In this tutorial, we will learn how to deploy a NEAR validator node, and load a validator key into it.
Generate Validator Key
Generate validator account using NEAR CLI tool. Which can be installed using:
Copy npm install -g near-cli
Validator account must have the name validator.
Copy near generate-key validator An ed25519 private key will be generated and saved in current user home directory under .near-credentials/testnet
Copy cat ~/.near-credentials/testnet/validator.json It will return an output similar to the following
Copy {
"account_id": "validator",
"public_key": "ed25519:CdTBLXMmu9gzoCbNKdUnej1tJNMz5tzRjJF2a9DwAgUr",
"private_key": "ed25519:4k83DwbSpD3zzai4ZPdeRJcfXttU3Uq68mWWhni6ra2RKnG3jyVKEZyP14gDJZ9W1oqFujpAkidoNrYY4TLqijsG"
}
Change private_key field to secret_key.
Generate Secret for Validator Private Key
Create a Kubernetes secret from the generated private key in the previous step:
Copy kubectl create secret generic validator-key --from-file=key=$HOME/.near-credentials/testnet/validator.json Deploy NEAR Validator Node
The following manifest describes a NEAR node that syncs NEAR testnet network: testnet, enables HTTP JSON-RPC server rpc: true, loads validator key from the Kubernetes secret that we've created in the previous step, and uses NEAR Core client:
Copy apiVersion: near.kotal.io/v1alpha1
kind: Node
metadata:
name: near-node
spec:
network: testnet
validatorSecretName: validator-key
rpc: true Apply near.yaml manifest:
Copy kubectl apply -f near.yaml Kotal operator will notice your near-node and will create all the necessary pods, persistent volumes, services, configmaps, and secrets neccessary.
You can fetch the deployed NEAR Node using:
Copy kubectl get nodes.near It will return an output similar to the following:
Copy NAME NETWORK CLIENT VALIDATOR
near-node testnet nearcore true Note that validator is true in the prevous output 😇
Fetch Node Logs
Get the pods that has been created by Kotal for the node:
It will return an output similar to the following:
Copy NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
near-node-0 1/1 Running 0 1m Get the logs of the running node:
Copy kubectl logs -f near-node-0 It will return node logs similar to the following:
Copy Apr 08 12:24:09.930 INFO neard: Version: 1.23.1, Build: 1.23.0-9-gc0551c84b-modified, Latest Protocol: 50
Apr 08 12:24:09.937 INFO near: Did not find "/home/near/kotal-data/data" path, will be creating new store database
Apr 08 12:24:10.438 INFO stats: Server listening at ed25519:GK2bMCbzgjFrdAQPFu2qSc6rViwX4MUb8WZb97CAfUMr@0.0.0.0:24567
Apr 08 12:24:20.444 INFO stats: # 9820210 Downloading headers 0.00% (53273496) 5/3/40 peers ⬇ 0.7kiB/s ⬆ 0.2kiB/s 0.00 bps 0 gas/s CPU: 0%, Mem: 0 B
Apr 08 12:24:30.447 INFO stats: # 9820210 Downloading headers 0.00% (53273498) 5/3/40 peers ⬇ 0.7kiB/s ⬆ 0.2kiB/s 0.00 bps 0 gas/s CPU: 4%, Mem: 78.4 MiB
Apr 08 12:24:40.417 INFO stats: # 9820210 Downloading headers 0.00% (53273497) 5/3/40 peers ⬇ 0.7kiB/s ⬆ 0.2kiB/s 0.00 bps 0 gas/s CPU: 10%, Mem: 99.6 MiB
... Finally you can delete the node by:
Copy kubectl delete -f near.yaml Kubernetes garbage collector will delete all the resources that has been created by Kotal NEAR Node controller.
Further Reading