Join mainnet - Manual setup

This page will walk you through the manual installation of the node and joining the network.

Note that it does not include the "Cosmovisor" tool, hence once you install the first genesis binary, you will need to incrementally upgrade your node, as described in upgrades.

Prerequisites

1. Verify hardware requirements are met
2. Install package dependencies
   • Note: You may need to run as sudo
   • Required packages installation

     ### Packages installations
     sudo apt update # In case of permissions error, try running with sudo
     sudo apt install -y unzip logrotate git jq sed wget curl coreutils systemd
     # Create the temp dir for the installation
     temp_folder=$(mktemp -d) && cd $temp_folder
   • Go installation

     ### Configurations
     go_package_url="https://go.dev/dl/go1.20.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
     go_package_file_name=${go_package_url##*\/}
     # Download GO
     wget -q $go_package_url
     # Unpack the GO installation file
     sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf $go_package_file_name
     # Environment adjustments
     echo "export PATH=\$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin" >>~/.profile
     echo "export PATH=\$PATH:\$(go env GOPATH)/bin" >>~/.profile
     source ~/.profile
   • Installation verifications
     1. You can verify the installed go version by running: go version
     2. The command go env GOPATH should include $HOME/go If not, then, export GOPATH=$HOME/go
     3. PATH should include $HOME/go/bin To verify PATH, run echo $PATH

1. Set up a local node

Download app configurations

• Download setup configuration Download the configuration files needed for the installation

  # Download the installation setup configuration
  git clone https://github.com/lavanet/lava-config.git
  cd lava-config/mainnet
  # Read the configuration from the file
  # Note: you can take a look at the config file and verify configurations
  source setup_config/setup_config.sh
• Set app configurations Copy lavad default config files to config Lava config folder

  echo "Lava config file path: $lava_config_folder"
  mkdir -p $lavad_home_folder
  mkdir -p $lava_config_folder
  cp default_lavad_config_files/* $lava_config_folder

Set the genesis file

• Set the genesis JSON file in the configuration folder

  # Copy the genesis.json file to the Lava config folder
  cp genesis_json/genesis.json $lava_config_folder/genesis.json

2. Join the Lava Mainnet

Copy the genesis binary

• Set the lavad binary location and copy the genesis binary to it

  # Set and create the lavad binary path
  lavad_binary_path="$HOME/go/bin/"
  mkdir -p $lavad_binary_path
  # Download the genesis binary to the lava path
  wget -O ./lavad "https://github.com/lavanet/lava/releases/download/v2.2.0/lavad-v2.2.0-linux-amd64"
  chmod +x lavad
  # Lavad should now be accessible from PATH, to verify, try running
  cp lavad /usr/local/bin
  # In case it is not accessible, make sure $lavad_binary_path is part of PATH (you can refer to the "Go installation" section)
  lavad --help # Make sure you can see the lavad binary help printed out

Start running the node using the genesis binary

• Create a systemd service to run the Lava node

  # Create systemd unit file with logrotate
  echo "[Unit]
  Description=Lava Node
  After=network-online.target
  [Service]
  User=$USER
  ExecStart=$(which lavad) start --home=$lavad_home_folder --p2p.seeds $seed_node
  Restart=always
  RestartSec=180
  LimitNOFILE=infinity
  LimitNPROC=infinity
  [Install]
  WantedBy=multi-user.target" >lavad.service
  sudo mv lavad.service /lib/systemd/system/lavad.service

Download the latest Lava data snapshot (optional)

Coming soon

Service start and validation

• Configure the lavad service to run on boot, and start it

  # Enable the lavad service so that it will start automatically when the system boots
  sudo systemctl daemon-reload
  sudo systemctl enable lavad.service
  sudo systemctl restart systemd-journald
  sudo systemctl start lavad

• Check the state of the lavad service

  sudo systemctl status lavad
  # To view the service logs
  sudo journalctl -u lavad -f

• Check the latest block

  curl -X GET -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  https://lava.rest.lava.build/cosmos/base/tendermint/v1beta1/blocks/latest

3. Upgrades

Lava blockchain upgrades requires you to update lavad. This guide covers the manual steps for doing so, assuming you do not use Cosmovisor.

How to know there's an upgrade?

Once you have joined the Lava mainnet, and your node has started syncing, you may have noticed an error message such as:

panic: UPGRADE "XYZ" NEEDED at height: 12345

This message specifies that it was agreed to upgrade to a new version at a certain height of the network. Note: When using a cosmovisor setup, the upgrade is being taken care of automatically for you.

This situation requires a different binary (lavad) to work with, the process is as specified below:

1. You have joined the network using the genesis binary
2. The node has started to sync
3. An error of a needed upgrade 👈 You are here
4. Manually upgrade the node to work with the new binary
5. Node continues to sync with the new binary

Upgrades list history

Below, you can find tracking of the required upgrade for block height. Versions are tracked in Lava git (build from source or use the release page).

lava-mainnet-1

Version name	Block height
v0.34.0	375000
v0.35.0	413000
v1.0.1	451000
v2.2.0	888500

Steps for upgrading your node

1. Set up the configurations required for the process

# Upgrade configurations
temp_folder=$(mktemp -d) && cd $temp_folder
required_upgrade_name="v2.2.0" # CHANGE THIS
upgrade_binary_url="https://github.com/lavanet/lava/releases/download/$required_upgrade_name/lavad-$required_upgrade_name-linux-amd64"

2. Kill all current lavad processes

source ~/.profile
# If using lavad as a service, run
sudo systemctl stop lavad

3. Download the binary and replace the current lavad

# Download the binary and replace it with the current one
wget "$upgrade_binary_url" -q -O $temp_folder/lavad
chmod +x $temp_folder/lavad

# Replace the current lava binary with the upgraded binary
sudo cp $temp_folder/lavad $(which lavad)

4. Run the lava node

# Re-start the stopped lavad service
sudo systemctl start lavad

5. Verify the node continues to sync from the latest block height

# Check if the node is currently in the process of catching up
lavad status | jq .SyncInfo.catching_up
# Check the lavad process logs
sudo journalctl -u lavad -f

Welcome to Lava Mainnet 🌋

Joined Mainnet? Be a validator!

You are now running a Node in the Lava network 🎉🥳!

Congrats, happy to have you here 😻 Celebrate it with us on Discord.

When you're ready, start putting the node to use as a validator:

🧑‍⚖️

Power as a Validator

Validate blocks, secure the network, earn rewards