mirror of https://github.com/status-im/go-waku.git
68 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
68 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
# Generate and configure a node key
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By default a node will generate a new, random key pair each time it boots,
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resulting in a different public libp2p `multiaddrs` after each restart.
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To maintain consistent addressing across restarts, there are different options:
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### Using a previously generated key
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It is possible to configure the node with a previously generated private key using the `--nodekey`.
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```shell
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wakunode2 --nodekey=<64_char_hex>
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```
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This option takes a [Secp256k1](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Secp256k1) private key in 64 char hexstring format.
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To generate such a key on Linux systems,
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use the openssl `rand` command to generate a pseudo-random 32 byte hexstring.
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```sh
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openssl rand -hex 32
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```
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Example output:
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```sh
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$ openssl rand -hex 32
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6a29e767c96a2a380bb66b9a6ffcd6eb54049e14d796a1d866307b8beb7aee58
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```
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where the key `6a29e767c96a2a380bb66b9a6ffcd6eb54049e14d796a1d866307b8beb7aee58` can be used as `nodekey`.
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To create a reusable keyfile on Linux using `openssl`,
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use the `ecparam` command coupled with some standard utilities
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whenever you want to extract the 32 byte private key in hex format.
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```sh
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# Generate keyfile
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openssl ecparam -genkey -name secp256k1 -out my_private_key.pem
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# Extract 32 byte private key
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openssl ec -in my_private_key.pem -outform DER | tail -c +8 | head -c 32| xxd -p -c 32
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```
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Example output:
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```sh
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read EC key
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writing EC key
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0c687bb8a7984c770b566eae08520c67f53d302f24b8d4e5e47cc479a1e1ce23
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```
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where the key `0c687bb8a7984c770b566eae08520c67f53d302f24b8d4e5e47cc479a1e1ce23` can be used as `nodekey`.
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```sh
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waku --nodekey=0c687bb8a7984c770b566eae08520c67f53d302f24b8d4e5e47cc479a1e1ce23
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```
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### generating a keyfile
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go-waku can generate an encrypted keyfile containing a random private key:
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```sh
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waku --generate-key
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```
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This will create a private key file at path specified in `--key-file` with the password defined by `--key-password`. By default the path is `./nodekey`, and the password for the keyfile is `secret`. This command will not overwrite an existing key file. For that, the `--overwrite` flag can be used.
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### using a keyfile
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go-waku will attempt to read any file existing at the path specified in the `--key-file` flag. If such file exists, go-waku will attempt to decrypt it using the `--key-password`, and read the private key.
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