B06F8E1188D57D6CF5E4C629B6D5E51FEB9A675","parts":{"hash":"2B0E54FA353D22606BF526E4341F1698C7495FA448E28E62E40679793B289D6D","total":1}},"height":229885,"pol_round":-1,"round":0,"signature":"Cqepe/A+mxHNySEMRuAqi97Ah8TiuJNQvMpmQaVrcgA11p5kzt+Fein3A8XZ2TDH4fy6Qv8XBxmrI2HT1cEUBg==","timestamp":"2021-05-21T20:22:10.854851854Z"}2021-05-21T20:22:10Z INF received complete proposal block hash=EFC59CDAF641E5C12FC85B352B06F8E1188D57D6CF5E4C629B6D5E51FEB9A675 height=229885 module=consensus2021-05-21T20:22:11Z INF finalizing commit of block hash=EFC59CDAF641E5C12FC85B352B06F8E1188D57D6CF5E4C629B6D5E51FEB9A675 height=229885 module=consensus num_txs=0 root=34060CC7B7A742F051AA8C7940C431BD1A761AAD8700FB400067F83431E0D4E92021-05-21T20:22:11Z INF minted coins from module account amount=2136stake from=mint module=x/bank2021-05-21T20:22:11Z INF executed block height=229885 module=state num_invalid_txs=0 num_valid_txs=02021-05-21T20:22:11Z INF commit synced commit=436F6D6D697449447B5B31313120323039203235302031323220323035203133382032303520313734203220313132203532203137322032303620313334203532203139302031393720313132203233332031333120313535203131312031353420313234203130392031393420312032372032313420323320313238203230375D3A33383146447D2021-05-21T20:22:11Z INF committed state app_hash=6FD1FA7ACD8ACDAE027034ACCE8634BEC570E9839B6F9A7C6DC2011BD61780CF height=229885 module=state num_txs...

Wait for your node to catch up with the network before proceeding. This can take a while. You can check the sync status by running:

curl localhost:26657/status | jq '.result.sync_info'

Note: Install jq for json processing, on Ubuntu you can install it by running:

 sudo apt-get install jq

Output:

{ "latest_block_hash": "0B64D2A0EDAB6CEF229510E52F137130134D94AAD64EACB553D51D01B0D1A446", "latest_app_hash": "FA3730F49F491DCFF38687F2603CF154563AFA9C77331AF75340C554CB555EFC", "latest_block_height": "17051", "latest_block_time": "2021-06-01T23:41:43.161261874Z", "earliest_block_hash": "080E6B9FC64778F3E0671E046575D3460984F5B1F584E1F2D467341061C7627A", "earliest_app_hash": "E3B0C44298FC1C149AFBF4C8996FB92427AE41E4649B934CA495991B7852B855", "earliest_block_height": "1", "earliest_block_time": "2021-05-31T21:05:12.032466392Z", "catching_up": true}

Wait for catching_up to become false

Logging to file#

By default, logs output to stdout and stderr. You could redirect logs to a file for debugging and error reporting:

join/joinTestnet.sh --axelar-core ${CORE_VERSION} --tofnd ${TOFND_VERSION} &>> testnet.log

On a new terminal window, you could monitor the log file in real time:

tail -f testnet.log

If you find the log containing too much noise and hard to find useful information, you can filter it as following

docker logs -f axelar-core 2>&1 | grep -a -e threshold -e num_txs -e proxies

Ethereum account on testnet#

Axelar signs meta transactions for Ethereum, meaning that any Ethereum account can send transaction executing commands so long as the commands are signed by Axelar's key. In the exercises, all of the Ethereum-related transactions are sent from address 0xE3deF8C6b7E357bf38eC701Ce631f78F2532987A on Ropsten testnet.

Generate a key on Axelar and get test tokens#

  1. On a new terminal window, enter Axelar node:
docker exec -it axelar-core sh
  1. By default, the node has an account named validator. Find its address:
axelard keys show validator -a

  1. Go to axelar faucet and get some coins on your validator's address (Your node is not yet a validator for the purpose of this ceremony; it's just the name of the account). http://faucet.testnet.axelar.network/

  2. Check that you received the funds

axelard q bank balances {output_addr_from_step_2}

e.g.

axelard q bank balances axelar1p5nl00z6h5fuzyzfylhf8w7g3qj6lmlyryqmhg
tip

Balance will appear only after you are fully synced with the network

Stop and restart testnet#

To leave the Axelar node CLI, type exit. To stop the node from syncing, press Control C, then To stop the node, open a new CLI terminal and run 

docker stop $(docker ps -a -q)  
docker rm $(docker ps -a -q)

To restart the node, run the join/joinTestnet.sh script again, with the same --axelar-core, --tofnd (and optionally --root) parameters as before. Do NOT use the --reset-chain flag or your node will have to sync again from the beginning.

To enter Axelar node CLI again

docker exec -it axelar-core sh