How to Build a Cardano Block Producing Node (Debian Buster)

A guide for establishing a block-producing node for Cardano on Debian Buster.

July 1, 2021 · 1 min read

This comprehensive guide walks administrators through establishing a block-producing node for Cardano on Debian Buster. The tutorial assumes prior installation of cardano-cli and cardano-node binaries.

System Update

apt update -y
apt upgrade -y
apt dist-upgrade -y
apt autoremove -y
shutdown -r now

Swap Space Configuration

swapon --show
fallocate -l 10G /swapfile
chmod 600 /swapfile
mkswap /swapfile
swapon /swapfile
echo "/swapfile swap swap defaults 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
swapon --show
shutdown -r now
swapon --show

Add Cardano User

adduser \
    --system \
    --shell /bin/bash \
    --gecos 'Cardano Node' \
    --group \
    --disabled-password \
    --home /home/cardano \
    cardano

Verify Installation

cardano-cli version
cardano-node version

Create Directories

mkdir -p /etc/cardano/
mkdir -p /etc/cardano/key/
mkdir -p /var/lib/cardano/
mkdir -p /tmp/cardano/
chown cardano:cardano /tmp/cardano
chown cardano:cardano /var/lib/cardano

Clone Configuration Files

mkdir -p ~/src
cd ~/src
git clone https://github.com/input-output-hk/cardano-node.git
cp -R ~/src/cardano-node/configuration/cardano/* /etc/cardano/
rm -rf ~/src

Topology Configuration

Edit /etc/cardano/mainnet-topology.json:

{
  "Producers": [
    {
      "addr": "your-cardano-relay-0.domain.com",
      "port": 4020,
      "valency": 1
    },
    {
       "addr": "your-cardano-relay-1.domain.com",
       "port": 4020,
       "valency": 1
    }
  ]
}

Required Key Files

Copy to /etc/cardano/key/:

kes.skey
kes.vkey
node.cert
vrf.skey
vrf.vkey

Set Permissions

chmod -R 660 /etc/cardano/key/*
chmod -R 400 /etc/cardano/key/*.skey
chown -R cardano:cardano /etc/cardano

Producer Startup Script

Create /usr/local/bin/cardano-producer-start.sh:

#!/bin/bash
mkdir -p /tmp/cardano/
chown cardano:cardano /tmp/cardano

export CARDANO_NODE_SOCKET_PATH="/tmp/cardano/cardano-node.socket"

/usr/local/bin/cardano-node run \
--topology /etc/cardano/mainnet-topology.json \
--database-path /var/lib/cardano \
--socket-path /tmp/cardano/cardano-node.socket \
--host-addr 0.0.0.0 \
--port 4020 \
--config /etc/cardano/mainnet-config.json \
--shelley-kes-key /etc/cardano/key/kes.skey \
--shelley-vrf-key /etc/cardano/key/vrf.skey \
--shelley-operational-certificate /etc/cardano/key/node.cert

Make executable:

touch /usr/local/bin/cardano-producer-start.sh
chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/cardano-producer-start.sh

Systemd Service File

Create /etc/systemd/system/cardano-node.service:

[Unit]
Description     = Cardano node service
Wants           = network-online.target
After           = network-online.target

[Service]
User            = cardano
Type            = simple
WorkingDirectory= /home/cardano
ExecStart       = /bin/bash -c '/usr/local/bin/cardano-producer-start.sh'
KillSignal=SIGINT
RestartKillSignal=SIGINT
TimeoutStopSec=5
LimitNOFILE=32768
Restart=always
RestartSec=7

[Install]
WantedBy= multi-user.target

Launch Service

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable cardano-node --now

Verification

journalctl -u cardano -f