Blockscout deployment guide
This guide currently uses the following software versions:
- Ubuntu-18.04 (Bionic) server
- Openethereum (Parity): v3.0.1-stable
- BlockScout:
v3.2.0
Linux(Ubuntu or CentOS) server with root access, 4+ TB storage for BlockScout database, 2+ TB storage for ETH Mainnet archive node
Create a user with sudo privileges, ssh access, domain name, ensure basic server security
- bash commands below are for reference only, please do not copy/paste them mindlessly, or else you may expect to encounter broken links and weird paths.
- Commands marked with
\$should be executed as your user, under whom the blockscout service will be running.\#means the command should be run as root.\=\#commands are executed in psql. - Blockscout reqs seems to be outdated, you may use latest stable releases instead. Anyway, you will be notified by BlockScout later if some binary version is not supported.
Prepare storage
Make sure your user has access to the storage mount/path AE: /mnt/openeth/storage/path
Install basic deps: build-essential cmake libudev-dev
Download the latest precompiled version from here
\$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y
\$ sudo apt-get install libudev-dev zip unzip build-essential cmake -y
\$ wget https://github.com/openethereum/openethereum/releases/download/version/openethereum-linux-version.zip
\$ unzip -o openethereum-linux-version.zip -d openethereum
\$ cd openethereum
\$ chmod +x ./openethereum
Create an empty log file
\$ touch /mnt/openeth/storage/path/config/example.log
- Write configuration file, AE:
\$ nano /mnt/openeth/storage/path/config.toml
[parity]
mode = "active"
release_track = "stable"
base_path = "/opt/.local/share/io.parity.ethereum"
[network]
warp = false
[misc]
log_file = "/mnt/openeth/storage/path/config/example.log"
Prepare the systemd service file
\$ sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/openethereum.service
[Unit]
Description=OpenEthereum
After=network.target
[Service]
User=youruser
Group=yourusergroup
ExecStart=/usr/bin/openethereum -c /mnt/openeth/storage/path/config.toml --jsonrpc-interface all --jsonrpc-apis web3,eth,net,parity,pubsub,traces --ws-interface all --fat-db=on --pruning=archive --ws-apis all --ws-origins all --ws-hosts all
Restart=on-failure
KillSignal=SIGHUP
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
Official instructions can be found here.
Allow the ports used by the openethereum client (ports 30303/tcp, 8545/tcp, 8546/tcp) through your firewall.
Test the systemd service
\$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload
\$ sudo systemctl start openetherum
Enable openethereum as service
\$ sudo systemctl enable openethereum.service
Prepare and mount storage for BlockScout DB
PostgreSQL downloads page suggests usage of different repositories based on the OS. For example, in Ubuntu:
\$ sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt $(lsb_release -cs)-pgdg main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list'
\$ wget --quiet -O - https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | sudo apt-key add -
\$ sudo apt-get update
\$ sudo apt-get install postgresql-10
BlockScout supports psql versions: 10.3+, same as in the above example.
Create a new user in the OS and set a password using adduser
\# adduser dbusername
Create a database, user and set userpassword
\# su - postgres
\$ createuser --interactive dbusername
\$ createdb blockscout
\$ psql
\=\# ALTER USER dbusername WITH PASSWORD 'dbuserpassword';
\=\# GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON blockscout TO dbusername;
\=\# \q
PSQL user should be first created as a general user with adduser. The user's
system password should not be the same as their database dbuserpassword.
dbuserpassword will be parsed by BlockScout as part of the DB link, thus
it's recommended to omit problematic characters in the database password
Set your storage path as psql datadir
\$ nano /etc/postgresql/10/main/postgresql.conf
...
data_directory = '/mnt/psql/storage/path' # use data in another directory
...
Make sure the PSQL user has the right permissions on storage dir.
Start psql
\$ sudo systemctl start postgresql
Validate data directory path
\# su - postgres
\$ psql
\=\# SHOW data_directory;
data_directory
---------------------
/mnt/psql/storage/path
(1 row)
\=\# \q
Make sure your user has blockscout db access
\# su - dbusername
\$ psql -d blockscout
Optionally, you might open the PostgreSQL port on your firewall: 5432/tcp to access it from a remote computer, but we don't recommend it.
Enable postgresql as service
\$ sudo systemctl enable postgresql
Get base dependencies from apt: (yum/dnf on CentOS)
\$ sudo apt-get update
\$ sudo apt-get install git \
automake \
libtool inotify-tools \
libgmp-dev \
libgmp10 \
build-essential \
cmake -y
Get official release here
Example on Ubuntu:
\$ wget https://packages.erlang-solutions.com/erlang/debian/pool/esl-erlang_version~ubuntu~bionic_amd64.deb
\$ sudo apt install ./esl-erlang_version~ubuntu~bionic_amd64.deb
Check version and installation:
\$ erl --version
Download pre-compiled release from github
\$ wget https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/releases/download/tag/Precompiled.zip
\$ unzip -o Precompiled.zip -d elixir
Add elixir bin to path (for permanent effect, append it to your user bash profile)
\$ export PATH="$PATH:/path/to/elixir/bin"
\$ nano ~/.profile
...
export PATH="$PATH:/path/to/elixir/bin"
Check version and installation:
\$ elixir --version
You can get Node.js here or in your distro repos:
\$ curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_version | sudo -E bash -
\$ sudo apt-get update
\$ sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
Check Node version:
\$ nodejs --version
Get latest master from git:
\$ git clone https://github.com/poanetwork/blockscout
\$ cd blockscout
Generate DB secret and export it to bash:
\$ mix phx.gen.secret # in blockscout base dir
\$ export SECRET_KEY_BASE=<generatedAboveSecret/PasteHere>
Set required env variables, example below is suited for Ethereum Mainnet and Parity(Openethereum)
\$ export ETHEREUM_JSONRPC_HTTP_URL=http://localhost:8545
\$ export COIN=ETH
\$ export SUBNETWORK=Mainnet
\$ export NETWORK=Ethereum
\$ export DATABASE_URL=postgresql://dbusername:dbpassword@localhost:5432/blockscout
Install mix deps, create db, run migrations:
\$ mix do deps.get, local.rebar --force, deps.compile, compile # in blockscout base dir
\$ mix do ecto.create, ecto.migrate
Install Node.js deps, build static assets:
\$ cd apps/block_scout_web/assets; npm install && node_modules/webpack/bin/webpack.js --mode production; cd -
\$ cd apps/explorer && npm install; cd -
\$ mix phx.digest
Enable SSL:
\$ cd apps/block_scout_web; mix phx.gen.cert blockscout blockscout.local; cd -
The above command will generate and enable self-signed ssl certs, you need to replace them with real ones.
You may use certbot (letsencrypt) to do it, don't forget to set user permissions and configure the file: /path/to/blockscout/config/dev.exs, see example below:
\$ nano /path/to/blockscout/config/dev.exs
...
config :block_scout_web, BlockScoutWeb.Endpoint,
http: [port: 4000],
https: [
port: 4001,
cipher_suite: :strong,
certfile: "priv/cert/cert.pem",
keyfile: "priv/cert/privkey.pem"
]
...
If using certbot, add cert renewal to crontab
Prepare BlockScout start script. You need to export all required env vars before each run:
\$ nano /path/to/blockscout/start.sh
#!/bin/bash
export PATH="$PATH:/home/scout/elixir/bin"
export ETHEREUM_JSONRPC_HTTP_URL=http://localhost:8545
export COIN=ETH
export SUBNETWORK=Mainnet
export NETWORK=Ethereum
export DATABASE_URL=postgresql://dbusername:dbpassword@localhost:5432/blockscout
/path/to/elixir/bin/mix phx.server
\$ chmod +x /path/to/blockscout/start.sh
Set your start script as service:
\$ sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/blockscout.service
[Unit]
Description=Blockscout
After=network.target
[Service]
User=youruser
Group=yourusergroup
WorkingDirectory=/full/path/to/blockscout
ExecStart=/bin/bash /path/to/blockscout/start.sh
KillSignal=SIGHUP
[Install]
WantedBy=default.target
Open explorer ports on firewall default 4000/tcp 4001/tcp
Test run:
\$ sudo systemctl start blockscout
Enable blockscout as a service:
\$ sudo systemctl enable blockscout.service