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Substrate-based Validator Node Ansible Setup

This repo is to set up a variety of Substrate-based validator nodes. Currently, this script only supports Polkadex and Tangle mainnet.

TL/DR

You run one playbook and set up a node. For example:

ansible-playbook polkadex.yml -e "target=polkadex01"
ansible-playbook tangle.yml -e "target=tangle01"

But before you rush with this easy setup, you probably want to read on so you understand the structure of this Ansible program and all the features it offers.

Some Preparations

First of all, make sure that you have a production inventory file with your confidential server info. You will start by copying the sample inventory file (included in the repo). The sample file gives you a good idea on how to define the inventory.

cp inventory.sample.ini inventory.ini

Needless to say, you need to update the dummy values in the inventory file.

  1. ansible_user: The sample file assumes ubuntu, but you might have another username. Make sure that the user has sudo privilege.
  2. ansible_port: The sample file assumes 22. But if you are like me, you will have a different ssh port other than 22 to avoid port sniffing.
  3. ansible_ssh_private_key_file: The sample file assumes ~/.ssh/id_rsa, but you might have a different key location.
  4. telemetry_url: Most likely you will use wss://telemetry.polkadot.io/submit/

It is beyond the scope of this guide to help you create a sudo user, alternate ssh port, create a private key, install Ansible on your machine, etc. You can do a quick online search and find the answers. In my experience, Digital Ocean have some quality guides on these topics. Stack Overflow can help you trouble-shoot if you are stuck.

Basic Cluster Structure

We have a rather opinionated node cluster structure. The basic structure is:

  1. Name each polkadex node as polkadex01, polkadex02, etc. Group all polkadex nodes into polkadex group.
  2. Name each polkadex node as tangle01, tangle02, etc. Group all tangle nodes into tangle group.
  3. So or and so forth for all other nodes.

The structure allows you to target vars to each node, or each cluster, or the whole cluster.

Make sure that you are familiar with the files in the group_vars folder. They follow this clustered structure closely. The files in this folder often need to be changed to stay up to date with the latest releases.

Playbook Summary

The key Ansible playbook is polkadex.yml and tangle.yml. It will set up a fresh validator from scratch.

A generic example for running a playbook is as follows:

ansible-playbook polkadex.yml -e "target=VALIDATOR_TARGET"
ansible-playbook tangle.yml -e "target=VALIDATOR_TARGET"
ansible-playbook key_rotation.yml -e "target=VALIDATOR_TARGET"

Playbook Dictionary

Playbook Description
polkadex.yml Set up a fresh polkadex validator node
tangle.yml Set up a fresh tangle validator node
key_rotation.yml Rotate session key