These instructions cover creating an Ethereum private network consisting of two nodes - one node will mine blocks and the other node will connect to the first node and sync the mined blocks to its own block database. Both nodes will run a private chain configuration.
For the purposes of this documentation, a private network can be thought of as a network of Ethereum nodes only accessible on your physical machine.
An Ethereum chain is some state (e.g. accounts and balances and/or contract code) and a set of rules for interacting with that state. Private chain is used in this documentation to refer to an Ethereum chain whose configuration is only available on your physical machine.
- Mining will be done using the Aleth CPU miner (Aleth doesn't include a GPU miner because of the high maintenance and support costs. Please see EthMiner for GPU mining support).
- We will only start mining for one node to keep your machine responsive.
- If mining slows down your system too much or you'd like to have both nodes mine, you can tune the number of mining threads via
-t <thread count>
.
- You typically initialize a private chain using a chain configuration json file (this isn't strictly required, but it makes testing easier since you can do things like lower the difficulty rate and pre-fund addresses).
- Here's an example file:
{ "sealEngine": "Ethash", "params": { "accountStartNonce": "0x00", "maximumExtraDataSize": "0x20", "homesteadForkBlock": "0x00", "EIP150ForkBlock": "0x00", "EIP158ForkBlock": "0x00", "byzantiumForkBlock": "0x00", "constantinopleForkBlock": "0x00", "constantinopleFixForkBlock": "0x00", "minGasLimit": "0x5208", "maxGasLimit": "0x7fffffffffffffff", "tieBreakingGas": false, "gasLimitBoundDivisor": "0x0400", "minimumDifficulty": "0x100000", "difficultyBoundDivisor": "0x0800", "durationLimit": "0x0d", "blockReward": "0x4563918244F40000", "networkID" : "0x42", "chainID": "0x42", "allowFutureBlocks" : false }, "genesis": { "nonce": "0x0000000000000042", "difficulty": "0x100000", "mixHash": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000", "author": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000", "timestamp": "0x5A5B92D7", "parentHash": "0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000", "extraData": "0x655741534d2074657374206e6574776f726b2030", "gasLimit": "0x989680" }, "accounts": { "0000000000000000000000000000000000000001": { "precompiled": { "name": "ecrecover", "linear": { "base": 3000, "word": 0 } }, "balance": "0x01" }, "0000000000000000000000000000000000000002": { "precompiled": { "name": "sha256", "linear": { "base": 60, "word": 12 } }, "balance": "0x01" }, "0000000000000000000000000000000000000003": { "precompiled": { "name": "ripemd160", "linear": { "base": 600, "word": 120 } }, "balance": "0x01" }, "0000000000000000000000000000000000000004": { "precompiled": { "name": "identity", "linear": { "base": 15, "word": 3 } }, "balance": "0x01" }, "0000000000000000000000000000000000000005": { "precompiled": { "name": "modexp" }, "balance": "0x01" }, "0000000000000000000000000000000000000006": { "precompiled": { "name": "alt_bn128_G1_add", "linear": { "base": 500, "word": 0 } }, "balance": "0x01" }, "0000000000000000000000000000000000000007": { "precompiled": { "name": "alt_bn128_G1_mul", "linear": { "base": 40000, "word": 0 } }, "balance": "0x01" }, "0000000000000000000000000000000000000008": { "precompiled": { "name": "alt_bn128_pairing_product" }, "balance": "0x01" }, "00fd4aaf9713f5bb664c20a462acc4ebc363d1a6": { "balance" : "0x200000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000" }, "004d5baf9ab6a9c29c73725ec35023e330af2bc8": { "balance" : "0x200000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000" } } }
- Both nodes must use the same chain configuration file: The chain configuration is used to create the chain's genesis state, so using a different configuration for each node means that they won't be able to peer with each other. An example of this is shown in the Common Problems section.
The output in this section was generated on Windows 10 running aleth 1.6.0-alpha.1-31+commit.ad7204c9
- Create a key pair for each node:
aleth.exe account new
Enter the desired password when prompted
Example:
aleth account new [2019-04-02 19:59:42.515684] [0x000041f0] [info] ReadingC:\Users\nilse\AppData\Roaming\Web3\keys\4f04a5ed-87e4-1e4d-4367-604db42bdcff.json [2019-04-02 19:59:42.520265] [0x000041f0] [info] ReadingC:\Users\nilse\AppData\Roaming\Web3\keys\84258fde-b0d9-747e-b70f-f55e14831192.json [2019-04-02 19:59:42.520265] [0x000041f0] [info] ReadingC:\Users\nilse\AppData\Roaming\Web3\keys\9067d973-1c8d-fa86-a312-14c90188f610.json Enter a passphrase with which to secure this account:Please confirm the passphrase by entering it again: Created key 623b80dd-d008-4cd4-dd06-c36f0f64296c Address: 007e13502a8b226b0f19e7412db75352dc1d0760 aleth account new [2019-04-02 19:59:53.847216] [0x000011b4] [info] ReadingC:\Users\nilse\AppData\Roaming\Web3\keys\4f04a5ed-87e4-1e4d-4367-604db42bdcff.json [2019-04-02 19:59:53.849343] [0x000011b4] [info] ReadingC:\Users\nilse\AppData\Roaming\Web3\keys\623b80dd-d008-4cd4-dd06-c36f0f64296c.json [2019-04-02 19:59:53.850400] [0x000011b4] [info] ReadingC:\Users\nilse\AppData\Roaming\Web3\keys\84258fde-b0d9-747e-b70f-f55e14831192.json [2019-04-02 19:59:53.850400] [0x000011b4] [info] ReadingC:\Users\nilse\AppData\Roaming\Web3\keys\9067d973-1c8d-fa86-a312-14c90188f610.json Enter a passphrase with which to secure this account:Please confirm the passphrase by entering it again: Created key ab921356-8c9e-54ff-e3e7-da5c2f7aa685 Address: 002c73acd4bc217998966964d27f0ee79a47befb
- Add each address generated in the previous step to the
accounts
section of your chain configuration file (we'll refer to this asconfig.json
) along with the desired balance in wei. For example, the following initializes each account with 2 ether (2000000000000000000 wei):
"accounts": { "0000000000000000000000000000000000000001": { "precompiled": { "name": "ecrecover", "linear": { "base": 3000, "word": 0 } }, "balance": "0x01" }, "0000000000000000000000000000000000000002": { "precompiled": { "name": "sha256", "linear": { "base": 60, "word": 12 } }, "balance": "0x01" }, "0000000000000000000000000000000000000003": { "precompiled": { "name": "ripemd160", "linear": { "base": 600, "word": 120 } }, "balance": "0x01" }, "0000000000000000000000000000000000000004": { "precompiled": { "name": "identity", "linear": { "base": 15, "word": 3 } }, "balance": "0x01" }, "0000000000000000000000000000000000000005": { "precompiled": { "name": "modexp" }, "balance": "0x01" }, "0000000000000000000000000000000000000006": { "precompiled": { "name": "alt_bn128_G1_add", "linear": { "base": 500, "word": 0 } }, "balance": "0x01" }, "0000000000000000000000000000000000000007": { "precompiled": { "name": "alt_bn128_G1_mul", "linear": { "base": 40000, "word": 0 } }, "balance": "0x01" }, "0000000000000000000000000000000000000008": { "precompiled": { "name": "alt_bn128_pairing_product" }, "balance": "0x01" }, "007e13502a8b226b0f19e7412db75352dc1d0760": { "balance" : "2000000000000000000" }, "002c73acd4bc217998966964d27f0ee79a47befb": { "balance" : "2000000000000000000" } }
- Start the first node:
aleth -m on --config <file> -a <addr> --no-discovery --unsafe-transactions --listen <port>
-m on | Enable CPU mining |
--config | Set chain configuration |
-a | Set recipient of mining block reward |
--no-discovery | Disable devp2p discovery protocol (it's unnecessary in a two-node network, we'll be adding a peer manually) |
--unsafe-transactions | |
Don't require approval before sending each transaction (unnecessary for testing purposes) | |
--listen | Set TCP port to listen on for incoming peer connections |
Example:
aleth -m on --config config.json -a 00fd4aaf9713f5bb664c20a462acc4ebc363d1a6 --no-discovery --unsafe-transactions --listen 30303
Make note of the node's URL (which starts with enode://
) since you'll need to supply it when starting the second node. The URL should be logged within the first few lines of console output.
Example:
aleth, a C++ Ethereum client INFO 04-01 20:34:38 main net Id: ##fb867844… aleth 1.6.0-alpha.1-28+commit.32bb833e.dirty Mining Beneficiary: 84258fde-b0d9-747e-b70f-f55e14831192 - 00fd4aaf9713f5bb664c20a462acc4ebc363d1a6 INFO 04-01 20:34:40 p2p info UPnP device not found. WARN 04-01 20:34:40 p2p warn "_enabled" parameter is false, discovery is disabled Node ID: enode://fb867844056920bbf0dd0945faff8a7a249d33726786ec367461a6c023cae62d7b2bb725a07e2f9832eb05be89e71cf81acf22022215b51a561929c37419531a@127.0.0.1:30303
The node should start mining blocks after a minute or two:
INFO 04-01 20:38:59 main rpc JSON-RPC socket path: \\.\pipe\\geth.ipc JSONRPC Admin Session Key: 2C/gbvE/pxQ= INFO 04-01 20:38:59 main client Mining Beneficiary: @00fd4aaf… INFO 04-01 20:40:36 miner2 client Block sealed #1 INFO 04-01 20:40:36 eth client Tried to seal sealed block... INFO 04-01 20:40:36 eth client 1 blocks imported in 1 ms (515.198 blocks/s) in #1 INFO 04-01 20:40:37 miner0 client Block sealed #2 INFO 04-01 20:40:37 eth client 1 blocks imported in 3 ms (316.056 blocks/s) in #2 INFO 04-01 20:40:39 miner1 client Block sealed #3 INFO 04-01 20:40:39 eth client 1 blocks imported in 3 ms (300.842 blocks/s) in #3
- Start the second node:
aleth --config <file> --no-discovery --unsafe-transactions --listen <port> --peerset required:<url> --db-path <path>
--config | Specify the same chain config file |
--listen | Specify a different port |
--peerset | Specify URL of the first node |
--db-path | Path to save sync'd blocks. Aleth saves blocks by default to %APPDATA%\Ethereum on Windows and $HOME/.ethereum on Linux. You need to specify a different path for your second node otherwise you'll run into database access issues. See the Common Problems section for an example of this error. |
Example:
aleth --config config.json --no-discovery --unsafe-transactions --listen 30305 --db-path %APPDATA%\EthereumPrivate_01 --peerset required:enode://fb867844056920bbf0dd0945faff8a7a249d33726786ec367461a6c023cae62d7b2bb725a07e2f9832eb05be89e71cf81acf22022215b51a561929c37419531a@127.0.0.1:30303
- The node should connect to the first node and start syncing blocks:
aleth, a C++ Ethereum client INFO 04-01 20:47:55 main net Id: ##d4a0335d… aleth 1.6.0-alpha.1-28+commit.32bb833e.dirty Mining Beneficiary: 84258fde-b0d9-747e-b70f-f55e14831192 - 00fd4aaf9713f5bb664c20a462acc4ebc363d1a6 INFO 04-01 20:47:59 p2p info UPnP device not found. WARN 04-01 20:47:59 p2p warn "_enabled" parameter is false, discovery is disabled Node ID: enode://d4a0335d481fe816a7d580a298870066c3c24af60cd1c2875bd2598befedfbd5a43942f41e04f6e92d1081de72843f15ff5fb9c8f65cb31bdce1357514f02491@127.0.0.1:30305 INFO 04-01 20:47:59 main rpc JSON-RPC socket path: \\.\pipe\\geth.ipc JSONRPC Admin Session Key: rtsy5ehS1JA= INFO 04-01 20:47:59 p2p sync 5def5843…|aleth/1.6.0-alpha.1-28+commit.32bb833e.dirty/windows/msvc19.0.24215.1/debug Starting full sync INFO 04-01 20:48:01 eth client 26 blocks imported in 177 ms (146.424 blocks/s) in #26 INFO 04-01 20:48:02 eth client 50 blocks imported in 262 ms (190.531 blocks/s) in #76 INFO 04-01 20:48:02 eth client 56 blocks imported in 300 ms (186.602 blocks/s) in #132 INFO 04-01 20:48:02 eth client 59 blocks imported in 265 ms (222.067 blocks/s) in #191
Example:
Unrecognized peerset: required:enode://5def584369536c059df3cd86280200beb51829319e4bd1a8bb19df885babe215db30eafa548861b558ae4ac65d546a2d96a5664fade83ba3605c45b6bd88cc51@0.0.0.0:0
Your peerset
string is formatted incorrectly. You probably need to update the IP address in the node URL to 127.0.0.1:<port>
, where <port>
is the port number you supplied to node 1 via --listen
.
Example:
aleth, a C++ Ethereum client INFO 04-01 20:50:31 main net Id: ##a7dbe409… WARN 04-01 20:50:31 main warn Database "C:\Users\nilse\AppData\Roaming\EthereumPrivate_00\ddce0f53\blocks"or "C:\Users\nilse\AppData\Roaming\EthereumPrivate_00\ddce0f53\12041\extras"already open. You appear to have another instance of ethereum running. Bailing.
Both of your Aleth nodes are trying to use the same location for their block databases. Set one of your nodes' database paths to a different location (--db-path
).
This means that node 2 couldn't successfully peer with node 1. A possible reason for this when running a private network is using a different chain config for each node. To see if this is the issue, enable verbose logging on node 1 (-v4 --log-channels net sync
) to get helpful logs for debugging.
Example: Here are the node 1 logs when node 1 and node 2 use different chain configuration files (note the Peer not suitable for sync: Invalid genesis hash.
error):
TRACE 04-01 20:57:53 p2p net p2p.connect.ingress receiving auth from 127.0.0.1:61309 TRACE 04-01 20:57:53 p2p net Listening on local port 30303 TRACE 04-01 20:57:53 p2p net p2p.connect.ingress sending ack to 127.0.0.1:61309 TRACE 04-01 20:57:53 p2p net p2p.connect.ingress sending capabilities handshake TRACE 04-01 20:57:53 p2p net p2p.connect.ingress recvd hello header TRACE 04-01 20:57:53 p2p net p2p.connect.ingress hello frame: success. starting session. DEBUG 04-01 20:57:53 p2p net Hello: aleth/1.6.0-alpha.1-28+commit.32bb833e.dirty/windows/msvc19.0.24215.1/debug V[4] ##8b7b78e1… (eth,63) 30305 DEBUG 04-01 20:57:53 p2p net New session for capability eth; idOffset: 16 TRACE 04-01 20:57:53 p2p net <- [ 0x3F, 0x42, 0x179D6F06, 0x9A610A1C26FFF584E79421406D77ABF46E9FDE72E11D2F6E8B880D3F5E84EDE8, 0xDDCE0F53ABB8348FDF758C4DABBD9C0A7BBD359CBE6E74AC60A2F12F6B9BAA74 ] TRACE 04-01 20:57:53 p2p net <- [ ] DEBUG 04-01 20:57:53 p2p net p2p.host.peer.register ##8b7b78e1… TRACE 04-01 20:57:53 p2p net 8b7b78e1…|aleth/1.6.0-alpha.1-28+commit.32bb833e.dirty/windows/msvc19.0.24215.1/debug Error reading: An established connection was aborted by the software in your host machine TRACE 04-01 20:57:53 p2p net 8b7b78e1…|aleth/1.6.0-alpha.1-28+commit.32bb833e.dirty/windows/msvc19.0.24215.1/debug Closing 127.0.0.1:61309 (Low-level TCP communication error.) DEBUG 04-01 20:57:53 p2p net 8b7b78e1…|aleth/1.6.0-alpha.1-28+commit.32bb833e.dirty/windows/msvc19.0.24215.1/debug Closing peer session :-( TRACE 04-01 20:57:58 p2p net p2p.connect.ingress receiving auth from 127.0.0.1:61323 TRACE 04-01 20:57:58 p2p net Listening on local port 30303 TRACE 04-01 20:57:58 p2p net p2p.connect.ingress sending ack to 127.0.0.1:61323 TRACE 04-01 20:57:58 p2p net p2p.connect.ingress sending capabilities handshake TRACE 04-01 20:57:58 p2p net p2p.connect.ingress recvd hello header TRACE 04-01 20:57:58 p2p net p2p.connect.ingress hello frame: success. starting session. DEBUG 04-01 20:57:58 p2p net Hello: aleth/1.6.0-alpha.1-28+commit.32bb833e.dirty/windows/msvc19.0.24215.1/debug V[4] ##8b7b78e1… (eth,63) 30305 DEBUG 04-01 20:57:58 p2p net New session for capability eth; idOffset: 16 TRACE 04-01 20:57:58 p2p net <- [ 0x3F, 0x42, 0x179D6F06, 0x9A610A1C26FFF584E79421406D77ABF46E9FDE72E11D2F6E8B880D3F5E84EDE8, 0xDDCE0F53ABB8348FDF758C4DABBD9C0A7BBD359CBE6E74AC60A2F12F6B9BAA74 ] TRACE 04-01 20:57:58 p2p net <- [ ] DEBUG 04-01 20:57:58 p2p net p2p.host.peer.register ##8b7b78e1… TRACE 04-01 20:57:58 p2p net 8b7b78e1…|aleth/1.6.0-alpha.1-28+commit.32bb833e.dirty/windows/msvc19.0.24215.1/debug -> 16 [ 0x3F, 0x42, 0x100000, 0xD8600904A41043A4E81D23863F178E7DC8B3C2CBAFA94EB4BBF5DC46BCCCE176, 0xD8600904A41043A4E81D23863F178E7DC8B3C2CBAFA94EB4BBF5DC46BCCCE176 ] DEBUG 04-01 20:57:58 p2p sync 8b7b78e1…|aleth/1.6.0-alpha.1-28+commit.32bb833e.dirty/windows/msvc19.0.24215.1/debug Peer not suitable for sync: Invalid genesis hash. TRACE 04-01 20:57:58 p2p net 8b7b78e1…|aleth/1.6.0-alpha.1-28+commit.32bb833e.dirty/windows/msvc19.0.24215.1/debug Disconnecting (our reason: Subprotocol reason.) TRACE 04-01 20:57:58 p2p net 8b7b78e1…|aleth/1.6.0-alpha.1-28+commit.32bb833e.dirty/windows/msvc19.0.24215.1/debug <- [ 0x10 ] TRACE 04-01 20:57:58 p2p net 8b7b78e1…|aleth/1.6.0-alpha.1-28+commit.32bb833e.dirty/windows/msvc19.0.24215.1/debug Closing 127.0.0.1:61323 (Subprotocol reason.) DEBUG 04-01 20:57:58 p2p net 8b7b78e1…|aleth/1.6.0-alpha.1-28+commit.32bb833e.dirty/windows/msvc19.0.24215.1/debug Closing peer session :-(
Example:
aleth, a C++ Ethereum client INFO 04-01 21:01:18 main net Id: ##ac459be1… aleth 1.6.0-alpha.1-28+commit.32bb833e.dirty Mining Beneficiary: 84258fde-b0d9-747e-b70f-f55e14831192 - 00fd4aaf9713f5bb664c20a462acc4ebc363d1a6 WARN 04-01 21:01:20 p2p warn Couldn't start accepting connections on host. Failed to accept socket on 0.0.0.0:30303. Throw location unknown (consider using BOOST_THROW_EXCEPTION) Dynamic exception type: class boost::exception_detail::clone_impl<struct boost::exception_detail::error_info_injector<class boost::system::system_error> > std::exception::what: bind: Only one usage of each socket address (protocol/network address/port) is normally permitted
You're running both nodes on the same listen port. Specify different ports when launching each node via --listen
.