Private Network Install

This page contains instructions for installing the QRL Project Zond Testnet using Kurtosis as a standalone private network

The QRL qrysm package contains scripts that allow for running a small local testnet using Kurtosis. This script will launch 2 beacon nodes, 2 validator clients and 2 gzond execution clients.

This setup can be useful for testing and development.

Installation

1. Install Docker. Verify that Docker has been successfully installed by running sudo docker run hello-world.

2. Install Kurtosis. Verify that Kurtosis has been successfully installed by running kurtosis version which should display the version.

3. Install yq. If you are on Ubuntu, you can install yq by running snap install yq.

4. Download the QRL qrysm Package using GitHub. git clone https://github.com/theqrl/qrysm. The startup sccripts and Kurtosis configuration files can be found in qrysm/scripts/local_testnet directory.

Building and Running

Running qrysm/scripts/local_testnet/start_local_testnet.sh will build the gzond execution node, qrysm consensus node, and qrysm validator node binaries, will generate the genesis information and bootstrap everything together.

                  ========================================
                  =      PRIVATE NETWORK ARCHITECTURE      =
                  ========================================
      Validator Stack 1                      Validator Stack 2
+--------------------------+           +--------------------------+
|     vc-1-gzond-qrysm     |           |     vc-2-gzond-qrysm     |
|    (Validator Client)    |           |    (Validator Client)    |
+--------------------------+           +--------------------------+
             |                                      |
             v [1]                                  v [1]
+--------------------------+           +--------------------------+
|     cl-1-qrysm-gzond     |  <----->  |     cl-2-qrysm-gzond     |
|     (Consensus Node)     |    [3]    |     (Consensus Node)     |
+--------------------------+           +--------------------------+
             ^ |                                  ^ |
             | | [2]                              | | [2]
             | v                                  | v
+--------------------------+           +--------------------------+
|     el-1-gzond-qrysm     |  <----->  |     el-2-gzond-qrysm     |
|     (Execution Node)     |    [4]    |     (Execution Node)     |
+--------------------------+           +--------------------------+
LEGEND:
[1] Validator API: Validator Client connects to its Consensus Node.
[2] Engine API:    Consensus and Execution nodes are bidirectionally linked.
[3] Consensus P2P: Consensus nodes connect to each other to agree on chain state.
[4] Execution P2P: Execution nodes connect to each other to gossip transactions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Configuration Options

This script will reference the configuration options declared in qrysm/scripts/local_testnet/network_params.yml. For a full reference to all configuration options and additional functions see the Kurtosis guide.

To start a testnet, from the Qrysm root repository:

cd ./scripts/local_testnet
./start_local_testnet.sh

You will see a list of services running and "Started!" at the end. The provate network is running and blocks are syncing.

To view all running services:

kurtosis enclave inspect local-testnet

To view the logs:

kurtosis service logs local-testnet $SERVICE_NAME

INFO

Kurtosis also comes with a web UI which can be open with kurtosis web.

Some testnet parameters can be varied by modifying the network_params.yaml file. The full configuration reference for kurtosis is specified here.

Stopping the testnet

To stop the testnet, from the Qrysm root repository:

cd ./scripts/local_testnet
./stop_local_testnet.sh

This will stop all running docker services, distroy the local encclave and stop the Kurtosis engine. Once complete you will see "Local testnet stopped.".

CLI options

The script comes with some CLI options, which can be viewed with ./start_local_testnet.sh --help.

One of the CLI options is to avoid rebuilding Qrysm each time the testnet starts, which can be configured with the command:

./start_local_testnet.sh -b false