corda/docs/source/deploying-a-node.rst

Deploying a node

Using Gradle to build nodes

Nodes are usually built using a Gradle task. The canonical Gradle file for building nodes is the one used by the CorDapp template. Both a Java version and a Kotlin version are available.

Cordform is the local node deployment system for CorDapps. The nodes generated are intended for experimenting, debugging, and testing node configurations, but not for production or testnet deployment.

Here is an example Gradle task called deployNodes that uses the Cordform plugin to deploy three nodes, plus a notary node:

task deployNodes(type: net.corda.plugins.Cordform, dependsOn: ['jar']) {
    directory "./build/nodes"
    node {
        name "O=Controller,OU=corda,L=London,C=UK"
        notary = [validating : true]
        p2pPort 10002
        rpcPort 10003
        webPort 10004
        cordapps = []
    }
    node {
        name "CN=NodeA,O=NodeA,L=London,C=UK"
        p2pPort 10005
        rpcPort 10006
        webPort 10007
        cordapps = []
        rpcUsers = [[ user: "user1", "password": "test", "permissions": []]]
    }
    node {
        name "CN=NodeB,O=NodeB,L=New York,C=US"
        p2pPort 10008
        rpcPort 10009
        webPort 10010
        cordapps = []
        rpcUsers = [[ user: "user1", "password": "test", "permissions": []]]
    }
    node {
        name "CN=NodeC,O=NodeC,L=Paris,C=FR"
        p2pPort 10011
        rpcPort 10012
        webPort 10013
        cordapps = []
        rpcUsers = [[ user: "user1", "password": "test", "permissions": []]]
    }
}

You can extend deployNodes to generate any number of nodes you like.

Warning

When adding nodes, make sure that there are no port clashes!

If your CorDapp is written in Java, you should also add the following Gradle snippet so that you can pass named arguments to your flows via the Corda shell:

tasks.withType(JavaCompile) {
    options.compilerArgs << "-parameters"
}

Any CorDapps defined in the project's source folders are also automatically registered with all the nodes defined in deployNodes, even if the CorDapps are not listed in each node's cordapps entry.

Deploying your nodes

You deploy a set of nodes by running your build.gradle file's Cordform task. For example, if we were using the standard deployNodes task defined above, we'd create our nodes by running the following commands in a terminal window from the root of the project:

• Unix/Mac OSX: ./gradlew deployNodes
• Windows: gradlew.bat deployNodes

After the build process has finished, you will find the newly-built nodes under kotlin-source/build/nodes. There will be one folder generated for each node you built, plus a runnodes shell script (or batch file on Windows) to run all the nodes at once. Each node in the nodes folder has the following structure:

. nodeName
├── corda.jar               // The Corda runtime
├── node.conf               // The node's configuration
├── plugins                 // Any installed CorDapps
└── additional-node-infos   // Directory containing all the addresses and certificates of the other nodes.

Note

During the build process each node generates a NodeInfo file which is written in its own root directory,

the plug-in proceeds and copies each node NodeInfo to every other node additional-node-infos directory. The NodeInfo file contains a node hostname and port, legal name and security certificate.

Note

Outside of development environments, do not store your node directories in the build folder.

If you make any changes to your deployNodes task, you will need to re-run the task to see the changes take effect.