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

Deploying a node

Node structure

Each Corda node has the following structure:

.
├── certificates            // The node's doorman certificates
├── corda-webserver.jar     // The built-in node webserver
├── corda.jar               // The core Corda libraries
├── logs                    // The node logs
├── node.conf               // The node's configuration files
├── persistence.mv.db       // The node's database
└── cordapps                // The CorDapps jars installed on the node

The node is configured by editing its node.conf file. You install CorDapps on the node by dropping the CorDapp JARs into the cordapps folder.

Node naming

A node's name must be a valid X500 name that obeys the following additional constraints:

• The fields of the name have the following maximum character lengths:

  • Common name: 64
  • Organisation: 128
  • Organisation unit: 64
  • Locality: 64
  • State: 64

• The country code is a valid ISO 3166-1 two letter code in upper-case

• The organisation, locality and country attributes are present

• The organisation field of the name obeys the following constraints:

  • Has at least two letters
  • No leading or trailing whitespace
  • No double-spacing
  • Upper-case first letter
  • Does not contain the words "node" or "server"
  • Does not include the characters ',' or '=' or '$' or '"' or ''' or '\'
  • Is in NFKC normalization form
  • Only the latin, common and inherited unicode scripts are supported

The deployNodes task

The CorDapp template defines a deployNodes task that allows you to automatically generate and configure a set of nodes:

task deployNodes(type: net.corda.plugins.Cordform, dependsOn: ['jar']) {
    directory "./build/nodes"
    networkMap "O=Controller,L=London,C=GB"
    node {
        name "O=Controller,L=London,C=GB"
        // The notary will offer a validating notary service.
        notary = [validating : true]
        p2pPort  10002
        rpcPort  10003
        // No webport property, so no webserver will be created.
        h2Port   10004
        sshdPort 22
        // Includes the corda-finance CorDapp on our node.
        cordapps = ["net.corda:corda-finance:$corda_release_version"]
    }
    node {
        name "O=PartyA,L=London,C=GB"
        advertisedServices = []
        p2pPort  10005
        rpcPort  10006
        webPort  10007
        h2Port   10008
        sshdPort 22
        cordapps = ["net.corda:corda-finance:$corda_release_version"]
        // Grants user1 all RPC permissions.
        rpcUsers = [[ user: "user1", "password": "test", "permissions": ["ALL"]]]
    }
    node {
        name "O=PartyB,L=New York,C=US"
        advertisedServices = []
        p2pPort  10009
        rpcPort  10010
        webPort  10011
        h2Port   10012
        sshdPort 22
        cordapps = ["net.corda:corda-finance:$corda_release_version"]
        // Grants user1 the ability to start the MyFlow flow.
        rpcUsers = [[ user: "user1", "password": "test", "permissions": ["StartFlow.net.corda.flows.MyFlow"]]]
    }
}

Running this task will create three nodes in the build/nodes folder:

• A Controller node that:
  • Serves as the network map
  • Offers a validating notary service
  • Will not have a webserver (since webPort is not defined)
  • Is running the corda-finance CorDapp
• PartyA and PartyB nodes that:
  • Are pointing at the Controller as the network map service
  • Are not offering any services
  • Will have a webserver (since webPort is defined)
  • Are running the corda-finance CorDapp
  • Have an RPC user, user1, that can be used to log into the node via RPC

Additionally, all three nodes will include any CorDapps defined in the project's source folders, even though these CorDapps are not listed in each node's cordapps entry. This means that running the deployNodes task from the template CorDapp, for example, would automatically build and add the template CorDapp to each node.

You can extend deployNodes to generate additional nodes. The only requirement is that you must specify a single node to run the network map service, by putting their name in the networkMap field.

Warning

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

Running deployNodes

To create the nodes defined in our deployNodes task, we'd run the following command in a terminal window from the root of the project:

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

This will create the nodes in the build/nodes folder.

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.

There will be a node folder generated for each node you defined, plus a runnodes shell script (or batch file on Windows) to run all the nodes at once. If you make any changes to your deployNodes task, you will need to re-run the task to see the changes take effect.

You can now run the nodes by following the instructions in Running a node <running-a-node>.