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What is a testnet in DCloud?

Introduction​

The testnet is a testing network, consisting of nodes divided into chains. The main purposes of testnet are to:

  • test the survivability of the network under different workloads;
  • test the connectivity of nodes in different configurations;
  • test the survivability of chains in different configurations;
  • test different DCloud services.

The testnets can be public or local. Technically, local testnet is a local-hosted test chain — temporary network of three local-hosted nodes used for testing. For more information about the test chain, please, refer to "Local Testnet" page.

The testnet is a powerful tool aimed to help you contribute to web3 as:

  • a DCloud developer,
  • a developer using DCloud as a core service for app development,
  • a researcher who wants to learn something new about the technology.

Terminology​

  • Community nodes — nodes, run by users, or node providers. They form chains, that form a testnet.
  • Node providers — users, who connect their servers with the Power software to our network and provide their computing resources.

Public testnet​

A public testnet is a network formed by Community nodes and run by node providers.

Testnet allows you to:

  • deploy your DApps code (smart contracts, decentralized backend),
  • connect your DApp to the testnet and interact with it by reading and writing the DApp frontend data using the Power API, or
  • run autotests for your DApps.

Before using the public testnet, you need to build and start the node:

Use our guide to start your public testnet.

When connecting your node to the public testnet, you connect it to either a new or an existing chain.

After you've connected your node to the testnet, it starts to take part in Consensus. You can also connect your node as a Seed node.

Note

Only the nodes specified in genesis.txt can participate in Consensus in this version. The functionality of connecting to a chain without specifying your node in genesis.txt will be added in future releases.