Deploy a full node for cosmos chain
Cosmos hub is the economic centre of the Interchain cosmos ecosystem. Full node is a node that does not build blocks (non-validating) but stores the chain state and allows direct access to the network. NOTE: full node refers to a non-archival implementation of the node.
Hardware requirements
Running a full archive node can be resource intensive, as the state is +1.6TB. for a default full node using quicksync (snapshot) which this guide will cover 1TB would suffice, but 2TB will allow large buffer. current Cosmos Hub mainnet `cosmoshub-4`
Minimum: 16GB / 1TB Storage SSD / 4vCPU (8threads)
Recommended: 32GB RAM / 2TB Storage SSD / 4vCPU (8threads)
Setup device
Install ubuntu 20.04 LTS
Update packages and upgrade device
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
Configure swap
32GB RAM is more than suitable for cosmos, however it is a good idea to have swap configured to allow a buffer to be used in Storage. Chain upgrades via cosmovisor can be very memory intensive.
See this guide for how to do this: PENDING
Depending on storage used you can choose to configure 16GB or 32GB and set swappiness parameter to 10 to use swap only when the RAM usage is really high.
Open Ports
PEDNING
1. Install Cosmos Binary
Method 1: Install Script
PENDING
Method 2: Manual Build
Install Dependencies
sudo apt install git build-essential ufw curl jq snapd make jq tar clang pkg-config libssl-dev gcc -y
Install Go
Current cosmos binary requires v1.20.+ go, the following method is using a useful go install script by osmosis-labs, installs PATH variables to .bashrc and sets up in a way compatible with the rest of the build. Go binary installs to $HOME/.go
wget -q -O - https://git.io/vQhTU | bash -s -- --version 1.20.3
source $HOME/.bashrc
Alternative method: instructions from cosmos docs here:
Install Cosmos Binary
Find Releases here:
Latest stable release is v10.0.1, must use Go v1.20 to build, to start with this binary must use statesync or quicksync (snapshot)
git clone -b v10.0.1 https://github.com/cosmos/gaia.git
cd gaia && make install
# confirm install
gaiad version –long
Binary installs to $HOME/go/bin/gaiad
2. Cosmos CLI
PENDING
3. Configure Cosmos Node
Initiate the Chain
This creates the initial config files in working folder `.gaia`
gaiad init <custom-moniker>
Obtain Genesis
cd
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cosmos/mainnet/master/genesis/genesis.cosmoshub-4.json.gz
gzip -d genesis.cosmoshub-4.json.gz
mv genesis.cosmoshub-4.json ~/.gaia/config/genesis.json
Optional: Set seeds and peers
Registry Here: This helps the node find peers quicker by setting persistent peers, syntax as follows:
# Comma separated list of seed nodes to connect to
seeds = "<seed node id 1>@<seed node address 1>:26656,<seed node id 2>@<seed node address 2>:26656"
# Comma separated list of nodes to keep persistent connections to
persistent_peers = "<node id 1>@<node address 1>:26656,<node id 2>@<node address 2>:26656"
Optional: Download quicksync addrbook
wget https://dl2.quicksync.io/json/addrbook.cosmos.json
mv addrbook.cosmos.json ~/.gaia/config/addrbook.json
4. Set up Cosmovisor
Cosmovisor is a process manager developed to relieve node operators of having to manually intervene every time there is an upgrade. Cosmovisor monitors the governance module for upgrade proposals; it will take care of downloading the new binary, stopping the old one, switching to the new one, and restarting. Info on cosmovisor operation: https://github.com/cosmos/cosmos-sdk/tree/main/tools/cosmovisor
Create directories for cosmovisor
cd
mkdir -p ~/.gaia/cosmovisor/genesis/bin
mkdir -p ~/.gaia/cosmovisor/upgrades
create directory for corresponding binary version
mkdir -p ~/.gaia/cosmovisor/upgrades/v10/bin
Install Cosmovisor
go install cosmossdk.io/tools/cosmovisor/cmd/cosmovisor@latest
Binary installs to $HOME/go/bin/cosmovisor
Confirm installed with cosmovisor version
Copy binary to working folder in cosmovisor directory
Note on versions: if using snapshot (this guide) you are downloading the latest binary, with chain data manually downloaded and placed in the correct location, cosmovisor will look from the block height the node is currently on and the corresponding binary in the upgrades folder. The binary also needs to be placed in ~/.gaia/cosmovisor/genesis/bin for first start up or an error will occur.
cp $GOPATH/bin/gaiad ~/.gaia/cosmovisor/genesis/bin
cp $GOPATH/bin/gaiad ~/.gaia/cosmovisor/upgrades/v10/bin/
5. Download Chain Data
This install method is using snapshot data, this means downloading the blockchain history directly from a trusted source, many community members host this data example: chainlayer
This is much quicker than syncing and verifying from genesis, which can be done should you decide, but requires a slightly different install method.
Download liblz4-tool to handle the compressed file
sudo apt-get install wget liblz4-tool aria2 jq -y
Using pruned snapshot data, find the URL from here (using one of the hosted examples)
SNAPURL="https://dl2.quicksync.io/cosmoshub-4-pruned.20230624.0310.tar.lz4"
cd $HOME/.gaia/
wget -O - $SNAPURL | lz4 -d | tar -xvf –
Syncing from genesis: (if not using snapshot)
To sync an archive or full node from scratch, it is important to note that you must start with V4.2.1 (opens new window)and proceed through different upgrades, more info here:
6. Set up SystemD
Setup System service to run cosmosvisor
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/cosmovisor.service > /dev/null <<EOF
[Unit]
Description=Gaia Daemon
After=network-online.target
[Service]
Environment="DAEMON_HOME=$HOME/.gaia"
Environment="DAEMON_NAME=gaiad"
Environment="DAEMON_ALLOW_DOWNLOAD_BINARIES=false"
Environment="DAEMON_RESTART_AFTER_UPGRADE=true"
User=$USER
ExecStart=${HOME}/go/bin/cosmovisor run start
Restart=always
RestartSec=3
LimitNOFILE=4096
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF
Enable and Start service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable cosmovisor
sudo systemctl start cosmovisor
Check status and logs
sudo systemctl status cosmovisor
journalctl -u cosmovisor -f
Make changes to the service
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/cosmovisor.service
