Running a Public Network (Advanced)

The aptos tool supports bootstrapping new blockchains through what is known as a genesis ceremony. The output of the genesis ceremony is the output of move instructions that prepares a blockchain for online operation. The input consists of:

• A set of validators and their configuration
• The initial set of Move modules, known as a framework
• A unique ChainId (u8) that distinguishes this from other networks
• For test chains, there also exists an account that manages the minting of AptosCoin

• The genesis organizer constructs a Layout and distributes it.
• The genesis organizer prepares the Aptos framework’s bytecode and distributes it.
• Each participant generates their ValidatorConfiguration and distributes it.
• Each participant generates a genesis.blob from the resulting contributions.
• The genesis organizer executes the genesis.blob to derive the initial waypoint and distributes it.
• Each participant begins their aptos-node. The aptos-node verifies upon startup that the genesis.blob with the waypoint provided by the genesis organizer.
• The blockchain will begin consensus after a quorum of stake is available.

The following sections rely on tools from the Aptos source. See Building Aptos From Source for setup.

The layout file contains:

• root_key: an Ed25519 public key for AptosCoin management.
• users: the set of participants
• chain_id: the ChainId or a unique integer that distinguishes this deployment from other Aptos networks

An example:

root_key: "0xca3579457555c80fc7bb39964eb298c414fd60f81a2f8eedb0244ec07a26e575"
users:
  - alice
  - bob
chain_id: 8

From your Aptos-core repository, build the framework and package it:

cargo run --package framework
mkdir aptos-framework-release
cp aptos-framework/releases/artifacts/current/build/**/bytecode_modules/* aptos-framework-release

The framework will be stored within the aptos-framework-release directory.

The ValidatorConfiguration file contains:

• account_address: The account that manages this validator. This must be derived from the account_key provided within the ValidatorConfiguration file.
• consensus_key: The public key for authenticating consensus messages from the validator
• account_key: The public key for the account that manages this validator. This is used to derive the account_address.
• network_key: The public key for both validator and fullnode network authentication and encryption.
• validator_host: The network address where the validator resides. This contains a host and port field. The host should either be a DNS name or an IP address. Currently only IPv4 is supported.
• full_node_host: An optional network address where the fullnode resides. This contains a host and port field. The host should either be a DNS name or an IP address. Currently only IPv4 is supported.
• stake_amount: The number of coins being staked by this node. This is expected to be 1, if it is different the configuration will be considered invalid.

An example:

account_address: ccd49f3ea764365ac21e99f029ca63a9b0fbfab1c8d8d5482900e4fa32c5448a
consensus_key: "0xa05b8f41057ac72f9ca99f5e3b1b787930f03ba5e448661f2a1fac98371775ee"
account_key: "0x3d15ab64c8b14c9aab95287fd0eb894aad0b4bd929a5581bcc8225b5688f053b"
network_key: "0x43ce1a4ac031b98bb1ee4a5cd72a4cca0fd72933d64b22cef4f1a61895c2e544"
validator_host:
  host: bobs_host
  port: 6180
full_node_host:
  host: bobs_host
  port: 6182
stake_amount: 1

To generate this using the aptos CLI:

1. Generate your validator’s keys:

cargo run --package aptos -- genesis generate-keys --output-dir bobs

2. Generate your ValidatorConfiguration:

cargo run --package aptos -- \\
    genesis set-validator-configuration \\
    --keys-dir bobs \\
    --username bob \\
    --validator-host bobs_host:6180 \\
    --full-node-host bobs_host:6180 \\
    --local-repository-dir .

3. The last command will produce a bob.yaml file that should be distributed to other participants for genesis.blob generation.

genesis.blob and the waypoint can be generated after obtaining the layout file, each of the individual ValidatorConfiguration files, and the framework release. It is important to validate that the ValidatorConfiguration provided in the earlier stage is the same as in the distribution for generating the genesis.blob. If there is a mismatch, inform all participants.

To generate the genesis.blob and waypoint:

• Place the layout file in a directory, e.g., genesis.
• Place all the ValidatorConfiguration files into the genesis directory.
• Ensure that the ValidatorConfiguration files are listed under the set of users within the layout file.
• Make a framework directory within the genesis directory and place the framework release .mv files into the framework directory.
• Use the aptos CLI to generate genesis and waypoint:

cargo run --package aptos -- genesis generate-genesis --local-repository-dir genesis

Upon generating the genesis.blob and waypoint, place them into your validator and fullnode’s configuration directory and begin your validator and fullnode.