Step by step guide describing how to set up of Casperlabs Rust Validator Node on AWS from scratch using Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS AMI

Casperlabs Testnet Rust Validator Node

Sources used:
- https://github.com/CasperLabs/casper-node/blob/v1.5.0/resources/production/README.md
- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YO_WnjPt2sGJgPB1jm_hVDHYULYsjPEAtkiAiY0e3-0/edit#
- https://docs.casperlabs.io/en/latest/node-operator/index.html
- Discord

[✓] 1. Create casperlabs-validator security group that exposes the following ports to public:
- 7777 - for http access to the status endpoint: http://<IP Address>:7777/status.
- 34553 - to gossip with other nodes

[✓] 2. Launch a m5.xlarge using Ubuntu Server 20.04 LTS AMI with 250 GB EBS volume, attach the casperlabs-validator security group to it

[✓] 3. Create an elastic IP and assign it to the instance

[✓] 4. Install Casperlabs node software

sudo apt install dnsutils

wget --content-disposition https://bintray.com/casperlabs/debian/download_file?file_path=casper-client_1.6.0-2465_amd64.deb
sudo apt install ./casper-client_1.6.0-2465_amd64.deb

wget --content-disposition https://bintray.com/casperlabs/debian/download_file?file_path=casper-node_1.6.0-2465_amd64.deb
sudo apt install ./casper-node_1.6.0-2465_amd64.deb

[✓] 5. Generate node keys

cd /etc/casper/validator_keys/
sudo casper-client keygen .

[✓] 6. Share public_key_hex with the Casperlabs team to get some tokens onto your account

cat /etc/casper/validator_keys/public_key_hex

[✓] 7. Set up pre-requisites for building contracts (needed to build the bid contract to bond to the network)

sudo apt purge --auto-remove cmake
wget -O - https://apt.kitware.com/keys/kitware-archive-latest.asc 2>/dev/null | gpg --dearmor - | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/kitware.gpg >/dev/null
sudo apt-add-repository 'deb https://apt.kitware.com/ubuntu/ focal main'   
sudo apt update
sudo apt install cmake

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

sudo apt install libssl-dev

sudo apt install pkg-config

sudo apt install build-essential

[✓] 8. Build contracts

git clone git://github.com/CasperLabs/casper-node.git
cd casper-node/

make setup-rs
make build-client-contracts -j

[✓] 9. Bond to the network

# Get an already bonded validator address from
cat /etc/casper/config.toml | grep known_addresses

sudo apt install jq

# Check your balance
casper-client get-state-root-hash --node-address http://127.0.0.1:7777 | jq -r  # get <STATE_ROOT_HASH>

casper-client query-state --node-address http://127.0.0.1:7777 --key <PUBLIC_KEY_HEX> --state-root-hash <STATE_ROOT_HASH> | jq -r. # get <PURSE_UREF>

casper-client get-balance --node-address http://127.0.0.1:7777 --purse-uref <PURSE_UREF> --state-root-hash <STATE_ROOT_HASH> | jq -r

# Make a bonding request
casper-client put-deploy \
        --chain-name "<NETWORK_NAME>" \
        --node-address "http://<BONDED_VALIDATOR_IP>:7777/" \
        --secret-key "/etc/casper/validator_keys/secret_key.pem" \
        --session-path "$HOME/casper-node/target/wasm32-unknown-unknown/release/add_bid.wasm" \
        --payment-amount 1000000000 \
        --session-arg=public_key:"public_key='<PUBLIC_KEY_HEX>'" \
        --session-arg=amount:"u512='<BID_AMOUNT>'" \ # put some unique number (to make it easier to identify your transaction later)
        --session-arg=delegation_rate:"u64='10'" # change the delegation rate if you want to

# Check that you bonding request worked
casper-client get-deploy --node-address http://<BONDED_VALIDATOR_IP>:7777 <BONDING_DEPLOY_HASH> | jq .result.execution_results

# Query the auction info and look for your bid (unique bid amount)
casper-client get-auction-info --node-address http://<BONDED_VALIDATOR_IP>:7777

[✓] 10. Run the node

# Get the trusted hash value from an already bonded validator and update it in /etc/casper/config.toml
curl -s http://<BONDED_VALIDATOR_IP>:7777/status | jq .last_added_block_info.hash

# Update trusted_hash property at the top of the config file
sudo nano /etc/casper/config.toml

# Start the node
sudo systemctl start casper-node

# Observe the log, look for log messages with 'linear block'
tail -n100 -f /var/log/casper/casper-node.log

# Check if an already bonded validator sees your node among peers
curl -s http:/<BONDED_VALIDATOR_IP>:7777/status | jq .peers

# Check the node status, which will be unavailable at the beginning but will come online later. Wait for the following line in the log {"message":"started HTTP server","address":"0.0.0.0:7777"}
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:7777/status

Hello, bintray servers looks like to do not share anymore Debian packages.