nwaku/docs/operators/droplet-quickstart.md

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Quickstart for running nwaku on a DigitalOcean Droplet

This guide explains how to run a nwaku node on a DigitalOcean Droplet. We enable the following protocols -

  1. Relay
  2. Store
  3. DNS Discovery
  4. Discv5

A Droplet is a simple virtual machine that runs in DigitalOcean's datacenters.

Note that Droplets do cost money, the size described in the guide costs approximately $12 a month.

The guide makes heavy use of the doctl cli to make it as UI agnostic as possible. There are similar steps to accomplish the same through DigitalOcean's cloud console, accessible here

Prerequisites

  1. A DigitalOcean account. Upon signing up, you have $100 worth of credits to use.

1. Get the doctl binary

Follow this guide to install, and configure the doctl cli, which will help with setting up the Droplet.

Note: It is not required to set up the droplet that is mentioned in the doctl cli guide

2. Set up SSH credentials

Run the following command -

export DROPLET_SSH_KEY_PATH=~/.ssh/id_nwaku_droplet
ssh-keygen -f $DROPLET_SSH_KEY_PATH

Press enter twice, i.e do NOT set a passphrase.

Run the following command -

export DROPLET_SSH_PUBLIC_KEY=$(cat "$DROPLET_SSH_KEY_PATH".pub)

Alternatively, if you would like to supply your own credentials, make sure that the public key is in the DROPLET_SSH_PUBLIC_KEY env variable.

Lastly, add the ssh key to your DigitalOcean account -

doctl compute ssh-key create nwaku-key --public-key="$DROPLET_SSH_PUBLIC_KEY"

3. Select the region closest to you

Run the following command to get the list of available regions -

doctl compute region list | grep true

You should get an output similar to this -

nyc1    New York 1         true
sgp1    Singapore 1        true
lon1    London 1           true
nyc3    New York 3         true
ams3    Amsterdam 3        true
fra1    Frankfurt 1        true
tor1    Toronto 1          true
blr1    Bangalore 1        true
sfo3    San Francisco 3    true

Choose the region closest to you, and run the following command -

export DROPLET_REGION=<slug>

For example, if you live in NYC -

export DROPLET_REGION=nyc1

Note that it is optional to choose the datacenter closest to you. This is merely done for operational efficiency.

4. Select the OS distribution

Run the following command to get the list of distributions -

doctl compute image list-distribution

You should get an output similar to this -

ID           Name                  Type        Distribution    Slug                   Public    Min Disk
78547182     1.5.8 x64             snapshot    RancherOS       rancheros              true      15
106433672    7 x64                 snapshot    CentOS          centos-7-x64           true      9
106434098    9 Stream x64          snapshot    CentOS          centos-stream-9-x64    true      10
106434191    8 Stream x64          snapshot    CentOS          centos-stream-8-x64    true      10
...

Choose the distribution you are most comfortable with, and then run the following command

export DROPLET_IMAGE=<slug>

For example, if you chose Debian 11 x64 -

export DROPLET_IMAGE=debian-11-x64

5. Select the size of the Droplet

Run the following command to get the list of Droplet sizes for the previously selected region -

doctl compute size list

You should get an output similar to this -

Slug                  Description                   Memory    VCPUs    Disk    Price Monthly    Price Hourly
s-1vcpu-512mb-10gb    Basic                         512       1        10      4.00             0.005950
s-1vcpu-1gb           Basic                         1024      1        25      6.00             0.008930
s-1vcpu-1gb-amd       Basic AMD                     1024      1        25      7.00             0.010420
s-1vcpu-1gb-intel     Basic Intel                   1024      1        25      7.00             0.010420
s-1vcpu-2gb           Basic                         2048      1        50      12.00            0.017860
s-1vcpu-2gb-amd       Basic AMD                     2048      1        50      14.00            0.020830
s-1vcpu-2gb-intel     Basic Intel                   2048      1        50      14.00            0.020830
s-2vcpu-2gb           Legacy Basic                  2048      2        60      18.00            0.026790
...

Note: To compile the nwaku binary, a minimum of 2GB of RAM is required. You may choose a smaller Droplet, however, you would have to supply the binary in an alternate manner, i.e via the official release on Github, or compiling it on another machine and copying it over. Currently, we only supply binaries for macOS and Ubuntu.

Choose the Droplet size that you are most comfortable with, and then run the following command -

export DROPLET_SIZE=<slug>

For example, s-1vcpu-2gb is more than capable to handle the protocols we mentioned above -

export DROPLET_SIZE=s-1vcpu-2gb

6. Create the Droplet

Run the following command to create the droplet -

Note: Droplet names must be valid hostnames, i.e they must only contain alphanumeric characters and hyphens (-)

export DROPLET_NAME=<your-droplet-name>
export DROPLET_ID=$(doctl compute droplet create --region=$DROPLET_REGION --image=$DROPLET_IMAGE --size=$DROPLET_SIZE --enable-monitoring --format=ID --wait $DROPLET_NAME | sed -n '2 p')

For example, to create a droplet named nwaku -

export DROPLET_NAME=nwaku
export DROPLET_ID=$(doctl compute droplet create --region=$DROPLET_REGION --image=$DROPLET_IMAGE --size=$DROPLET_SIZE --enable-monitoring --format=ID --wait $DROPLET_NAME | sed -n '2 p')

7. Create a Domain and attach it to the droplet (OPTIONAL)

Follow this guide to create a domain, and add it to the droplet appropriately.

8. SSH into the Droplet

You can get the following details in the email that DigitalOcean sends upon successful creation of the Droplet -

  1. username
  2. password
  3. public ipv4 address

Since the public key we previously generated was automatically added to the authorized_keys list, we can run the following command to ssh into the Droplet -

export DROPLET_USERNAME=<username from email>
export DROPLET_IP=<public ipv4 address from email>
ssh -i $DROPLET_SSH_KEY_PATH $DROPLET_USERNAME@$DROPLET_IP

For example, if the username was root, and the ipv4 address was 0.0.0.0,

export USERNAME=root
export IP=0.0.0.0
ssh -i $DROPLET_SSH_KEY_PATH $DROPLET_USERNAME@$DROPLET_IP

Enter the password received in the email.

9. Build nwaku

To build nwaku, follow this guide

OR

To fetch the latest release from Github, navigate to https://github.com/status-im/nwaku/releases and download the latest tarball for your distribution.

This guide describes how to install a tarball for your distribution.

OR

Run the following script to copy over the wakunode2 binary (from the host machine) -

scp -i $DROPLET_SSH_KEY_PATH ./build/wakunode2 $DROPLET_USERNAME@$DROPLET_IP:~/wakunode2

10. Set up a terminal multiplexer of choice

You may decide to use either screen or tmux to be able to reattach to the process after closing the ssh connection.

Installation instructions for -

  1. screen
  2. tmux

10. Run nwaku

First, start the screen or tmux session by following the instructions of the terminal multiplexer chosen previously -

  1. screen
  2. tmux

Run the following command to run nwaku -

Note the path to the wakunode2 binary

a. Add the parent directory of the wakunode2 binary to your environment:

If you built it locally and copied it via scp -

export WAKUNODE_DIR="$pwd"

OR

If you compiled it on the Droplet -

export WAKUNODE_DIR="$pwd"/build

b. Choose the fleet you wish to connect your node to:

  • waku sandbox: enrtree://AIRVQ5DDA4FFWLRBCHJWUWOO6X6S4ZTZ5B667LQ6AJU6PEYDLRD5O@sandbox.waku.nodes.status.im
  • waku test: enrtree://AOGYWMBYOUIMOENHXCHILPKY3ZRFEULMFI4DOM442QSZ73TT2A7VI@test.waku.nodes.status.im
export WAKU_FLEET=<fleet>

c. Run nwaku:

If you set up a domain previously -

export DOMAIN_NAME=<your-domain-name>
$WAKUNODE_DIR/wakunode2 \
  --store:true \
  --persist-messages \
  --dns-discovery \
  --dns-discovery-url:"$WAKU_FLEET" \
  --dns4-domain-name:"$DOMAIN_NAME" \
  --discv5-discovery:true

OR

If you did not set up a domain -

$WAKUNODE_DIR/wakunode2 \
  --store:true \
  --persist-messages \
  --dns-discovery \
  --dns-discovery-url:"$WAKU_FLEET" \
  --discv5-discovery:true

You now have nwaku running! You can verify this by observing the logs. The logs should show that the node completed 7 steps of setup, and is actively discovering other nodes.

You may now detach from stdout, by following instructions according to the terminal multiplexer chosen previously -

  1. screen
  2. tmux

To re-attach and observe the logs at a later date, follow these instructions -

  1. screen
  2. tmux

For alternative configurations, refer to this guide