Run a Mainnet Node on DOS Chain

Introduction

This article describes how to run a Mainnet node on DOS Chain. The following necessary steps are needed to run your node on the DOS Chain:

1. Install AvalancheGo using the Install Script

2. Download the plugin binary for the DOS Subnet-EVM

3. Track the DOS Subnet

4. Connect to the DOS Subnet!

This install script assumes:

• AvalancheGo is not running and not already installed as a service

• User running the script has superuser privileges (can run sudo)

Official documents from Avalanche:

Avalanche Dev Docs: Create Without Limits

Install AvalancheGo using the Install Script

First, you need to download and install AvalancheGo (handles the orchestration of running Custom VMs). You can follow this comprehensive guide to complete this step. For this tutorial, we recommend using the AvalancheGo Installer.

Notes: Some configurations you should notice:

• Enter your connection type [1,2]: 2

• RPC port should be public (this is a public API node) or private (this is a validator)? [public, private]: private

• Detected 'x.x.x.x' as your public IP. Is this correct? [y,n]: y

• Done

Notes:

• Your node should now be bootstrapping. Node configuration file is /home/DOS/.avalanchego/configs/node.json

• C-Chain configuration file is /home/DOS/.avalanchego/configs/chains/C/config.json

• Plugin directory, for storing subnet VM binaries, is /home/DOS/.avalanchego/plugins

• To check that the service is running use the following command (q to exit): sudo systemctl status avalanchego

• To follow the log use (ctrl-c to stop): sudo journalctl -u avalanchego -f

Get the ID, the BLS key, and the proof of possession(BLS signature) of this node

• nodeID Node ID is the unique identifier of the node that you set to act as a validator on the Primary Network.

• nodePOP is this node's BLS key and proof of possession. Nodes must register a BLS key to act as a validator on the Primary Network. Your node's POP is logged on startup and is accessible over this endpoint.

  • publicKey is the 48 byte hex representation of the BLS key.

  • proofOfPossession is the 96 byte hex representation of the BLS signature.

To get these info:

curl -X POST --data '{
    "jsonrpc":"2.0",
    "id"     :1,
    "method" :"info.getNodeID"
}' -H 'content-type:application/json;' 127.0.0.1:9650/ext/info

Install Avalanche CLI

https://docs.avax.network/tooling/cli-guides/install-avalanche-cli

Avalanche Dev Docs: Create Without Limits

Run a Subnet Node

https://docs.avax.network/nodes/run/subnet-node

Avalanche Dev Docs: Create Without Limits

Option1: Build Subnet Binaries​

After building AvalancheGo successfully,

1. Clone Subnet-EVM​

cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/ava-labs
git clone https://github.com/ava-labs/subnet-evm.git

2. Build the Binary and Save as a Plugin​

In the Subnet-EVM directory, run the build script, and save it in the “plugins” folder of your .avalanchego data directory. Name the plugin after the VMID of the Subnet you wish to track. The VMID of the DOS Chain is the value beginning with “X5tF...”.

cd $GOPATH/src/github.com/ava-labs/subnet-evm
./scripts/build.sh ~/.avalanchego/plugins/X5tFvg9JwoXgaYPQbceSzhGoCF6dhwrDm5BnAav6meFp3xxmg

Where can I find Subnet parameters like VMID?

VMID, Subnet ID, ChainID, and all other parameters can be found in the "Chain Info" section of the Subnet Explorer.

• Avalanche Mainnet

• Fuji Testnet

Option 2: Download subnet-evm Binary

For the steps below, we will assume that you completed first step successfully and are now in your AvalancheGo directory (within your $GOPATH).

Next, you will download the DOS-EVM binary (please notice that we use the same Binary file with the Ava Labs repo):

Download and unzip the latest subnet evm at: https://github.com/ava-labs/subnet-evm/releases

https://github.com/ava-labs/subnet-evm/releases

The long string X5tFvg9JwoXgaYPQbceSzhGoCF6dhwrDm5BnAav6meFp3xxmg is the CB58 encoded VMID of the DOS Subnet-EVM. AvalancheGo will use the name of this file to determine what VMs are available to run from the plugins directory.

Tracking DOS Chain and Restarting the Node

Joining DOS Subnet​

For a node to join a Subnet, there are two prerequisites:

• Primary Network validation

• Subnet tracking

Primary Network validation means that a node cannot join a Subnet as a validator before becoming a validator on the Primary Network itself. So, after you add the node to the validator set on the Primary Network, node can join a Subnet.

To have a node start syncing the Subnet, you need to add the --track-subnets command line option, or track-subnets key to the node config file (found at .avalanchego/configs/node.json for installer-script created nodes). A single node can sync multiple Subnets, so you can add them as a comma-separated list of Subnet IDs.

An example of a node config syncing two Subnets:

{
  "public-ip-resolution-service": "opendns",
  "http-host": "",
  "track-subnets": "nQCwF6V9y8VFjvMuPeQVWWYn6ba75518Dpf6ZMWZNb3NyTA94,Ai42MkKqk8yjXFCpoHXw7rdTWSHiKEMqh5h8gbxwjgkCUfkrk"
}

But that is not all. Besides tracking the SubnetID, the node also needs to have the plugin that contains the VM instance the blockchain in the Subnet will run.

If you want to inspect the process of Subnet syncing, you can use the RPC call to check for the blockchain status.

Example Call:

curl -X POST --data '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "platform.getBlockchainStatus",
    "params":{
        "blockchainID":"22v7AG7h6qaVxd4bLvAsSsg2LZ4RCn5iVYgFn7a2Fj1LCuYwjv"
    },
    "id": 1
}' -H 'content-type:application/json;' 127.0.0.1:9650/ext/bc/P

Example Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "result": {
    "status": "Validating"
  },
  "id": 1
}

Running the Node

First, make sure to shut down your node in case it is still running. Then, you will navigate back into the AvalancheGo directory:

If you went through the steps to set up a config file, then you can launch your node by specifying the config file on the command line:

./build/avalanchego --config-file ~/.avalanchego/configs/node.json

If you want to track the Subnets through the command-line flag. You can append the other flags or even the --config-file flag as well, according to your need.

./build/avalanchego --track-subnets nQCwF6V9y8VFjvMuPeQVWWYn6ba75518Dpf6ZMWZNb3NyTA94

Import DOS Chain Subnet

You firstly import DOS Chain using subnet import public since DOS Chain is already live.

~/.avalanchego$ avalanche subnet import public "DOS Chain"
✔ Mainnet
Provide the path to the genesis file: /home/DOS/.avalanchego/configs/genesis.json
✔ Yes
Please provide an API URL of such a node so we can query its VM version (e.g. http://111.22.33.44:5555): http://20.6.105.146:9650
What is the ID of the blockchain?: 22v7AG7h6qaVxd4bLvAsSsg2LZ4RCn5iVYgFn7a2Fj1LCuYwjv
Getting information from the Mainnet network...
Retrieved information. BlockchainID: 22v7AG7h6qaVxd4bLvAsSsg2LZ4RCn5iVYgFn7a2Fj1LCuYwjv, SubnetID: nQCwF6V9y8VFjvMuPeQVWWYn6ba75518Dpf6ZMWZNb3NyTA94, Name: DOS Chain, VMID: X5tFvg9JwoXgaYPQbceSzhGoCF6dhwrDm5BnAav6meFp3xxmg
✔ Subnet-EVM
Subnet "DOS Chain" imported successfully

To see the Subnet Config:

avalanche subnet describe "DOS Chain"

avalanche subnet describe "DOS Chain"

Config Chain

DOS Chain allows the node operator to provide some custom configurations. The config file for DOS Chain is located at ~/.avalanchego/configs/chains/22v7AG7h6qaVxd4bLvAsSsg2LZ4RCn5iVYgFn7a2Fj1LCuYwjv/config.json

The content of config.json file should be like:

{ "feeRecipient": "0x50B65C1e3206621b6f9A5Ab2950Ae69f20634b82",//input your wallet }

Just Want the Commands? We Got You

And finally, share us your nodeID.

Run Another Node

You can reduce the node boostraping time by copying the database.

Database Copy​

Good way to cut down on bootstrap times on multiple nodes is database copy. Database is identical across nodes, and as such can safely be copied from one node to another. Just make sure to that the node is not running during the copy process, as that can result in a corrupted database. Database copy procedure is explained in detail here.

Please make sure you don't reuse any node's NodeID by accident, especially don't restore another node's ID, see here for details. Each node must has its own unique NodeID, otherwise, the nodes sharing the same ID will not behave correctly, which will impact your validator's uptime, thus staking rewards, and the stability of your Subnet.

Avalanche Dev Docs: Create Without Limits