Setup Cyberd Configuration
cyber cyb

Setup config.toml

Correct configuration is one of the main keys to consistent and proper functioning of your node no matter if it is a validator or a sentinel/service node.

Throughout this document, we will check all the key points of the config.toml file and explain how to configure them for all use-cases.

We will operate a basic configuration file (according to the number of the line in the actual file), generated after the initialization of cyber daemon and typically located inside $HOME/.cyberd/config directory.

All changes made to the config.toml file, require to restart cyberd to take effect!

Port / Address configuration

RPC port

First of all, let’s look through the ports cyberd uses to communicate with the outside world. On line 84 the specified port is used for an RPC server (TCP and UNIX websocket connections):

# TCP or UNIX socket address for the RPC server to listen on
laddr = "tcp://127.0.0.1:26657"

After the node starts the RPC server provides endpoints to check chain/node parameters, accepts $POST transactions and so on. It can be opened locally using your favourite browser via: http://localhost:26657.

  • We do not recommend a validator node to open this port to the outside world, as it may allow anyone to produce transactions using your node and allows DOS attacks (you don’t want your validator attacked, right?). So let’s leave it like this:
laddr = "tcp://127.0.0.1:26657"
  • For Sentinel nodes this should be kept the same as for validators:
laddr = "tcp://127.0.0.1:26657"
  • For Service nodes, when use cases include remote access to the RPC for yourself or for your great service, it is allowable to expose it to the outside by using the following values:
laddr = "tcp://0.0.0.0:26657"

If you would like to make the RPC server respond on a different port, you may change this value to whatever you’d like (just make sure it will not cross with any of the other services), for example, to change it to 9588 use:

# TCP or UNIX socket address for the RPC server to listen on
laddr = "tcp://0.0.0.0:9588"

Cyberd communication port

On line 163 we can find the following:

# Address to listen for incoming connections
laddr = "tcp://0.0.0.0:26656"

This is the way the node communicates with other nodes in the chain. For all possible cases(Validator, Sentinel, Service) leave it as default, bound to 0.0.0.0. And if you need to change the port number to something different like 35622 just use:

laddr = "tcp://0.0.0.0:35622"

If changed, your node peer address would be changed accordingly: 75e8f44072b0dd598dfa95aaf9b5f2c60f956819:35622.

Prometheus collectors port

On line 325 the port for Prometheus monitoring service is located:

# Address to listen for Prometheus collector(s) connections
prometheus_listen_addr = ":26660"

It is useful if you want to monitor remotely the condition of your node using the Prometheus metrics collector service and could be changed to whatever you like 23456:

prometheus_listen_addr = ":23456"

Don’t forget to enable Prometheus metrics by changing to true on line 322, if needed:

# When true, Prometheus metrics are served under /metrics on
# PrometheusListenAddr.
# Check out the documentation for the list of available metrics.
prometheus = true

External address

On line 169 you should find the following:

# Address to advertise to peers for them to dial
# If empty, will use the same port as the laddr,
# and will introspect on the listener or use UPnP
# to figure out the address.
external_address = ""

This line implies specifying your external IP address, which means the presence of a static external address at your network connection. If you don’t have one, just skip it.

  • For Validator nodes, you may skip it, until you have enough private peers to get synced with. Otherwise, you have to specify your external static IP to improve peer discovery for your node. Also, don’t forget to change the port according to line 163:
external_address = "tcp://:26656"
  • For Sentinel nodes it is a good idea to specify the IP for better peer discovery:
external_address = "tcp://:26656"
  • For Servie nodes this setting can be the same as for Sentinel nodes:
external_address = "tcp://:26656"

And again, all of the above settings apply to the cases when STATIC EXTERNAL IP is available.

Allow duplicated IP’s

Line 224 of the config.toml holds the following:

# Toggle to disable guard against peers connecting from the same ip.
allow_duplicate_ip = false

This variable configures the possibility for different peers to be connected from the same IP. Lets imagine a situation where you run 2 nodes (lets say that the node ID of the first one is: 75e8f44072b0dd598dfa95aaf9b5f2c60f956819 and the second one is: d0518ce9881a4b0c5872e5e9b7c4ea8d760dad3f) on one internet provider, with an external IP of 92.23.45.123. In this case, all other nodes in the network with allow_duplicate_ip = false will see attempts to connect from peers d0518ce9881a4b0c5872e5e9b7c4ea8d760dad3f:26656 and 75e8f44072b0dd598dfa95aaf9b5f2c60f956819:36656 and will block the one which comes last because the originating IP address is the same for both nodes. If this case applies to you, change this setting to the following:

# Toggle to disable guard against peers connecting from the same ip.
allow_duplicate_ip = true

P2P configuration

Seed nodes

On line 172 of the config.toml we see the following:

# Comma separated list of seed nodes to connect to
seeds = ""

This line is dedicated to the list of seed nodes you want to establish a connection with. To get seed nodes addresses take a look at our forum or ask on our Telegram chat.

  • For validators with sentinel nodes or with a decent quantity of peers connected it is not required to fill it out:
seeds = ""
  • For Sentinel nodes and Service nodes it’s a good idea to fill it out with a couple of seed node addresses, separated with commas:
seeds = "@:,@:"

Persistent peers

The place to add persistent peers is located on line 175. Presence of persistent peers is very important for the correct functioning of the node:

# Comma separated list of nodes to keep persistent connections to
persistent_peers = ""
  • For Validator nodes you have to fill out this line with a decent amount of peers you trust, otherwise, your validator node address will be exposed. In the perfect case scenario, you should add to this section only the addresses of your sentinel nodes:
persistent_peers ="@:,@:"
  • For Sentinel nodes and Service nodes add as many peers as possible to keep a persistent connection and network stability, but DO NOT put here you’r validator nodes ID’s:
persistent_peers ="@:,@:,...,@:"

Peer Exchange Reactor

Line 212 shows by default:

# Set true to enable the peer-exchange reactor
pex = true

This is a peer exchange module, which is responsible for exchanging node IDs across the network.

  • For Validator nodes with Sentinel architecture set this to be disabled:
pex = false
  • For Sentinel nodes and Service nodes leave as default:
pex = true

Private peers ID’s

On line 221 we see:

# Comma separated list of peer IDs to keep private (will not be gossiped to other peers)
private_peer_ids = ""

This is the list of peers which IDs should not gossip to others.

  • For Validator nodes, leave as default:
private_peer_ids = ""

Or you may add your 2nd validator ID here (if you running more than 1 validator).

  • For Sentinel nodes, add your validator/s address here:
private_peer_ids = "@:"
  • For Service nodes leave blank:
private_peer_ids = ""

Node Index, Naming

Indexed tags

A node can index and store a decent amount of keys and values with regards to transactions, accounts etc. Lines 306 and 304 are responsible for this:

# You can also index transactions by height by adding "tx.height" key here.
#
# It's recommended to index only a subset of keys due to possible memory
# bloat. This is, of course, depends on the indexer's DB and the volume of
# transactions.
index_keys = ""

# When set to true, tells indexer to index all compositeKeys (predefined keys:
# "tx.hash", "tx.height" and all keys from DeliverTx responses).
#
# Note this may be not desirable (see the comment above). IndexKeys has a
# precedence over IndexAllKeys (i.e. when given both, IndexKeys will be
# indexed).
index_all_keys = false
  • For Validator and Sentinel nodes this is not necessary, so leave as default:
index_keys = ""

index_all_keys = false
  • For Service nodes, you should specify a subset of keys you want to index:
index_keys = "tx.hash,tx.height,...etc.."

index_all_keys = true

Naming

To setup up your node moniker please refer to line 16 and type in whatever you want to have as moniker:

# A custom human readable name for this node
moniker = "god_damn_node"