Follower node setup with AccMan

This guide will run you through how to create a Follower Node.

A unique type of full node called a validator node takes part in consensus. By taking part in consensus, validator nodes take on additional responsibilities such as transaction verification, voting, and maintaining a record of transactions.

A follower node keeps track of the history of a blockchain. Still, it is not part of the validator, and it is a type of node responsible for maintaining a full copy of the blockchain ledger and tracking the network's transaction history. However, unlike validator nodes, the follower nodes do not actively participate in the consensus mechanism or verify transactions.

This means these nodes cannot add new blocks to the blockchain or confirm transactions. Rather, their role is to help ensure the integrity of the network by keeping a complete and up-to-date copy of the blockchain and serving as a source of information for other nodes in the network.

Despite not being directly involved in the consensus process, these nodes are still important for the overall security and reliability of the blockchain. Maintaining a full copy of the blockchain and keeping track of its history, these nodes help prevent fraudulent or malicious activities on the network and ensure that the system is functioning as intended.

A transaction must be validated and authorized before being added to the blockchain.

Video Walkthrough

AccMan aka (Accumulate Manager runner)

The AccMan is a package that allows you to start the installation process of Accumulate manager.

The Accumulate manager is the recommended method of running a node on the Accumulate network. For more info about the Accumulate manager, click here (it is a tool (watch the video); it is simple but powerful.).

Prerequisites

• Experience using the command line.

• Basic knowledge about Accumulate.

• You need to have git installed.

• A Linux server that matches or exceeds the minimum specification for the intended purpose. See https://accumulatenetwork.io/learn/#validators
• Ubuntu is recommended (other Debian-based distributions should work out of the box).

• It would help if you had Docker & docker-compose. https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/ https://docs.docker.com/compose/install/ (An optional install script is included for Ubuntu)

These steps are optimized for Linux servers, but you can install them on a personal Linux OS as well by running the commands as root (use `sudo su` to switch to root in your terminal)

Follow the steps below to set up your Accumulate Node on your machine.

Update apt and install prerequisites

To install AccMan, you will need to log in as root.

apt update && apt -y install git telnet net-tools 

Clone repo

git clone https://gitlab.com/accumulatenetwork/accman.git

Locate accman folder

cd accman

Install Docker Engine.

If you're running Ubuntu, you can use our script. Otherwise, check the Docker site

./scripts/install-ubuntu.sh 

The firewall assumes ssh access is on port 22. Read the firewall section if this is not the case. Failing to do so will lock you out of your server. Also, you will need to open ports for Accumulate to operate if you have an external firewall.

Run accman

This command will start Accumulate manager.

./accman  

The above command will return an output similar to the following:

From the Accumulate manager main menu

• Click Accumulate - Create

• Click Start new Node

• Select the network you wish to join.

Testnet-Stable         
Testnet-Beta 

• Select a BVN

We recommend you select `Auto.`. This is to balance the network. If you run multiple servers, assign a different BVN to each.

Auto 
BVN0 
BVN1 

• Select the version you wish to join.

v0-6-0              
v0-6-0-rc0            
v0-6-0-rc1            
v0-6-0-rc2  

Now, you have your FollowerNode. Select Start, and you are up and running. 🥳🥳🥳

Also, if you want to create an ssh login account, it will take you directly to the Accumulate Manager menu:

./accman createuser accman

This will create a login account accman. The private keys from `/root/.ssh/authorized_keys` will be copied to /home/accman/.ssh/authorized_keys. Edit as necessary.

Synchronizing

Before booting your node, you must configure it to synchronize to the latest snapshot. If you skip this step, your node will take days or weeks to get caught up in the network.

Get the latest snapshot height and hash for the DN and BVN you're joining. For now, send a message on #operator-chat requesting the latest snapshots.

In AccMan, run "Attach BASH Console" and run the following commands:

accumulated sync snapshot -w /node/dnn  tcp://{bvn}-seed.testnet.accumulatenetwork.io:16592 {dn snapshot height} {dn snapshot hash}
accumulated sync snapshot -w /node/bvnn tcp://{bvn}-seed.testnet.accumulatenetwork.io:16692 {bvn snapshot height} {bvn snapshot hash}

After booting up the first time, the node may take a few minutes to synchronize to the snapshot. If the height remains at zero for more than 10 minutes, there may be a problem.

Firewall & Rate Limiting

Locking down your server is essential. By default, Accumulate Manager will take care of this for you. To make manual changes, edit the iptables.sh file accordingly.

Remember, it is still your responsibility to ensure your server is secure.

Ports in use:

Port	Use
16591	DN P2P
16592	DN RPC
16595	DN RPC Json
16691	BVN P2P
16692	BVN RPC
16695	BVN RPC Json
16666	AccMan

Proxy Port	Use
6695	SSL Client (your-domain.com)

SSL certificates

A self-certificate is automatically generated on start-up. If you have an existing certificate for a domain name, copy the .crt and .key files to the ./certs directory. They will be read on start-up. .pem files are also compatible. Rename them to .crt and .key files, respectively.

Set up a cron job to make sure the files are kept valid. These files will be monitored for changes and automatically reloaded. If you provide an e-mail address, Accumulate Manager will attempt to get a certificate from LetsEncrypt and keep it renewed.