In a previous article I started building out the Erigon ETH node.
After reading a little bit about Erigon and some issues that were being reported when using the full archive node of Erigon with Graph Indexes I decided to switch to the “slower-to-index” archive using GETH instead.
Here are the steps I went through.
Update the server to the latest of all packages
apt update && apt upgradeInstall the build-essential‘s
apt install build-essentialNext we need to add the Ethereum GETH package to allow us to run it, but first we need to allow PPAs (Personal Package Archives)
apt install software-properties-commonNow you can add the ethereum/ethereum package.
add-apt-repository -y ppa:ethereum/ethereumNow you can install Ethereum
apt insteall ethereumThere are a tonne of different command line options, check them out below
$ geth --help
NAME:
geth - the go-ethereum command line interface
Copyright 2013-2021 The go-ethereum Authors
USAGE:
geth [options] [command] [command options] [arguments...]
VERSION:
1.10.10-stable-bb74230f
COMMANDS:
account Manage accounts
attach Start an interactive JavaScript environment (connect to node)
console Start an interactive JavaScript environment
db Low level database operations
dump Dump a specific block from storage
dumpconfig Show configuration values
dumpgenesis Dumps genesis block JSON configuration to stdout
export Export blockchain into file
export-preimages Export the preimage database into an RLP stream
import Import a blockchain file
import-preimages Import the preimage database from an RLP stream
init Bootstrap and initialize a new genesis block
js Execute the specified JavaScript files
license Display license information
makecache Generate ethash verification cache (for testing)
makedag Generate ethash mining DAG (for testing)
removedb Remove blockchain and state databases
show-deprecated-flags Show flags that have been deprecated
snapshot A set of commands based on the snapshot
version Print version numbers
version-check Checks (online) whether the current version suffers from any known security vulnerabilities
wallet Manage Ethereum presale wallets
help, h Shows a list of commands or help for one command
ETHEREUM OPTIONS:
--config value TOML configuration file
--datadir value Data directory for the databases and keystore (default: "~/.ethereum")
--datadir.ancient value Data directory for ancient chain segments (default = inside chaindata)
--datadir.minfreedisk value Minimum free disk space in MB, once reached triggers auto shut down (default = --cache.gc converted to MB, 0 = disabled)
--keystore value Directory for the keystore (default = inside the datadir)
--usb Enable monitoring and management of USB hardware wallets
--pcscdpath value Path to the smartcard daemon (pcscd) socket file
--networkid value Explicitly set network id (integer)(For testnets: use --ropsten, --rinkeby, --goerli instead) (default: 1)
--mainnet Ethereum mainnet
--goerli Görli network: pre-configured proof-of-authority test network
--rinkeby Rinkeby network: pre-configured proof-of-authority test network
--ropsten Ropsten network: pre-configured proof-of-work test network
--syncmode value Blockchain sync mode ("fast", "full", "snap" or "light") (default: snap)
--exitwhensynced Exits after block synchronisation completes
--gcmode value Blockchain garbage collection mode ("full", "archive") (default: "full")
--txlookuplimit value Number of recent blocks to maintain transactions index for (default = about one year, 0 = entire chain) (default: 2350000)
--ethstats value Reporting URL of a ethstats service (nodename:secret@host:port)
--identity value Custom node name
--lightkdf Reduce key-derivation RAM & CPU usage at some expense of KDF strength
--whitelist value Comma separated block number-to-hash mappings to enforce (<number>=<hash>)
LIGHT CLIENT OPTIONS:
--light.serve value Maximum percentage of time allowed for serving LES requests (multi-threaded processing allows values over 100) (default: 0)
--light.ingress value Incoming bandwidth limit for serving light clients (kilobytes/sec, 0 = unlimited) (default: 0)
--light.egress value Outgoing bandwidth limit for serving light clients (kilobytes/sec, 0 = unlimited) (default: 0)
--light.maxpeers value Maximum number of light clients to serve, or light servers to attach to (default: 100)
--ulc.servers value List of trusted ultra-light servers
--ulc.fraction value Minimum % of trusted ultra-light servers required to announce a new head (default: 75)
--ulc.onlyannounce Ultra light server sends announcements only
--light.nopruning Disable ancient light chain data pruning
--light.nosyncserve Enables serving light clients before syncing
DEVELOPER CHAIN OPTIONS:
--dev Ephemeral proof-of-authority network with a pre-funded developer account, mining enabled
--dev.period value Block period to use in developer mode (0 = mine only if transaction pending) (default: 0)
ETHASH OPTIONS:
--ethash.cachedir value Directory to store the ethash verification caches (default = inside the datadir)
--ethash.cachesinmem value Number of recent ethash caches to keep in memory (16MB each) (default: 2)
--ethash.cachesondisk value Number of recent ethash caches to keep on disk (16MB each) (default: 3)
--ethash.cacheslockmmap Lock memory maps of recent ethash caches
--ethash.dagdir value Directory to store the ethash mining DAGs (default: "~/.ethash")
--ethash.dagsinmem value Number of recent ethash mining DAGs to keep in memory (1+GB each) (default: 1)
--ethash.dagsondisk value Number of recent ethash mining DAGs to keep on disk (1+GB each) (default: 2)
--ethash.dagslockmmap Lock memory maps for recent ethash mining DAGs
TRANSACTION POOL OPTIONS:
--txpool.locals value Comma separated accounts to treat as locals (no flush, priority inclusion)
--txpool.nolocals Disables price exemptions for locally submitted transactions
--txpool.journal value Disk journal for local transaction to survive node restarts (default: "transactions.rlp")
--txpool.rejournal value Time interval to regenerate the local transaction journal (default: 1h0m0s)
--txpool.pricelimit value Minimum gas price limit to enforce for acceptance into the pool (default: 1)
--txpool.pricebump value Price bump percentage to replace an already existing transaction (default: 10)
--txpool.accountslots value Minimum number of executable transaction slots guaranteed per account (default: 16)
--txpool.globalslots value Maximum number of executable transaction slots for all accounts (default: 5120)
--txpool.accountqueue value Maximum number of non-executable transaction slots permitted per account (default: 64)
--txpool.globalqueue value Maximum number of non-executable transaction slots for all accounts (default: 1024)
--txpool.lifetime value Maximum amount of time non-executable transaction are queued (default: 3h0m0s)
PERFORMANCE TUNING OPTIONS:
--cache value Megabytes of memory allocated to internal caching (default = 4096 mainnet full node, 128 light mode) (default: 1024)
--cache.database value Percentage of cache memory allowance to use for database io (default: 50)
--cache.trie value Percentage of cache memory allowance to use for trie caching (default = 15% full mode, 30% archive mode) (default: 15)
--cache.trie.journal value Disk journal directory for trie cache to survive node restarts (default: "triecache")
--cache.trie.rejournal value Time interval to regenerate the trie cache journal (default: 1h0m0s)
--cache.gc value Percentage of cache memory allowance to use for trie pruning (default = 25% full mode, 0% archive mode) (default: 25)
--cache.snapshot value Percentage of cache memory allowance to use for snapshot caching (default = 10% full mode, 20% archive mode) (default: 10)
--cache.noprefetch Disable heuristic state prefetch during block import (less CPU and disk IO, more time waiting for data)
--cache.preimages Enable recording the SHA3/keccak preimages of trie keys
ACCOUNT OPTIONS:
--unlock value Comma separated list of accounts to unlock
--password value Password file to use for non-interactive password input
--signer value External signer (url or path to ipc file)
--allow-insecure-unlock Allow insecure account unlocking when account-related RPCs are exposed by http
API AND CONSOLE OPTIONS:
--ipcdisable Disable the IPC-RPC server
--ipcpath value Filename for IPC socket/pipe within the datadir (explicit paths escape it)
--http Enable the HTTP-RPC server
--http.addr value HTTP-RPC server listening interface (default: "localhost")
--http.port value HTTP-RPC server listening port (default: 8545)
--http.api value API's offered over the HTTP-RPC interface
--http.rpcprefix value HTTP path path prefix on which JSON-RPC is served. Use '/' to serve on all paths.
--http.corsdomain value Comma separated list of domains from which to accept cross origin requests (browser enforced)
--http.vhosts value Comma separated list of virtual hostnames from which to accept requests (server enforced). Accepts '*' wildcard. (default: "localhost")
--ws Enable the WS-RPC server
--ws.addr value WS-RPC server listening interface (default: "localhost")
--ws.port value WS-RPC server listening port (default: 8546)
--ws.api value API's offered over the WS-RPC interface
--ws.rpcprefix value HTTP path prefix on which JSON-RPC is served. Use '/' to serve on all paths.
--ws.origins value Origins from which to accept websockets requests
--graphql Enable GraphQL on the HTTP-RPC server. Note that GraphQL can only be started if an HTTP server is started as well.
--graphql.corsdomain value Comma separated list of domains from which to accept cross origin requests (browser enforced)
--graphql.vhosts value Comma separated list of virtual hostnames from which to accept requests (server enforced). Accepts '*' wildcard. (default: "localhost")
--rpc.gascap value Sets a cap on gas that can be used in eth_call/estimateGas (0=infinite) (default: 50000000)
--rpc.evmtimeout value Sets a timeout used for eth_call (0=infinite) (default: 5s)
--rpc.txfeecap value Sets a cap on transaction fee (in ether) that can be sent via the RPC APIs (0 = no cap) (default: 1)
--rpc.allow-unprotected-txs Allow for unprotected (non EIP155 signed) transactions to be submitted via RPC
--jspath loadScript JavaScript root path for loadScript (default: ".")
--exec value Execute JavaScript statement
--preload value Comma separated list of JavaScript files to preload into the console
NETWORKING OPTIONS:
--bootnodes value Comma separated enode URLs for P2P discovery bootstrap
--discovery.dns value Sets DNS discovery entry points (use "" to disable DNS)
--port value Network listening port (default: 30303)
--maxpeers value Maximum number of network peers (network disabled if set to 0) (default: 50)
--maxpendpeers value Maximum number of pending connection attempts (defaults used if set to 0) (default: 0)
--nat value NAT port mapping mechanism (any|none|upnp|pmp|extip:<IP>) (default: "any")
--nodiscover Disables the peer discovery mechanism (manual peer addition)
--v5disc Enables the experimental RLPx V5 (Topic Discovery) mechanism
--netrestrict value Restricts network communication to the given IP networks (CIDR masks)
--nodekey value P2P node key file
--nodekeyhex value P2P node key as hex (for testing)
MINER OPTIONS:
--mine Enable mining
--miner.threads value Number of CPU threads to use for mining (default: 0)
--miner.notify value Comma separated HTTP URL list to notify of new work packages
--miner.notify.full Notify with pending block headers instead of work packages
--miner.gasprice value Minimum gas price for mining a transaction (default: 1000000000)
--miner.gaslimit value Target gas ceiling for mined blocks (default: 8000000)
--miner.etherbase value Public address for block mining rewards (default = first account) (default: "0")
--miner.extradata value Block extra data set by the miner (default = client version)
--miner.recommit value Time interval to recreate the block being mined (default: 3s)
--miner.noverify Disable remote sealing verification
GAS PRICE ORACLE OPTIONS:
--gpo.blocks value Number of recent blocks to check for gas prices (default: 20)
--gpo.percentile value Suggested gas price is the given percentile of a set of recent transaction gas prices (default: 60)
--gpo.maxprice value Maximum gas price will be recommended by gpo (default: 500000000000)
--gpo.ignoreprice value Gas price below which gpo will ignore transactions (default: 2)
VIRTUAL MACHINE OPTIONS:
--vmdebug Record information useful for VM and contract debugging
LOGGING AND DEBUGGING OPTIONS:
--fakepow Disables proof-of-work verification
--nocompaction Disables db compaction after import
--verbosity value Logging verbosity: 0=silent, 1=error, 2=warn, 3=info, 4=debug, 5=detail (default: 3)
--vmodule value Per-module verbosity: comma-separated list of <pattern>=<level> (e.g. eth/*=5,p2p=4)
--log.json Format logs with JSON
--log.backtrace value Request a stack trace at a specific logging statement (e.g. "block.go:271")
--log.debug Prepends log messages with call-site location (file and line number)
--pprof Enable the pprof HTTP server
--pprof.addr value pprof HTTP server listening interface (default: "127.0.0.1")
--pprof.port value pprof HTTP server listening port (default: 6060)
--pprof.memprofilerate value Turn on memory profiling with the given rate (default: 524288)
--pprof.blockprofilerate value Turn on block profiling with the given rate (default: 0)
--pprof.cpuprofile value Write CPU profile to the given file
--trace value Write execution trace to the given file
METRICS AND STATS OPTIONS:
--metrics Enable metrics collection and reporting
--metrics.expensive Enable expensive metrics collection and reporting
--metrics.addr value Enable stand-alone metrics HTTP server listening interface (default: "127.0.0.1")
--metrics.port value Metrics HTTP server listening port (default: 6060)
--metrics.influxdb Enable metrics export/push to an external InfluxDB database
--metrics.influxdb.endpoint value InfluxDB API endpoint to report metrics to (default: "http://localhost:8086")
--metrics.influxdb.database value InfluxDB database name to push reported metrics to (default: "geth")
--metrics.influxdb.username value Username to authorize access to the database (default: "test")
--metrics.influxdb.password value Password to authorize access to the database (default: "test")
--metrics.influxdb.tags value Comma-separated InfluxDB tags (key/values) attached to all measurements (default: "host=localhost")
--metrics.influxdbv2 Enable metrics export/push to an external InfluxDB v2 database
--metrics.influxdb.token value Token to authorize access to the database (v2 only) (default: "test")
--metrics.influxdb.bucket value InfluxDB bucket name to push reported metrics to (v2 only) (default: "geth")
--metrics.influxdb.organization value InfluxDB organization name (v2 only) (default: "geth")
ALIASED (deprecated) OPTIONS:
--nousb Disables monitoring for and managing USB hardware wallets (deprecated)
MISC OPTIONS:
--snapshot Enables snapshot-database mode (default = enable)
--bloomfilter.size value Megabytes of memory allocated to bloom-filter for pruning (default: 2048)
--help, -h show help
--catalyst Catalyst mode (eth2 integration testing)
--override.london value Manually specify London fork-block, overriding the bundled setting (default: 0)
COPYRIGHT:
Copyright 2013-2021 The go-ethereum AuthorsYou should read through those and set up the node the way you need to, but to get started with the first sync you just need
geth --syncmode full --mainnet --cache 8192This is going to take a long time. Even though the server provisioned for this node is very fast, it will still take about a week to retrieve the full achiveal node.
Securing the server
You should also look to secure your server as part of any setup. Specifically here we set up the firewall using ufw.