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Starting the node from source

Introduction​

TP-Node is the main module of The Power Ecosystem. In this manual, you'll learn how to start a node from the source code on Linux.

Setting up the environment​

Before you start your TP-Node, you need to set up the environment.

Install Erlang​

You can install Erlang either using the package manager, or using kerl.

Install Erlang using the package manager​

If you use the recommended Ubuntu version (22.04.1), you can install Erlang using the package manager. To do this, run the following command:

apt install cmake clang gcc git curl libssl-dev build-essential automake autoconf libncurses5-dev elixir erlang

If you use other version of Ubuntu (20.04, for instance), refer to the section below to install Erlang using kerl.

Install Erlang using kerl​

To install Erlang using kerl:

  1. Download the kerl script

    curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kerl/kerl/master/kerl

    Note

    If you already have Erlang installed on your machine, we strongly recommend deleting it before the new installation, using the following command:

    apt purge erlang*

  2. Change script mode to executable by using the following command:

    chmod a+x kerl

  3. Go to the /opt directory:

    cd /opt

  4. Create a new directory in /opt. You can choose any name for this directory. Noteworthy is that the name should be descriptive for you:

    mkdir erlang

  5. Go back to the root directory:

    cd ~

  6. Update the list of Erlang releases using the following command:

    ./kerl update releases

  7. Build the release 24.3 using the following command:

    ./kerl build 24.3

After installation is complete, you will see the following message in the console:

Erlang/OTP 24.3 (24.3) has been successfully built

  1. Install Erlang using the following command:

    ./kerl install 24.3 /opt/erlang

  2. Run the following command to activate the Erlang installation:

    source /opt/erlang/activate

Downloading and building the node​

After setting up the working environment, you can download and build the node:

Note

Choose a project folder to clone your project into. Use this folder to build the node.

  1. Download the node sources from Github into your working directory (your_node, for instance), using the following command:

    git clone https://github.com/thepower/tpnode.git -b e24

  2. Delete the previous builds (if present) in /tpnode by running the following command:

    rm -rf _build/default/*

  3. Compile the node source by running the following command:

    ./rebar3 compile

  4. Build the release by running the following command:

    ./rebar3 release

  5. Copy the node directory from _build/default/rel/thepower to /opt by running the following command:

    cp -r _build/default/rel/thepower /opt

Now you can start the node.

Starting the node​

Start the node using systemd. To do this:

  1. Create a file tpnode.service under /etc/systemd/system directory.

  2. The file must contain the following:

    [Unit]
    Description=tpnode service
    Requires=network.target
    After=network.target

    [Service]
    Type=forking
    ExecStart=/opt/thepower/bin/thepower start
    ExecStop=/opt/thepower/bin/thepower stop
    User=root
    Group=root
    Restart=on-failure

    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target

  3. Run the following command to rerun all generators , reload all unit files, and recreate the entire dependency tree. While the daemon is being reloaded, all sockets systemd listens on behalf of user configuration will stay accessible:

    systemctl daemon-reload

  4. Run the following command to enable the service after reboot:

    systemctl enable tpnode.service

  5. Start the node using the following command:

    systemctl start tpnode.service

How to stop the node?​

To stop the node, run:

systemctl stop tpnode.service

How to check, if my node works?​

To check, if your node works, run:

curl http://your_node.example.com:1080/api/node/status | jq

where:

  • your_node.example.com — your node address;
  • 1080 — port, that your node uses for api.

Replace the example parameters with the ones you need.