chainlink node setup

chainlink node setup using xdai.

external links

• chainlink node setup
• chainlink node with docker-compose
• chainlink api

Setting up a new node

1. Clone this repo to a new cloud server
2. Copy chainlink-<networ>.env to chainlink.env
3. Create folder secrets
4. In secrets, create these files:
   1. api: This file contains 2 lines, one line with an email address and one line with a password. These credentials are used to log into the chainlink admin UI and CLI.
   2. password: This file contains the password to the keystores used as node addresses for sending transactions.
   3. keystore.mnemonic: Put the mnemonic for the keystores in here.
   4. postgres.env: Copy from postgres.env.sample and insert your postgres db password.
5. Run create_keystore.py <password> keystore, this will create the keystore and store it in the secrets folder. Use the password from step 4.2
6. Run docker-compose up -d to start the docker containers.
7. Run docker ps --all to check if two docker containers are up and running. If one container exits, run docker-compose up -d again (the chainlink node expects the postgres container to be available, which may take some seconds and prevents the chainlink node to start immediately. Alternatively, remove the hash sign # in the line # restart: always in docker-compose.yml)
8. Run docker logs chainlinknode_chainlink_1 and check if the node is running without errors.
9. On your local machine, run ssh -L 6688.localhost.6688 <yourServer> and check if you can open the GUI via localhost:6688.
10. On the server, run docker exec -it chainlinknode_chainlink_1 bash to connect to the chainlink container.
11. Run chainlink admin login with the credentials of step 4.1
12. Run chainlink keys eth list and copy the address of the key.
13. Run chainlink keys eth delete <address> --hard (replace with the address of the key just copied.)
14. Run chainlink keys eth import ./secrets/keystore.json -p secrets/password. The keystore should be imported.
15. Run chainlink keys eth list. The imported key (and nothing else) should be displayed.
16. Fund the address.
17. (to be continued)

creating .env file for new network/chain

currently templates are provided for the following networks

• xdai-main
• polygon-main
• polygon-test
• avax-main
• avax-test

when any additional network needs to be supported a corresponding template file needs to be added to this repo.

eg the template file for polygon-test is chainlink-polygon-test.env.

to create a new template file:

1. copy chainlink-xdai-main.env to chainlink-<network-key>.env
2. adapt variable ETH_CHAIN_ID to its network-specific value
3. adapt variable LINK_CONTRACT_ADDRESS to its network-specific value

to find the right values check with the Chainlink documentation.

content of repo

public part of config files for virtual server setup.

accessing the chainlink node

assumption: only ssh access is possible

chainlink cli

1. open new shell (green)
2. ssh login using the command below

ssh <user>@<ip-address> 

• <user> your ssh username
• <ip-address> the ip address of the machine where your chainlink node runs

then, in the chainlink node shell

1. use docker ps to check the state of running containers and their names.
2. use docker exec to open a shell inside the chainlink container

cd /opt/chainlinknode
cat api
docker ps -a
docker exec -it chainlinknode_chainlink_1 bash

inside the chainlink docker container you can now use the chainlink cli. the chainlink cli first needs an admin login (see file api for the credentials)

chainlink admin login
chainlink help

chainlink api

1. open new shell (green)
2. ssh tunnel using the command below
3. access api endpoints via localhost:/6688

ssh -L 6688:localhost:6688 <user>@<ip-address> 

• <user> your ssh username
• <ip-address> the ip address of the machine where your chainlink node runs

chainlink node auth can be done via session cookies. curl can be used to create a session cookie (./cookie) as shown below.

export USERNAME=<chainlink admin user name>
export PASSWORD=<chainlink admin user password>
curl -c ./cookie -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"email":"'${USERNAME}'", "PASSWORD":"'${PASSWORD}'"}' localhost:6688/sessions

examples below: use the cookie to show the node's accounting address and list the oracle node jobs

curl -b ./cookie -c ./cookie localhost:6688/v2/keys/eth
curl -b ./cookie -c ./cookie localhost:6688/v2/jobs

chainlink api endpoints extracted from the chainlink go source on github

/health
/readyz
/v2/bridge_types
/v2/chains/evm
/v2/config
/v2/external_initiators
/v2/features
/v2/feeds_managers
/v2/job_proposals
/v2/jobs
/v2/keys/csa
/v2/keys/eth
/v2/keys/ocr
/v2/keys/p2p
/v2/keys/vrf
/v2/log
/v2/ping
/v2/pipeline/runs
/v2/transactions/
/v2/tx_attempts

chainlink node ui

1. open new shell (green)
2. ssh tunnel using the command below
3. open ui in your browser via url http://localhost:6688/

ssh -L 6688:localhost:6688 <user>@<ip-address> 

• <user> your ssh username
• <ip-address> the ip address of the machine where your chainlink node runs

chainlink database

1. ssh tunnel
2. open new shell (green)
3. connect to postgresql db with postgresql://<db-user>:<db-password>@localhost:5432/chainlink

ssh -L 5432:localhost:5432 <user>@<ip-address> 

• <db-user> the db user name (see postgres.env)
• <db-password> the db user password (see postgres.env)
• <user> your ssh username
• <ip-address> the ip address of the machine where your chainlink node runs

operator contract deployment

cd operator
docker run -it --rm \
    -v $PWD:/projects/operator \
    brownie

inside container

cd operator
brownie pm install OpenZeppelin/[email protected]
brownie pm install smartcontractkit/[email protected]
brownie compile
brownie run deploy