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Provider TLS Setup Guide

All providers must use a domain name and TLS. Make sure to acquire one using a domain registrar of your choice before following this guide.

Diagram​

Provider TLS Diagram

Prerequisites​

Required Setup?
A domain name✅
lavap is installed & configured✅
Account with ulava balance✅

Step 1: Change the A Record on your Domain​

The first step of establishing your Provider is to modify some of the DNS settings on the domain you purchased. In specific, you'll need to change the A Records on your domain. Changing your A-Record will create a subdomain that routes traffic to a specific provider process. Depending upon who you've purchased your domain through, A-Records may be visible under Advanced DNS or another label.

Multiple Records (Recommended)

We recommend you create a separate A-Record for each one of the chains that you plan to support. This is more secure, as the default behavior is to refuse connection unless a consumer connects on the correct subdomain.

For each chain you want to support, add an A-Record with the desired chain name as the Host, the Value will be your server IP. For example, if you wanted to support Ethereum & Lava Mainnets, Your DNS Settings should include the following :

Record TypeHostValue
A-RecordethYour-Server-Public-IP-Address-Here
A-RecordlavaYour-Server-Public-IP-Address-Here
Single Record

Alternatively, you can create one A-Record that captures traffic to all sub-domains. If you are supporting a large number of chains that frequently changes, doing this may somewhat simplify your process.

Record TypeHostValue
A-Record*Your-Server-Public-IP-Address-Here

Step 2: Install Required Dependencies​

We will guide you on setting up and configuring Nginx to use a TLS certificate and handle connections to different provider processes. It is also possible to use alternative solutions for these two tasks, such as Caddy, Envoy or your preferred solution.

Run the following commands to install the required packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install certbot net-tools nginx python3-certbot-nginx -y

Step 3: Generate Certificate​

Next, we need to actually create the TLS certificate via the certifying authority. This process is automated by certbot.

Use certbot to create a certificate:

sudo certbot certonly -d you.xyz -d lava.you.xyz -d eth.you.xyz

Note, you will need one -d flag for each subdomain you created as an A-Record. Even if you opted to create a Single Record, you still need to indicate a subdomain for each provider process you will run. We use the filler you.xyz as an example above.

You may be met with several prompts. Use nginx or Nginx Web Server Plugin when asked.


Step 4: Validate Certificate​

Let's make sure your certificate successfully installed! ✅ Input the following command:

sudo certbot certificates

Keep track of your output. If your certificate generation was successful, it should look as following:

Found the following certs:
  Certificate Name: your-site.com
    Domains: your-site.com eth.your-site.com lava.your-site.com
    Expiry Date: 2023-11-07 14:37:29+00:00 (VALID: 84 days)
    Certificate Path: /etc/letsencrypt/live/your-site.com/fullchain.pem
    Private Key Path: /etc/letsencrypt/live/your-site.com/privkey.pem

You'll need both Certificate Path and Private Key Path for your next step.


Step 5: Add an Nginx Config for Each Domain​

Lava recommends running each chain under a separate provider process. This will separate error logs and protect against complete provider failure in the case of a problematic provider process. The first step of this is to create different nginx routes for each chain.

For each chain that you want to support, you will need to create a separate nginx config file. Create a server file for each chain. Example below shows how to create a server file for Ethereum and Lava chains:

  1. Navigate to the nginx configuration directory:
`cd /etc/nginx/sites-available/
  1. Create a server files:
touch eth_server
touch lava_server
  1. Configure nginx. You will need to select an open port for each chain. Nginx will use these config files to create your routes.

Open the server file:

sudo nano eth_server

Set the configuration:

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name eth.your-site.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/your-site.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/your-site.com/privkey.pem;
    error_log /var/log/nginx/debug.log debug;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:2223;
        grpc_pass 127.0.0.1:2223;
    }
}
  1. In most cases, after creating a configuration file in accessible sites, you need to create a symbolic link to this file in the enabled sites directory. This can be done with a command like:
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/lava_server /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/lava_server
caution

The above examples use ports 443 for external listening and 2223 / 2224 for internal comms, respectively. Using ports other than 443 for external listening means that some users will not be able to connect to your provider. This can result in less rewards and poorer quality of service. For internal listening, be aware that some ports on your OS may be used for internal communication and should be avoided.


Step 6: Test Nginx Configuration​

Now, ensure that your nginx setup is working! ✅

sudo nginx -t

Expected Output:

nginx: the configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test is successful

Step 7: Restart Nginx​

You will need to refresh the Nginx server:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Step 8: Start RPC provider service​

Now that you have Nginx configured you can move to the next step of starting the RPC provider service. Head to the provider setup page for a detailed guide.