Installing a cheqd node from binary package releases

Context
This document provides guidance on how to install and configure a node for the cheqd testnet from our binary package releases.
If you are planning to install a node on a host machine running Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, our recommended method is to use the Interactive installation guide instead.
The node setup guide provides pre-requisites needed before the steps below should be attempted.
Installation steps for cheqd-node binary
1.Get binary
You can get the binary in several ways:
​Compile from source​
Getthe binary compiled for Ubuntu 20.04 in releases;
2.Define configuration for running the cheqd-noded binary as a service
It is highly recommended to run the cheqd-node as a system service using a supervisor such as systemd.
You can use such postinst script for setting up our binary as a service. The same tool can be used to set up the binary as a service.
There is only one input parameter for postinst script, it's a path to where binary is.
To set up the binary using postint, execute the following with sudo privileges:
bash postinst <path/to/cheqd-noded/binary>
This will add a service file and prepare all needed directories for configs/keys and data. The script also creates a new service user called cheqd, to ensure that all processes and directories related to cheqd-noded are isolated under that service user.
3.Initialise the node configuration files
The "moniker" for your node is a "friendly" name that will be available to peers on the network in their address book, and allows easily searching a peer's address book.
cheqd-noded init <node-moniker>
4.Download the genesis file for a persistent chain, such as the cheqd testnet
Download the genesis.json file for the relevant persistent chain and put it in the $HOME/.cheqdnode/config directory.
For cheqd mainnet:
wget -O $HOME/.cheqdnode/config/genesis.json https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cheqd/cheqd-node/main/networks/mainnet/genesis.json
For cheqd testnet:
wget -O $HOME/.cheqdnode/config/genesis.json https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cheqd/cheqd-node/main/networks/testnet/genesis.json
5.Define the seed configuration for populating the list of peers known by a node
Update seeds with a comma separated list of seed node addresses specified in seeds.txt for the relevant network.
For cheqd mainnet, set the SEEDS environment variable:
SEEDS=$(wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cheqd/cheqd-node/main/networks/mainnet/seeds.txt)
For cheqd testnet, set the SEEDS environment variable:
SEEDS=$(wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cheqd/cheqd-node/main/networks/testnet/seeds.txt)
After the SEEDS variable is defined, pass the values to the cheqd-noded configure tool to set it in the configuration file.
$ echo $SEEDS
# Comma separated list should be printed
​
$ cheqd-noded configure p2p seeds "$SEEDS"
6.Set gas prices accepted by the node
Update minimum-gas-prices parameter if you want to use custom value. The default is 25ncheq.
cheqd-noded configure min-gas-prices "50ncheq"
7.Define the external peer-to-peer address
Unless you are running a node in a sentry/validator two-tier architecture, your node should be reachable on its peer-to-peer (P2P) port by other other nodes. This can be defined by setting the external-address property which defines the externally reachable address. This can be defined using either IP address or DNS name followed by the P2P port (Default: 26656).
cheqd-noded configure p2p external-address <ip-address-or-dns-name:p2p-port>
# Example
# cheqd-noded configure p2p external-address 8.8.8.8:26656
This is especially important if the node has no public IP address, e.g., if it's in a private subnet with traffic routed via a load balancer or proxy. Without the external-address property, the node will report a private IP address from its own host network interface as its remote_ip, which will be unreachable from the outside world. The node still works in this configuration, but only with limited unidirectional connectivity.
8.Make the RPC endpoint available externally (optional)
This step is necessary only if you want to allow incoming client application connections to your node. Otherwise, the node will be accessible only locally. Further details about the RPC endpoints is available in the cheqd node setup guide.
cheqd-noded configure rpc-laddr "tcp://0.0.0.0:26657"
9.Enable and start the cheqd-noded system service
If you are prompted for a password for the cheqd user, type exit to logout and then attempt to execute this as a privileged user (with sudo privileges or as root user, if necessary).
$ systemctl enable cheqd-noded
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/cheqd-noded.service → /lib/systemd/system/cheqd-noded.service.
​
$ systemctl start cheqd-noded
Check that the cheqd-noded service is running. If successfully started, the status output should return Active: active (running)
systemctl status cheqd-noded
Post-installation checks
Once the cheqd-noded daemon is active and running, check that the node is connected to the cheqd testnet and catching up with the latest updates on the ledger.
Checking node status via terminal
cheqd-noded status
In the output, look for the text latest_block_height and note the value. Execute the status command above a few times and make sure the value of latest_block_height has increased each time.
The node is fully caught up when the parameter catching_up returns the output false.
Checking node status via the RPC endpoint
An alternative method to check a node's status is via the RPC interface, if it has been configured.
Remotely via the RPC interface: cheqd-noded status --node <rpc-address>
By opening the JSONRPC over HTTP status page through a web browser: <node-address:rpc-port>/status
Next steps
At this stage, your node would be connected to the cheqd testnet as an observer node. Learn how to configure your node as a validator node to participate in staking rewards, block creation, and governance.
Further information
After successful installation, learn how to configure your node as a validator node to participate in staking rewards, block creation, and governance.

Installing cheqd-node with Docker

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Setting up and configuring validators

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Outline

Context

Installation steps for cheqd-node binary

Post-installation checks

Checking node status via terminal

Checking node status via the RPC endpoint

Next steps

Further information